February 2007

Remember the old General Electric "We bring good things to life" commercials and jingle? Well, in a surprise move, GE announced it will enter the digital camera market, at a time where such former photography giants as Konica Minolta called it quits, and the likes of Kodak struggle. Equally interesting is GE's approach. The GE cameras will actually be designed and made by General Imaging, a company newly formed by former president of Olympus Imaging Hiroshi Komiya and including talent from Olympus, Ricoh and other imaging notables. Hey, even the guy who designed the Sony Walkman, the Sony VAIO and the Olympus Stylus cameras, Takeyoshi Kawano, is on board. Initial offerings range from 7-megapixel entry level point & shooters to 12 megapixel cameras with 3-inch displays. Emphasis will be on features and design, and the line will be introduced at the 2007 PMA in Las Vegas.

Review: ultra-zoom Olympus SP-510UZ
The Olympus SP-510UZ is a camera to consider when you need something fairly light and small that let's you get close, 10x optical zoom close. Reviewer Carol Cotton Walker says she'd quite likely put it in her purse and take it everywhere she goes. She also took some killer pictures with it. However, make sure you study the manual and spend an hour or so learning the many functions of this interesting camera. Both beginners and advanced photographers will like this ultra-zoom Olympus that grows on you the more you use it. [Read review of the Olympus SP-510UZ] -- Posted Tuesday, February 13, 2007 by chb

2006 digital camera sales: Bad news for Kodak
According to the market researchers at IDC, while Canon and Nikon succeeded in greatly increasing their US digital camera marketshare, beleaguered Kodak fell from first in 2005 to third in 2006. Canon shipped 6.1 million cameras for a 20% market share. Sony, despite only a modest increase, climbed into second place, whereas Kodak's unit sales fell 31% to just 4.9 million, dropping them to third place. Nikon came in 4th with 3 million, then HP. Rounding out the Top Ten were Olympus, Samsung, Fuji, Panasonic and Casio. Of the second tiers, Olympus and Fuji surprisingly stagnated at 1.85 and 1.45 million units, whereas Samsung, Pansonic, and Casio all had significant triple-digit percentage gains. -- Posted Monday, February 5, 2007 by chb