HP Photosmart M517, Ricoh Caplio GX8, Samsung Digimax Pro 815 Digital Cameras

[Ben Stafford]

HP Germany Announces the HP Photosmart M517

A press release at HP Germany has announced the introduction of the HP Photosmart M517.  The M517 is based in the M417, but adds more digital zoom (8x in the M517), 16MB of internal memory, and a 2 inch LCD.

Quick Features:

• 5 megapixels
• 2" LCD
• 3x optical zoom, 8x digital zoom
• Shooting Modes:  Auto (default), Macro, Fast Shot, Action, Portrait, Landscape, Beach & Snow
• SD/MMC slot

The camera is to be available at the end of May for 199 euro.  Not sure if this includes the US market.

Full press release (in German)

Introduction of the Ricoh Caplio GX8

LetsGoDigital is reporting the announcment of the Ricoh Caplio GX8.  This offering from Ricoh includes a 8.24 megapixel sensor, 3x optical zoom with 4x digital zoom.  In macro mode, the camera can focus on objects as close as 1 cm and shooting modes include: Still (Continuous,S-Continuous,M-Continuous), Aperture-Priority/Manual exposure, Scene (Portrait,Sports,Landscape,Night Scene,Text,High-Sensitivity),Motion,Sound.  The camera also features a hot-shoe to attach an external flash.

No information on availability yet, so we'll keep you posted if we learn more.

Full article at LetsGoDigital

Unveiling of the Samsung Digimax Pro 815

Samsung has unveiled a new camera at a photography show in China.  Details (and official specifications) are sparse so far, but the big news is that the camera will have a lens that has a 15x optical zoom and an LCD is a whopping 3.5 inches.  There is speculation that the camera will have an effective 8 megapixels, but that hasn't been confirmed.  The camera will also have a start up time of around 1 second and be able to shoot 2.5 frames per second.

We'll keep you updated with details as we learn them!

[Eliwood]

One thing worth mentioning about the sensor that we do know is that it's a 2/3" sensor. That means that it lies closer to the DSLR side than the P&S side.

The other major unknown is whether it uses an EVF or an optical viewfinder. If it uses the latter, this should really shake up the market.