Although it only applies to a small percentage of units on our shores, today Sony announced that "A certain number of DSC-T20 cameras (in pink and silver only) will vibrate when the power is switched on and will not be able to shoot pictures" due to a "mechanical failure that affected the lenses." Ouch. Since there haven't been that many incidents thus far in the U.S., this isn't a recall; Sony will simply repair any faulty units for free, from July 10, 2008 to July 9, 2011. » Read the rest of the entry..

Less than two weeks ago, Kodak announced its new 50MP medium-format sensor, and only a few days ago Hasselblad announced its H3DII-50 camera based on it. The Hasselblad H3DII-50 became the highest resolution digital camera back, but it didn't last long; it was a short stay at the top. » Read the rest of the entry..

Personally, I thought "NV" worked as well as anything for the branding of Samsung's top-of-the-line ultracompact point-and-shoot cameras; nevertheless, for Fall 2008 the new leaders of Samsung's snapshot pack will be dubbed "TL". The two models announced today may have less interesting names, but do offer some novel attributes.

The flagship model, the TL34HD, introduces a 14.7-megapixel sensor--until the camera ships, one can only imagine how ungodly noisy those photos must be--and a fairly cool, if somewhat iPhone-envious, 3-inch hybrid touchscreen with a gesture-based UI. As is beginning to look like a trend for ultracompacts (the Casio EX-Z150 beat it by a couple days), its 3.6x optically stabilized zoom lens starts at a relatively wide angle 35mm-equivalent focal length of 28mm. » Read the rest of the entry..

Last week, Olympus announced a firmware update to its 20x ultra-zoom, the SP-570 UZ, which was released in March 2008. The firmware update, version 1.1, is said to improve response while zooming, and corrects a part of the Swedish languages. For more information and instructions click here.

We generally recommend installing the latest firmware updates for your camera, so you can get the most out of your gear. » Read the rest of the entry..

Sigma this week has released another firmware update to its high-end compact camera, the 14MP DP1, which became available in March 2008. The firmware update, version 1.04, adds several improvements to the camera. The zoom buttons can now be customized to control other functions such as ISO. A feet indicator has been added to the display in MF mode. For more details and information click here.

We generally recommend installing the latest firmware updates for your camera, so you can get the most out of your gear. » Read the rest of the entry..

Though I've yet to see one of these ultraslim ultracompact cameras produce great photos, the specifications on Casio's new Exilim EX-Z150 have me crossing my fingers. The 8-megapixel camera incorporates an f/2.6-5.9 28-112mm-equivalent 4x zoom lens, which offers the widest angle of view we've seen at that size, and is one of the few ultracompacts in general to provide it. Since people usually use cameras like this for group and travel snapshots, the wide angle is a nice feature to have. It also offers sensor-shift image stabilization; while most of its competitors do too, many slim cameras opt for ineffective electronic stabilization. Finally, it has a nice, large 3-inch LCD, making it the only wide-angle ultracompact with such a big display. » Read the rest of the entry..

Summer's in full swing here in the Northern Hemisphere. People have warmed up the grills, busted out the bug spray, and taken the covers off the pools. Swimming is the ultimate summer luxury in my book, but what to do about all those tech toys with water phobia? Most of them should stay far from the pool, unless of course one happens to be an iPod, which has a variety of waterproof cases made just for it. » Read the rest of the entry..

Kodak updates its camera line this fall with two models. The first, a 15x megazoom, as many models are doing, wisely trades some of its telephoto reach for the wider angle--it starts at 28mm-equivalent--and incorporates a 3-inch LCD. Though previous models used an optical image stabilizer, the 10-megapixel Z1015 IS instead uses mechanical (sensor shift) stabilization. Kodak also claims a sub-0.22 second shot lag ("click to capture"). The Z1015 IS will ship in September for $349.95. » Read the rest of the entry..

Each month seems to bring a new YouTube-centric digital camcorder and July is no exception: Samsung has announced the SC-MX20, a $279.99 model that's the successor to the SC-MX10. It'll arrive in stores in August and come in blue, black, red, and white. According to the news release, the camcorder has a 680,000-pixel CCD sensor that delivers a 720x480-pixel resolution that allows the SC-MX20 to capture video with "stunning color and clarity." That may be a slight exaggeration, but the new model does feature a Schneider lens with 34x optical zoom, a 2.7-inch LCD, advanced noise reduction (3-D Noise Reduction), Samsung's allegedly improved Advanced Image Stabilization, and Face Detection, "which can automatically detect up to five faces and adjust focus to ensure better composition." According to Samsung, the value priced SC-MX20 shares some features found in its higher-end SC-HMX20C, including its design. » Read the rest of the entry..

You thought Sony's 24-megapixel CMOS was high res? Well, as Kodak's announcement on Tuesday of a 50-megapixel CCD shows, there's always room for more--pixels, that is. Granted, that's a bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison. Sony's chip is designed for full-frame dSLR cameras, those with a sensor the size of a 35mm film frame (24x36mm), which generally go into pro-level handheld cameras. In contrast, Kodak's KAF-50100 CCD is 49.1x36.8mm, for medium-format digital photography,which tends to be used more by commercial and fine art photographers in studio settings. The KAF-50100 is only the latest in Kodak's line of high-resolution medium-format CCDs. For instance, it joins Kodak's 39-megapixel KAF-39000 in the lineup, which now becomes the second highest-resolution sensor for non-scientific imaging. Hasselblad recently announced the H3DII-50, a camera based on the 50-megapixel CCD, in addition to its older 39-megapixel H3DII-39. Professionals fork over upwards of $30,000 for models like these. » Read the rest of the entry..