Digital Camera News and Reviews

Microsoft and Nokia has announced that they are partnering up. Nokia will now release phones with Windows Phone 7 and share several types of platforms and services. See press release below for more information.

I find this interesting as Nokia has reputation of making good camera phones. With Windows Phone 7 they should be able to making some killer phones with both great cameras and great photo software. I welcome this move from Nokia!

Press release:
Nokia and Microsoft Announce Plans for a Broad Strategic Partnership to Build a New Global Mobile Ecosystem

Companies plan to combine assets and develop innovative mobile products on an unprecedented scale.

LONDON – Feb. 11, 2011 – Nokia and Microsoft today announced plans to form a broad strategic partnership that would use their complementary strengths and expertise to create a new global mobile ecosystem.

Nokia and Microsoft intend to jointly create market-leading mobile products and services designed to offer consumers, operators and developers unrivalled choice and opportunity. As each company would focus on its core competencies, the partnership would create the opportunity for rapid time to market execution. Additionally, Nokia and Microsoft plan to work together to integrate key assets and create completely new service offerings, while extending established products and services to new markets.

Under the proposed partnership:

• Nokia would adopt Windows Phone as its principal smartphone strategy, innovating on top of the platform in areas such as imaging, where Nokia is a market leader.

• Nokia would help drive the future of Windows Phone. Nokia would contribute its expertise on hardware design, language support, and help bring Windows Phone to a larger range of price points, market segments and geographies.

• Nokia and Microsoft would closely collaborate on joint marketing initiatives and a shared development roadmap to align on the future evolution of mobile products.

• Bing would power Nokia’s search services across Nokia devices and services, giving customers access to Bing’s next generation search capabilities. Microsoft adCenter would provide search advertising services on Nokia’s line of devices and services.

• Nokia Maps would be a core part of Microsoft’s mapping services. For example, Maps would be integrated with Microsoft’s Bing search engine and adCenter advertising platform to form a unique local search and advertising experience

• Nokia’s extensive operator billing agreements would make it easier for consumers to purchase Nokia Windows Phone services in countries where credit-card use is low.

• Microsoft development tools would be used to create applications to run on Nokia Windows Phones, allowing developers to easily leverage the ecosystem’s global reach.

• Nokia’s content and application store would be integrated with Microsoft Marketplace for a more compelling consumer experience.

“Today, developers, operators and consumers want compelling mobile products, which include not only the device, but the software, services, applications and customer support that make a great experience,” Stephen Elop, Nokia President and CEO, said at a joint news conference in London. “Nokia and Microsoft will combine our strengths to deliver an ecosystem with unrivalled global reach and scale. It’s now a three-horse race.”

“I am excited about this partnership with Nokia,” said Steven A. Ballmer, Microsoft CEO. “Ecosystems thrive when fueled by speed, innovation and scale.The partnership announced today provides incredible scale, vast expertise in hardware and software innovation and a proven ability to execute.”

Please visit www.nokia.com/press for press materials.

Nikon Coolpix S8100

Photography Blog has reviewed a travel zoom digital camera from Nikon. The Nikon camera has a nice optical zoom lens starting at 30mm and it is able to record HD movies with stereo sound.

Some key features for the Nikon Coolpix S8100:
-12.1 megapixel image sensor
-10x optical zoom lens (30-300mm)
-Image stabilization
-3″ LCD screen
-1080p high-definition movies with stereo sound
-HDR imaging

Photography Blog ends up giving the Coolpix S8100 a “Recommended” rating with an overall score of 4 out of 5 possible stars. The camera scores highest on design and features, a little lower on ease of use and value for your money, while it scores lowest on image quality. What keeps the Nikon from getting a top score is that the image quality could have been better and the lens could have been a bit wider. The S8100 is better than the previous S8000, but let us hope Nikon works even harder with their next camera in this line.
Read the full review of the Nikon Coolpix S8100 travel zoom camera here.

Canon Pixma MX882

About.com has reviewed a color inkjet printer from Canon that is able to do wireless printing. The Printer is called Canon Pixma MX882 and has neat features such as automatic duplexing and support for different kind of memory cards.

Some key features for the Canon Pixma MX882:
-Color print resolution up to 9600 x 2400 dpi
-Able copy, scan, print and fax
-35-sheet auto document feeder
-Automatic duplexing
-Supports media cards (SD Memory Card, Memory StickR, Memory Stick Pro, and Memory Stick Duo)

About.com ends up giving the Pixma MX882 an overall rating of 3.5 stars out of 5 possible. The printer has several good sides including fast printing, great print quality, automatic duplexing, wireless printing, fast print speeds and ADF. On the negative side the reviewer finds aspects such as slow duplexing speeds and it takes a bit of time to set the printer up.
Read the full review of the Canon Pixma MX882 Wireless Office All-In-One printer here.

Ricoh CX5

There are an extreme amount of compact digital cameras out on the market. Many are similar to each other, but the
Ricoh CX5 is a bit different as it actually focuses on photography. Photography has now tested this 10 megapixel camera from Ricoh.

Some key features for the Ricoh CX5:
-10 megapixel back-illuminated image sensor
-10.7x optical zoom lens (28-300mm)
-Hybrid AF system
-3″ LCD screen (920K dots)
-Smooth Imaging Engine IV image processing engine
-720p HD video recording

Photography Blog ends up giving the CX5 a “Recommended” rating of 4 out of 5 possible stars. The camera gets a pretty good score on image quality, value for your money, design and features. Overall Ricoh has produced a good compact camera, but there are not many changes from the Ricoh CX4 so if if you own the CX4 is probably is not a good idea to upgrade. There is also a good deal of other good compact cameras from different brands so you should take a good look at the alternatives before you buy the CX5.
Read the full review of the Ricoh CX5 digital camera here.