Sony has announced the ground-breaking Cyber-shot DSC-R1, a high-end enthusiast digital camera offering a 10.3 million pixel CMOS sensor with a fast 24mm -120mm zoom lens.
Uniquely, the camera’s “professional grade” CMOS image sensor is APS-class, which makes it similar to those found in professional digital still cameras (in fact, Sony have long been selling their CMOS sensors to dSLR manufacturers, but this is the first time they’ve put them in their own cameras.)
The benefits of these larger sensors is that they offer higher sensitivity to light and lower image noise than the little pups you find in fixed lens/compact cameras.
Despite CMOS sensors being notorious power hogs, Sony has engineered the camera to provide a live image preview through its swiveling LCD monitor and EVF viewfinder – a very useful feature not available on dSLRs.
Supporting the fancy pants sensor is a high quality Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T 5X optical zoom lens covering 24mm to 120 mm (f/2.8 to f/4/.8.)
The 2-inch LCD is of an interesting construction, letting photographers swivel it through a range of positions or lay it flat across the top plate, in the style of a medium format camera viewfinder. Neat.
The camera offers Sony’s Advanced Gradation Control System (AGCS) which evaluates the distribution of brightness in a scene via the histogram and then applies the appropriate gamma curve to improve a scene’s contrast or to minimise saturation.
Despite the presence of the power-guzzling CMOS live preview, Sony are claiming a battery life of around 500 shots, with the camera storing files in JPEG or RAW image modes.
As has been the trend with their recent models, there’s both Memory Stick and Compact Flash memory cards onboard.
The camera’s $1000 price tag puts it in the heart of dSLR territory and we can’t help wondering how it’s going to compete.
Sure, the live preview is a very attractive and convenient option, but with its dSLR rivals offering far more flexibility through a huge array of available lens, we feel that Sony may struggle to gain a competitive edge – especially considering that the designers have bizarrely left off a movie mode.
I guess we’ll have to wait and see how it performs in the reviews before making a final judgment on this one.
The camera will be available in mid-November.
No matter how hard we try, when we see someone wandering about with a Bluetooth headset in their lughole we don’t think, “there’s a cool, go-getting professional”; we tend to have an irresistible urge to shout unprintable things in their direction.
Designed to be compatible with Sony VAIO BX laptops, the HBH-608 connects the computer with the headset via Bluetooth making it possible to handle calls over the Internet (VoIP) without faffing about with troublesome phone cables.
“The knowledge from two strong brands in the communications industry comes together in this solution. We believe that our joint experience benefits the user, making telecommunication as smooth as possible.”
Best of all, when you need to pop out for a double skinny frappuccino with Bolivian gnu’s milk, the same handset can be kept in your ear and used with your Bluetooth mobile phone on the street.
OpenTV Corp have given out a large toot on their PR trumpets and announced the availability of their “PVR 2.0” software to network operators and set-top box manufacturers worldwide.
PVR 2.0 is built upon OpenTV’s “Core 2.0” software, the fourth generation of set-top middleware which sports an architecture and features to support the expanding requirements of advanced digital television set-top boxes including PVR, VOD, IPTV, HDTV and home networking.
“Network operators increasingly understand middleware’s value in achieving their business goals, reducing operational costs and improving time to market of the services critical to the success of their businesses,” said Tim Evard, who has a very big name badge declaring him to be OpenTV’s “senior vice president and general manager of products and marketing.”
We like swiveling cameras.
The swivel capability lets users shoot from the eye, the waist, overhead or upside down if they so desire, with the 180 degree rotate making it easy to take self portraits.
Powered by a pair of AA-size batteries, the S4 is designed to be highly portable, boasting slimline 112 x 69 x 37 mm (4.4 x 2.7 x 1.4 in) dimensions and a light weight of 205g.
The Coolpix S4 will be available at the end of this month priced €399 (£218, €320).
Promptly filed under “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!” at first peek, Toshiba are debuting a portable LED pocket projector at the Internationale Funkaustellung (IFA) trade show 2005 in Berlin.
Inside there’s a panel fitted with different coloured LEDs which serve both as the light source and the means to determine the colour of the projected images.
Siemens have announced their new Gigaset SL75 WLAN Voice-over-IP (VoIP) cordless telephone for the home.
Decked out in (ahem) “the season’s high fashion colour night grey”, the Gigaset SL75 WLAN sports a colour display (128×128 pixels, 4k/65k colors) and comes with a small docking station.
Only 25% of US business travellers are using Wi-Fi hotspots in airports and on planes, despite the growing availability of high-speed, wireless connections.
Those surveyed also said that they were more interested in increased onboard personal space, bigger baggage allowances and better entertainment than blasting out emails mid-flight.
With Sony and Toshiba still enjoying a schoolyard scrap over which of their rival formats should become the standard format for next-generation DVDs, Samsung have announced a nifty compromise that plays both formats.
Although both Blu-Ray and HD DVD use groovy blue laser light to dramatically increase the storage capacity of a DVD-sized optical disc, they work in completely different ways.
Samsung have unveiled their sleek, credit-card sized Miniket VP-MS15 digital camera at the Berlin IFA show.
Connecting the Miniket via USB 2.0 also lets it be used as a Webcam or a ‘portable hard drive’.
Samsung have also released two identical-looking smaller brothers to the MS15; the VP-MS11, with 128MB of onboard memory. and the VP-MS10 with 64MB.
Philips has announced the Showline MCP 9350i, a media PC powered by Microsoft’s Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 platform.
There are two integrated tuners onboard letting sofa-reclining types watch one channel while recording another on the 250 GB hard drive or to CD or DVD.
Philips’ Digital Natural Motion technology is employed to improve video quality and reduce stutter, with built in support for the UPnP protocol to allowing the unit to act as a media server for products in Philips’ Streamium range of media viewers.