Filed under: Digital Cameras, Peripherals

If you’re still rocking a digital camera older than the recently unveiled Nikon D80 or lineup of Canons, for instance, the lack of SDHC support may have you a bit down on your luck. Apparently Casio and Pentax aren’t wasting any time in making sure their customers are kept happy, as both companies have released firmware updates for a few popular shooters that sport SD slots. Pentax Japan is hooking up the *ist DL, *ist DL2, *ist DS, *ist DS2, and K100D (K110D to soon follow) with SDHC support, while Casio is upping the ante on its EX-S500, EX-Z600, and EX-Z850. So if you happen to own one of these select models, and you can’t resist the urge to drop some coin on those pricey (albeit spacious and speedy) SDHC cards, be sure to do your duty and treat that digicam to its respective upgrade first. While these may be the first few cameras in which SD 2.0 support is granted retroactively, we don’t imagine the list will stop here — so, dear camera manufacturers, what’s the holdup anyway?

Read – Pentax Firmware Updates
Read – Casio EX-S500 Firmware Update
Read – Casio EX-Z600 Firmware Update
Read – Casio EX-Z850 Firmware Update

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Filed under: Digital Cameras

Casio just announced a new addition to its popular lineup of Exilim ultracompacts, the EX-Z700. This model is almost exactly the same as the six megapixel EX-Z600 — both devices feature a 3x optical zoom, 2.7-inch LCD, and 112-gram weight — but as the model number indicates, it bumps the resolution up to seven megapixels. The only other real difference here lies in the preset scene modes: Casio added Auto Framing and Layout Shot (which creates a composite image from two or three separate photos) to its suite of Best Shot settings. Expect the Z700 to hit stores sometime next month, and although pricing has not yet been revealed, we’re thinking it’ll go for around $350.

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Filed under: Displays

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Proving that there's still a little bit of life left in the so-called megapixel race, Casio is offering a compact digital camera that packs a 10 megapixel sensor into the smallest space we've seen since Samsung's latest ridiculously excessive cameraphone, and what's more, Let'sGoDigital finds that the company actually puts some of those extra pixels to good use. Besides its unrivaled maximum resolution of 3648 x 2736, Casio's EXILIM EX-Z1000 initially impressed us with a high res 2.5-inch display and unusual maximum ISO of 3200, but LGD finds that while the screen indeed delivers superior performance, the latter feature, as we suspected, produces unacceptable levels at noise. Images captured at ISOs below 400, however, were judged to be "impressive," with good color accuracy and visible detail, and there are plenty of options available to manually tweak such settings as white balance, flash intensity, and even aspect ratio for slideshows on either 4:3 or 16:9 TVs. The biggest downside to the Z1000 is probably its sub par 3x optical zoom, although this is one area where the camera's abundance of pixels helps to compensate somewhat, as Casio includes a "Non Deterioration Zoom" mode that lets you sacrifice image size for better-than-average digital zooming at settings as high as 17.1x. Overall, it sounds like your $400 buys you a well-built, full-featured, and solidly-performing camera -- with a very respectable 300+ shot battery life -- along with the dubious distinction of being the only person on your block to own a point-and-shoot sporting more megapixels than most people's DSLRs.

Filed under: Digital Cameras

hspace="4" border="0" align="right" src="http://www.engadget.com/media/2006/05/ex-z5.jpg" alt="" />Casio has just
announced a new member of the Exilim family, a 5 megapixel shooter with 3x optical zoom called the EX-Z5. Successor to
the Exilim EX-Z4, the new Z5 also sports a 2.5-inch TFT LCD (but as usual, no optical viewfinder), an odd 8.3MB of
internal memory (expandable via SD/MMC), and the usual suite of burst mode, in-camera image enhancement, and multiple
flash options. Of special interest to photo buffs will be the Revive Shot function, which lets you take a picture of an
old photograph for the camera to perform a little digital restoration on, all without taking your photos out of the
album. No word yet on pricing or availability, but with Casio calling the Z5 a “perfect companion for the
summer,” it’s probably a safe bet to expect this model on shelves prior to September 21st.

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Filed under: Digital Cameras

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Casio's Exilim series may be known largely for its sub-compact form factor, but the latest members of the family still manage to pack in a lot of features. The Exilim EX-Z850, launched earlier this year, includes an 8-megapixel sensor, 3x zoom, 2.5-inch LCD, 440-shot battery life and the ability to shoot at sensitivities all the way up to ISO 1600. DPReview took a look at the pocket digicam, and found that it had "much to commend it" to photogs looking for a lightweight with "real photographic control." The reviewer liked the camera's selection of scene modes, accurate white balance, good burst mode -- which even allows a three-shot burst to be taken with the flash on -- and the fast autofocus. Some downsides included murky high-ISO results (hey, at least Casio tried) and poor movie quality. However, that didn't stop the reviewer from giving it a "Recommended" rating, and suggesting it as an ideal lightweight for SLR shooters who want to occasionally leave the pro gear at home.

Filed under: Handsets, Others, Sanyo, Sony Ericsson, KDDI, 1xRTT, EV-DO, Kyocera, CDMA

Bring it strong, or don’t bring it at all. That’s certainly our mantra here at Engadget Mobile, and KDDI seems to share our sentiment, launching not one, not two, but twelve new phones on their Japanese “au” CDMA network this week. Variety doesn’t really seem to be KDDI’s forte, though — every last model rocks a clamshell form factor and roughly equivalent specs, give or take a megapixel here, FeLiCa support there. Sony Ericsson’s W43S caught our eye for its nifty faux wood exterior (come on, who wouldn’t want a faux wood cellphone?), while the curiously-named glossy black Toshiba “DRAPE” seems to be positioned as the high-style model of the bunch. 2- and 3-megapixel cams (some with autofocus), expansion slots, and comprehensive music support all around… yeah, there’s not a lot of differentiation here, but the uniformity’s good in at least one way: every last one of these 12 are blessed with QVGA primary displays.

[Via Akihabara News]

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Filed under: Handsets, UTStarcom, Verizon Wireless, 1xRTT, EV-DO, CDMA

We have all cringed a bit when our cellphone has dropped out of our pocket or out of our waist holster to hit the cold concrete below and leave our perfect device with scratches, dents, a cracked display, or just simply broken. Well Verizon Wireless customers can rest a little easier with the introduction of the latest device to their ever expanding lineup, the Casio G’zOne (aka the LG CanU 502). And it’s not like this phone is all show and no go either, folks, This phone is military spec water and shock resistant, and hooks you up with a 2.0 megapixel camera with video, speakerphone, supports VZ Navigator, Get It Now, and Vcast Video. Roc a fella says the device will be priced as follows: $420 full retail, $350 one year, and $300 for a two year. A little pricey for the rugged, but look for this device to in retail channels on October 23rd.

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