It feels really weird the first time you dunk your $400 Panasonic DSC TS3 digital camera in the water—especially for guys like me who grew up thinking that cameras and water should never mix. But after you’ve gotten a few in-water shots, you’re hooked. They are so cool. But I’ll confess: I made my ten-year-old daughter take the first several shots in the pool. Quick Specs Waterproof to 40 feet and dustproof Shock resistant; withstands a drop of 6.6 feet (2 meters) without damage 4.6X Leica zoom lens starts at true wideangle (28-128mm equivalent) Built-in GPS, Compass, Altimeter, Barometer and Depth Indicator Close focus to 1.7...

Valhalla, NY—Fujifilm North America Corp. reports that its all-new premium compact X10 camera, first announced on September 1, 2011, will have a retail price of $599.95 and will ship in early November. The latest addition to the Fujifilm X series of advanced digital cameras, the X10 features a larger 2/3-inch 12 megapixel EXR CMOS sensor and a bright high-def Fujinon f/2.0 wide-angle to f/2.8 telephoto, 4x manual zoom lens (28-112mm). Its blackout and retro body design includes the easy-to-use manual barrel zoom lens and a traditional optical viewfinder with a 20° field of view. The X10’s body is built from...

The Canon PowerShot SX230HS is the perfect travel companion. It’s quite compact, which belies its 14X zoom lens. And it has a built-in GPS for geo-tagging images, shoots Full HD (1080p) with stereo sound, and special effect filters that will keep amused forever. Coolest Features The list of cool features is long, but here’s a start. The SX230HS has a Super Slow Motion Movie mode that records video at 240 fps for dramatically slow motion playback; and there’s a High-Speed Burst mode than can capture still shots at up to 8 frames per second... Get the full...

Rochester, NY—Kodak’s next-generation EasyShare Touch camera, the M5370, has a new 16MP sensor and HD video capabilities, and it makes creative editing, organizing and sharing possible with one touch. The enhanced M5370 features Kodak’s “share” button and a responsive 3.0-inch capacitive touch screen. Once connected to a PC, selected photos will automatically upload to sites like Facebook and Kodak Gallery or can be e-mailed. The enhanced Share Button App enables people to easily share and transfer their favorite images, and Face Tagging allows them to stay more organized by enabling them to upload images to Facebook with friends already tagged. “The EasyShare...

Golden, CO—Pentax Imaging’s new Optio RZ18 digital compact camera has a slim, lightweight body that houses an 18x optical zoom lens covering equivalent focal lengths from 25mm wide angle to 450mm super telephoto. The RZ18 is the latest addition to the Pentax Optio RZ zoom lens series, which is designed to provide photographers with effortless shooting of a variety of subjects and occasions, from travel and landscape to action and spectator sports. The camera’s intelligent zoom function is said to further extend the zoom range to 130 times to cover the equivalent focal length of a 3250mm super-telephoto lens. Other key...

Melville, NY— Nikon introduced four Coolpix S-series models to address the lifestyle of social users who care about the quality of the images they take and share. The new cameras, scheduled to be available mid September, offer enhanced zoom ranges and new ways to share photos and High Definition (HD) video, as well as Nikon core technologies like Vibration Reduction (VR) and Expeed C2 image processing. Expanding on the ultracompact superzoom category, the Coolpix S8200 and S6200 are designed for high-performance zoom with Nikkor optics, while the Coolpix S1200pj sports a 20-lumen built-in projector and compatibility with the iPhone, iPad...

Ridgefield Park, NJ—Samsung Electronics announced the worldwide debut of three digital cameras that include its newest flagship: the NX200 compact system camera, equipped with a list of professional-standard features that include Samsung’s in-house-developed 20.3 megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor ($900, September availability). The other two cameras (models MV800 and WB750) due out in September at MSRPs of $279 each, are affordably priced with features derived from consumer research and designed to set them apart on the sales floor, said the company. 5 Reid Sullivan , Samsung’s senior vice president of digital imaging, said the NX200, besides carrying the newly designed sensor... Read...

Tokyo, Japan— Canon is reported to be considering development of a mirrorless compact camera system that offers the features of a conventional DSLR in a more portable body, a senior executive told Reuters. Canon’s camera production reached pre-earthquake levels at the end of June, with supply-chain problems following the March 11 disaster dissipating, Masaya Maeda, head of Canon’s camera division, told Reuters in an interview. Maeda added that Canon will increase production in Taiwan to bring its total SLR output to 10 million units annually, from about 7 million units, according to Reuters, who reported that competitor Sony offers “mirrorless models, enabling...

Gardena, VA—At the PMA Australia Imaging and Entertainment Expo in Sydney, General Imaging (GIC), the worldwide licensee of GE digital cameras, unveiled the latest additions to its Power and Power Pro series—the GE G100 and GE E1410SW, respectively. These are the first GE digital cameras to feature Aptina A-Pix CMOS pixel technology, which was incorporated to bring performance-enhancing features to the new GE cameras. Increased shutter speed, 10-frames-per-second continuously shooting, 1080p Full HD video recording capabilities and enhanced light sensitivity for better photos in low-light conditions are a few of the advancements found in the G100 and E1410SW.

 Also introduced was...

Gardena, CA—General Imaging (GIC), exclusive worldwide licensee of GE-branded digital cameras, received recognition for the second year in a row from the Plus X Awards for four of its 2011 cameras. GE digital cameras took top honors in the following categories: GE X500 for Quality, Design and Ease of Use; GE PJ1 for Innovation and Ease of Use; GE DV1 for Ease of Use; and GE E1450W for Ease of Use. An international honor, the Plus X Award recognizes manufacturers for introducing innovative products with major advances in technology that simplify or enhance consumers’ lives. The Plus X jury, consisting of...