Booth Report: Canon Inc. (UPDATED)

23:46 EST - With the usual large and impressive presentation, Canon's booth is filled with things to do. There's a portrait photography presentation, a rack of 20D's with huge, white Canon lenses mounted on swivel-arms for passers-by to try the combo out on unsuspecting victims yards away.

The key product featured was of course the Rebel XT. With an 8 megapixel sensor, a new, smaller body, and a 14 frame buffer, the XT does impress. Though we saw the XT earlier, that didn't include the BG-E3 battery grip we saw at the booth. We were impressed by how light the combination is, due to both the smaller size of the XT and the smaller batteries used in the grip. Taking up the small end... (More)

Booth Report: Konica Minolta (UPDATED)

18:29 EST - Konica Minolta's booth at PMA this year includes a number of interesting products.

Not new for the show, but the Maxxum 7 Digital which recently started shipping around the world, is drawing a lot of attention - in particular because of its use of in-camera anti-shake that works with almost all lenses that fit the camera body (without the expense of adding the stabilisation to the optics of every lens you buy). Firmware was recently released for the camera, known overseas as the... (More)

Booth Report: Fujifilm

18:08 EST - Fuji Photo Film Co. Ltd. has the usual vast booth directly inside the entrance to the show hall - as always located directly adjacent to major competitor Canon Inc.

The company announced a whole raft of products in the runup to PMA, including four digital cameras, the 1GB xD-Picture card, a wireless infra-red printer for cameraphones, new papers and more. Two of the cameras really stand out. Most immediately eye-catching is the extremely slim and light FinePix Z1, a five megapixel SuperCCD HR-based camera with 3x optical zoom lens. Equally interesting is the... (More)

Booth Report: Casio Inc.

17:00 EST - Casio Inc. has a medium-sized booth at PMA this year, and the company is showing off three brand-new digital camera models.

The Casio EXILIM Pro EX-P505 is without doubt the company's flagship digital camera announcement for the show, marking the company's first footsteps into the "SLR-style" digital camera market. A five megapixel CCD based model with 5x optical zoom lens and 2.0" swivelling TFT LCD viewfinder, the P505 offers no optical or electronic viewfinders. The camera really looks the part, particularly... (More)

Hardigg Storm Case iM2050

11:47 EST - Complete with an automatic pressure release valve, Hardig's new iM2050 brings extreme protection to a small case.

The new Storm Case has a Vortex auto pressure release valve that adjusts air pressure while keeping water out. The traditional cubed foam can be adjusted to meet your needs, or cases can be custom cut at the factory. The cases looked pretty sturdy, at least as sturdy as other designs I've seen, and included a soft handle to make carrying heavy loads a little more bearable. Travel is often the wear... (More)

HP and BMW Williams offer F1 digicam

05:50 EST - Hewlett Packard's final digital camera announcement of PMA isn't a new model, per se - just a variation on an existing camera.

In a move reminiscent of that seen by Olympus (who've released two limited edition versions of their digital cameras customised to honor their sponsorship of the Ferrari Formula One racing team), HP have unveiled a variant of the Photosmart R607 digital camera that honors their sponsorship of the BMW Williams F1 team. The camera sports an attractive blue finish with Williams' logo, but other features... (More)

HP: 6.2mpix PhotoSmart R717

05:48 EST - Wrapping up HP's new digital camera announcements for PMA is the 6.2 effective megapixel, 3x optical zoom Photosmart R717.

The camera features the by-now familiar HP styling cues, plus a raft of HP's technologies, such as red-eye removal, adaptive lighting and in-camera panorama preview. The camera offers both an optical viewfinder and 1.8" LCD display, as well as SD / MMC card storage, 32MB of built-in memory, and power from a proprietary Lithium Ion rechargeable battery. Connectivity options are USB, and HP's optional... (More)

HP announces 5mpix Photosmart M417

05:46 EST - Amongst HP's four new digital camera announcements at PMA is the 5.2 effective megapixel, 3x optical zoom Photosmart M417.

The camera features the same styling we've seen on several other recent HP models, with a prominent groove at the front which helps you grip the camera firmly, and offers both an optical viewfinder and 1.8" LCD display. Other features include SD / MMC card storage, 16MB of built-in memory, and power from two AA batteries. Connectivity options are USB, and HP's optional HP Photosmart M-series... (More)

HP Photosmart M22 / M23 digicams revealed

05:43 EST - Hewlett Packard has four new digital camera announcements for PMA; of these, two are very closely related - the HP Photosmart M22 and M23.

The two cameras share an essentially identical weather-resistant chassis (the only notable difference being the color of the body panels - silver for the M22, and bronze for the M23). The 1/2.5"-type 4.0 effective megapixel CCD sensor and 36mm equivalent fixed focal-length lens are also identical features of both models We don't currently have full product specifications for the M23 model, but... (More)