Kodak EasyShare Z712 IS features ISO 3200

The high sensitivity arms race is going very hot these days. Seems like every digital camera supports ISO 1600 or 3200, even with their tiny sensors. Kodak announced their EasyShare Z712 IS 12x optical zoom camera with ISO 3200.
The specs are very similar to the Panasonic FZ8. The lens is 36–432 mm (35 mm equiv.) f/2.8–4.8, which is the same range, though the wide end f4.8 is a bit weaker. The LCD is 2.5" with 230K pixels, and the viewfinder is also 115K pixels. Kodak claims to have Best-in-class click-to-capture speed of 0.26s. We'll have to wait for the reviews to see if it's really as good as the claim. In ISO 3200 mode, pictures are limited to 1.2 megapixels, quite small but might be useful for example in a dark aquarium where it's dark and fishes are swimming fast.

At a MSRP of $299 and the Kodak name, this camera will surely get a lot of attention. Similarly lower-priced superzooms include the Fuji FinePix S700.

Samsung NV7 OPS Reviews Roundup

Samsung has a lineup of stylish cameras that really sparks the imagination. The NV7 OPS grabs lots of attention with it's interesting design. Samsung should be praised for its innovation of different products, even if sometimes they are not of the best quality. Same thing with the NV7 OPS. The camera comes with interesting specs, notablely the 7x optical zoom 38mm-270mm Schneider-KREUZNACH lens. Unfortunately, the concensus is that image quality is mediocre. In addition, while the menu system is unique, it's not a great improvement over current systems. Let's hope Samsung can do better next time.
Reviews from different sources:

• Digital Photography Review
  
• Digital Camera resource page
• CNet Asia
• ePHOTOzine

Nikon D40x is official!

Nikon today confirmed the rumors about the D40x. It's here! The D40 gathered a lot of attention last year, and today the D40x is announced to compete with the 10 megapixel Canon Digital Rebel XTi. At $730 body only, and $800 with a 18-55mm lens. This is $150 higher than the D40, so this is not really a replacement. The D40x has a lower ISO sensitivity option of 100, quite useful when using fast lens. The continuous shooting mode is also slightly faster (3.0 fps vs 2.5fps). Nothing particular new, but the D40x is a great alternative in the 10 megapixel group including the Canon XTi and Pentax K10D.

A detailed hand-on preview is already online at dpreview.com.

Sony DSC-W200

Sony's new lineup of compact cameras includes the DSC-W200, DSC-W90 and DSC-W80. The W200 has the most impress specs for a compact, with W90 and W80 almost the same with 8.1 and 7.2 megapixels.

The W200 has a whopping 12megapixel 1/1.7" sensor. This is the most compact 12 megapixel camera to date. It's now 2 times the resolution of the Nikon D40, its entry-level DSLR (we'll see a 10 megapixel D40x soon though). The W200 spots a 3x optical zoom lens (35-105mm f2.8-5.5). What's interesting is that the lens for W90 and W80 are 35-105mm f2.8-5.2, very slightly faster probably because of the smaller sensors (1/2.5"). I hope this doesn't imply vignetting in the W200 (because the sensor is too big for the lens). It comes with all the standard features of this year: face recognition, ISO 3200, HDTV compatible (with optional cable). The LCD is 2.5" with 115K pixels, somewhat disappointing. I hope this translates into a cheaper street price to compete with great compacts from Panasonic and Canon.