After a whirlwind opening day at CES, I have reports on brand new products from Sony, DXG, Digital Foci, HP, iomega and an up close look at a revolutionary Panasonic camera. My favorite product of the day was Sony's just announced Cybershot G3 point-and-shoot camera. The big deal about it is that it's the world's first Wi-Fi enabled camera, so you can immediately upload your photos to a photo sharing site, such as Picasa, rather than making the usual empty promise to a friend about "sending them that picture" right after it is taken at a party, and then never following through. It's a 10 MP camera with a 4x optical zoom Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens and it comes with complimentary AT&T Wi-Fi access to Sony’s Easy Upload Home Page until Jan. 31, 2012. I'm sure you have a million questions about the Wi-Fi access and uploading, as I had for our Sony contact, so I'll just tell you that they have partnered with a few photo sharing sites, including Picasa, Shutterfly and a few others, but if you prefer a site that they haven't yet partnered with, like Flickr, you can use the web browser to head straight to that site and upload the same way you can from your computer. The partnered sites just work better because they will fit to the screen. Of course this is all done through touch screen technology with a stylus. They already have plenty of input (from me and others) about who else they should partner with, including Facebook, so they will be upgrading these choices, which will appear to a Cybershot G3 owner periodically.
Another great product that I got to finally see in person today was the Panasonic Lumix G1. You'll see more about this in our next issue of DP (our first all digital issue through Zinio.com), but let's just say it's pretty amazing. The format is different than anything else, as a Micro Four Thirds Standard. It can be a pro's alternative camera, or a beginner's first camera. Either way, the ability to easily interchange lenses and the full time Live-View will make sure you get the best shot, not matter what your background in photography.
A few other notable products from today were iomega's line up of sleek, but tough, new eGo portable hard drives and DXG's just announced HD camcorder A80. As they transition into solely camcorders, and away from still cams, I think this new DXG really puts them up there with the bigger name competitors in the field. Digital Foci also has a brand new portable digital photo storer/viewer, called the Picture Porter 35, with the capability to connect with USB and almost any CF,SD/HC,MMC,mimiSD,MS/Duo,xD card you can imagine. This product is ideal for the pro out on the field. HP also has a new 512 MB digital keychain, which we're seeing a lot of this year, in stylish options that would make a great gift, and a brilliantly stylish new Netbook. Sony also showed us a few more of their just announced HD camcorders and their Webbie HD camcorders, which are ideal for uploading straight to sites like YouTube.
Note: We are having issues with our image loading for the blog (a cruel fate for a photography magazine, I know). So, hold tight for photos to come.
photo © Li Fan- China, Sony World Photography Awards 3rd place winner- Photojournalism & Documentary- Sport 2009