Compact Camera News

Sigma has announced the pricing and availability of the fourth compact camera in the Quattro series, the Sigma dp0 Quattro.

SJCAM, a leading manufacturer of action cameras spanning a wide array of price points, recently announced the SJ20, the world's first with dual-lens configuration. Optimized for lowlight performance, the SJ20 promises a host of advanced features including dual LCD touchscreens, waterproof protection down to 16 feet without a case, built-in 6-axis gyroscope, and 20-megapixel still image capture, in addition to 4K video.

Integral zoom lens cameras are often referred to as “bridge” cameras: the idea being that they bridge the gap between compact and DSLR models. If there’s a bridge connection here it’s in the rather incredible zoom range of the Sony Cyber-shot RX10 IV ($1,700, retail price) that spans the far shores of 24-600mm equivalency.

The Sony HX200V is a compact bridge camera with an SLR-like design. It offers an extreme zoom lens that is able to cover wide angle shots with a focal length of 27 mm and tele photos with an extreme tele of 810mm (35 mm film equivalent). The camera offers an integrated image stabilizer (Sony’s “Steady Shot”) to allow shooting with this extreme zoom range. This stabilizer works fine, but can’t really help if you are using the digital zoom function, which allows a 60x zoom, an equivalent of 1620mm.

Sony has launched two new Cyber-shot compact cameras and an Action Cam POV model, which is designed to compete with the popular GoPro camera.

Sony took the wraps off the RX10 IV today, a digital camera with a massive built-in superzoom lens and a frame rate that’s twice as fast as even some of the speediest professional DSLRs

The RX1 is the first time Sony has combined a compact camera system with a fixed lens system that includes a full-frame sensor that’s nearly the size of classic 35mm film material (35.8x23.9mm). The basic camera concept combines elements of digital compact cameras with features of classic viewfinder cameras, but leaves out an optical or electronic viewfinder. In its stead Sony offers an LCD screen on the back, similar to what you’d find in an entry-level compact camera. The screen is very large (3”) and offers a very high resolution (1.28 million RGB dots). The resulting image preview and the representation of the menu structure is crisp and clear. Sony does offer an optional optical viewfinder, which is mounted on the hot shoe. Just like the camera itself, it is quite expensive. Most users will also be surprised by the battery recharger system of the RX1. It’s equipped with a USB recharger and the user is forced to recharge the battery in the camera. An external recharger and additional batteries are offered as an option.