Digital Camera Information

Looks like Olympus will be joining Canon and Nikon by releasing their new DSLR this year. This time it’s the new professional 10 mega pixels Olympus E-3 due to be announced on the 17th October 2007. The new swivel LCD screen looks great. The E-3 replaces the ageing Olympus E-1 announced in 2003.

So far, the recent releases have been Canon with its Canon 40D, Nikon with the Nikon D3 and the D300 and now we are just waiting for the official announcement by Olympus and also Sony.

What a competitive market and I can’t wait to see who comes out with the highest market share towards the later part of the year.

Source

Here is an interesting article from www.asahi.com about Nikon surpassing Canon with a larger market share in Digital SLR cameras within Japan during January to June 2007. This came about by a strong push mainly with the release of the Nikon D40.

It is interesting to see how strong Nikon is these days and it must be concerning to Canon, especially in light of all the issues with the Canon Mark III. This would have to have some professional user worried about the stability of their platform.

The comment about Sony being in third place is a bit misleading though. Sony only have one DSLR model, the A100 and although it is about a year old, it’s an excellent result considering they’re still coming in with similar numbers to Pentax and Olympus I’m sure when the two new Sony models (A100 replacement plus a professional model) comes out sometime this year, Sony market share will rise even further.

Anyhow here’s what they write:

“ Nikon Corp., buoyed by the popularity of its D40 model, sold more digital single-lens reflex cameras than rival Canon Inc. in the first half of 2007.

The model, released in April, weighs 375 grams.(IHT/Asahi: July 19,2007) “

It looks like the Olympus E-1 replacement called the E-p1 is going to be a beauty. Yes the rumors are true and judging from the leaked pdf file, it seems they are gearing up their sales team to target the flaws of the Canon 30D and the Nikon D200. They seem to have done their market research and have determined by their own internal survey that Nikon D200 and Canon 30D users are not satisfied with the following:

Nikon D200 / 30D customers are not satisfied with:
• 95% coverage finder (Olympus provides 100% coverage and bigger finder)

• No sensor dust solution (Olympus provides the most effective dust reduction system)

• Expensive image stabilized VR / IS lenses (Olympus provides the body built-in image stabilizer available) for all lenses

• No built-in wireless flash control (30D) - Canon customers have to buy a bulky hot-shoe clipping wireless controller unit for wireless applications

• No splash-proof body (30D)

In addition, they say Olympus E-1 customers’ are expecting

• More pixels and less noise
• Fastest AF and more AF points
• More accurate AE
• Larger LCD monitor
• Faster burst rate
• Higher shutter speed and flash sync. speed
• Built-in flash
• Wireless flash control capability
• Live View capability with swivel monitor
• Image stabilization

So what does the new Olympus EP-1 offers, see below for more detail and judge for yourself.

Here are some interesting facts for 2006 for digital cameras. According to Reuters, Canon has topped the market share in global digital camera shipments in 2006, however South Korea’s Samsung Electronics jumped up the ranks to 5th place from 9th a year ago. Nikon is ranked 6th in the world.

Tokyo-based Canon shipped 19.7 million digital cameras in 2006 which accounted for 18.7 percent of the overall market. Canon’s shipments jumped 23.3 percent from 2005.

In total, the Industry wide digital camera shipments in 2006 rose 14.5 percent to 106 million units from a year earlier. This was driven by the strong popularity of Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) cameras. DSLR shipments grew 39 percent to 5 million units last year.

Sony Corp was No. 2 in the market with a 15.8 percent share, up from 15.2 percent in 2005. This was helped with the introduction into the DSLR market with the Alpha A100.

Eastman Kodak which is the only U.S. Company among the top five digital camera makers, ranked third with 10 percent, a drop from its 14.2 percent share a year earlier. This could be due to their exit of the DSLR market a few years ago.

Olympus Corporation came in fourth with a market share of 8.6 percent, down 9.8 percent in 2005.

The big winner in 2006 was Samsung, who displaced Nikon and became the fifth-largest seller of digital cameras in the world. Samsung has expanded its market share to 7.8 percent in 2006 which is a huge jump from the 3.8 percent it had a year earlier.

Nikon Corporation, the world’s second-biggest maker of professional cameras (DSLR) after Canon, ranked No. 6 in the overall digital camera market with a 7.6 percent market share in 2006.

Digital SLR Market
Canon also dominated the booming DSLR market, securing a 46.7 percent share in 2006, with its shipments rising 30.7 percent from a year earlier. But its share was trimmed from the 49.5 percent it had in 2006 amid increased competition from rivals.

Nikon cemented the No. 2 position in DSLRs with a 33 percent market share. Its shipments jumped 35.9 percent with the introduction of successful models such as the Nikon D50, D70s, D80 and the D200.

Sony, which purchased the DSLR unit of Konica Minolta Holdings, shipped 326,240 DSLRs in 2006, accounting for 6.2 percent of the market. A great result after being in the market for under a year.

According to the latest report by BCN which is market research firm constantly monitoring POS data from 2,680 stores operated by 23 contracted major retailing companies. Nikon has the number 1 market share in Japan.

Nikon has claimed 47% of the DSLR market in Japan during December 2006. The increased market share was attributed to strong sales of the popular Nikon D80 and the price competitive Nikon D40.

Canon came in with a market share of 35 percent. Pentax and Sony followed with a market share of 10 percent and 6 percent, respectively.

Canon has always been the constant leader in the Japanese DSLR market, for example with a market share of 45 percent in July and 48 percent in September last year, followed by Nikon (37 percent in July and 33 percent in September) and Pentax (10 percent in July and 8 percent in September).

In terms of by-model share, however, Canon’s Digital Kiss X (digital Rebel XTi) kept the top spot for 13 weeks consecutively with a 27.3 percent market share in December, followed by Nikon’s D80 (16.3 percent), D40 (15.5 percent) and D200 (9.1 percent), reports JPEA International PEN News Weekly.

Many industry watchers were skeptical when Nikon announced the D40, saying it would be difficult for Nikon to sell as it hoped in the market where DSLRs featuring 10-megapixel or more pixel counts are the mainstream. Contrary to the popular belief, however, the Nikon D40 apparently made a good start in the Japanese market, reports PEN News Weekly.

In addition, the release of the Canon 30D which in reality was just a facelift by keeping the same 8 mega pixel sensor did not really push Canon higher.

Source

Olympus has been busy this year with the announcement of seven different cameras.
They are as follows:

FE 210 – A 7.1 mega pixel, 3x optical zoom, 2.5 inch LCD screen and an ISO of up to 640

FE230 – A 7.1 mega pixel, 3x optical zoom, 2.5 inch LCD screen and an ISO of up to 1250

FE240 – A 7.1 mega pixel, 5x optical zoom, 2.5 inch LCD screen and an ISO of up to 1000

FE250 – A 8 mega pixel, 3x optical zoom, 2.5 inch LCD screen and an ISO of up to 3200 or 6400 and 10,000 in 3 mega pixel

u770SW - A 7.1 mega pixel 8 mega pixel, 3x optical zoom, 2.5 inch LCD screen and an ISO of up to 1600

SP-550UZ - A 7.1 mega pixel, 18x optical zoom, 2.5 inch LCD screen and an ISO of up to 5000

U760 – A 7.1megapixel, 3x optical zoom, 2.5 inch LCD screen and an ISO of up to 1600

Only two of these cameras sound interesting and they are the FE250 with a massive high ISO of 6400 and 10,000 in 3 mega pixel mode and the SP-550UZ with an 18x optical zoom and a high ISO of 5000.

It seems marketers are now using high ISO as another way of standing out in the crowd and compromising picture quality for higher and nosier sensitivity. It will be interesting to see if any of these high ISO settings are even usable or just predictability noisy. Even the top DSLR from Canon or Nikon do not claim to go that high.

What I would like to see is bigger sensors in cameras rather using pixel binning to increase the sensitivity as in the FE-250. Pixel binning does not increase the size of the actual photosites; it just combines the results of several photosites into a single pixel.

Olympus has announced the release of their smallest 10 megapixel DSLR camera, the E-400. Shown below is a side by side comparison of the size between the E-400 and the E-330. As with all E-System cameras, the E-400 is protected by a Supersonic Wave Filter which prevents dust and dirt from sticking to the CCD.

The Olympus E-400 is based on the Four Thirds Standard.

Olympus is also introducing two new ultra-compact ZUIKO DIGITAL lenses: the ED 14-42mm 1:3.5-5.6 (equiv. to 28-84mm on a 35mm camera), which is perfect for standard use and, for more magnification power, the ED 40-150mm 1:4.0-5.6 (equiv. to 80-300mm on a 35mm camera).

Features of the camera are as follows:

E-400 Features
10.0 million pixel
6.4cm/2.5” LCD
Supersonic Wave Filter for dust protection
Dual memory card slots (for xD-Picture Card and Compact Flash)
31 shooting modes (incl. 5 exposure, 7 creative & 19 scene modes)
Built-in pop-up flash (GN 10)
3fps with up to five images in RAW buffer
One touch white balance
TruePic TURBO image processor
AE/AF lock functionality
Depth of field preview function
Improved 49 segment digital ESP and spot metering
Exposure Bracketing function
Large beginners and advanced info screen
Detailed playback info screen with histogram
Exceptional ease of use with intuitive GUI and buttons that provide immediate access to frequently used features
JPEG & RAW recording
Based on Four Thirds Standard
Underwater Case available (PT-E03) waterproof to 40m

Contents
E-400 Body:
BLS-1 rechargeable lithium-ion battery
BCS-1 battery charger
EP-4 eyepiece cover
Shoulder Strap
USB Cable
Video cable
Olympus Master (Software CD-ROM)
Basic Manual
Advanced Manual (CD-ROM)
Warranty Card

E-400 Kit:
E-400 Body
ED 14-42mm 1:3.5-5.6 lens

E-400 Double Zoom Kit:
E-400 Body
ED 14-42mm 1:3.5-5.6 lens
ED 40-150mm 1:4.0-5.6 lens

Specifications of the camera are as follows:

E-400 Specifications

Image Sensor
Image Sensor 10.8 Million Pixels CCD sensor
17.3 x 13.0 mm

Effective pixels
10 Million Pixels

Aspect ratio
4:3
Filter array primary colour filter (RGB)

LCD
HyperCrystal LCD
Pixel number 215,000 pixels
Monitor size 6.4 cm / 2.5 ”
Brightness adjustment +/- 7 steps

Viewfinder
Viewfinder type Eye-level single-lens view finder
Field of view Approx. 95 %
Magnification Approx. 0.92 x with a 50mm lens set to infinity at -1 dioptres
Depth of field preview Available
Eye point 14 mm at -1 dioptres
Diopter adjustment +1.0 -3.0 diopter built-in type
Focusing Screen Fixed type (Neo Lumi-Micron Mat Screen)
Mirror Quick return mirror
Viewfinder Information AF frame (super impose), AE/AF lock, AF confirmation mark, metering mode, exposure mode, shutter speed, aperture value, white balance, exposure compensation value indicator, flash, battery check
Eye piece shutter Eye-piece cap EP-4 supplied

Focusing System
Focusing system TTL phase difference detection system
Focus areas 3 points
AF illuminator Built-in flash (external flash available)
AE/AF lock Locked by first position of shutter release button in single AF mode, AE/AF lock button (customised)
Detection range 0 EV 19 EV (ISO 100)
Focus area selection Automatic and manual selection
Focus tracking Available in continuous AF mode
Focus aid Available
Manual focus Available by rotating focus ring, available for setting manual focus operation in AF mode (customised)
AF modes Single AF
Single AF + MF
Continuous AF
Continuous AF + MF

Light metering
TTL open aperture light metering 49 zones Multi-pattern Sensing System
Detection range EV 1 to 20 (50mm 1:2, ISO 100)
Metering Modes ESP light metering
Spot metering
Centre weighted metering
Highlight based Spot Metering
Shadow based Spot Metering

Exposure modes
Auto
Programme automatic with Programme Shift
Aperture priority
Shutter priority
Manual
Scene modes

Scene modes
Portrait
Landscape
Landscape with Portrait
Night scene
Night scene with portrait
Children
Sports
High key
Low key
Image Stabilisation Mode
Macro
Nature Macro
Candle
Sunset
Fireworks
Documents
Beach and Snow
Underwater Wide
Underwater Macro

Exposure System
Exposure compensation +/-5 EV in 1/3 EV steps
Bracketing 3 frames in +/- 1, 2/3, 1/3 EV steps

Sensitivity
Auto ISO 100-1600 100 and 1600
Manual ISO 100-1600 (in each 1/3 EV steps possible).

White Balance
White balance adjustment -7 / +7 in each R-B / G-M axis (in Auto WB and preset WB mode)
AUTO WB system Advanced detection system with CCD imager
Manual White balance (One-Touch) Available (customised via function button Fn)
Selectable steps in Kelvin 7 steps (3000 - 7500 K)
Preset WB Overcast
Shade
Tungsten
Sunlight
Flourescent 1
Flourescent 2
Flourescent 3

Internal Flash
Guide number 10
Flash compensation +/- 2 EV in 1/3 EV steps
AUTO AUTO
Flash modes Red-eye reduction
Slow synchronisation
Slow synchronisation 2nd curtain
Fill in
Slow synchronisation with red-eye reduction
Off

Sequence Shooting
Sequential shooting mode 3 fps 10 frames (approx.) in HQ JPEG mode
Sequential shooting mode RAW 3 fps 5 frames

Image Processing
Colour space sRGB / AdobeRGB
Image processing TruePic TURBO
Sharpness + Contrast 5 levels in each picture mode
Saturation 5 levels in each picture mode
Contrast 5 levels in each picture mode
Black & White Filter Yellow, Orange, Red, Green
Black & White toning Sepia, Blue, Purple or Green in Black & White mode
Picture Mode Vivid, Natural, Muted, Black & White
Gradation 3 levels

Image Editing
RAW data edit
Red-eye reduction
Sepia
Black & White
Resize
Correction of saturation

View images
Histogram in playback mode
Zoom 2-14 x
Index 4, 9, 16, 25 frames
Slide show
Calendar
Shooting Information Exposure mode, metering mode, shutter speed, aperture value, exposure compensation level, ISO, colour space, white balance mode, white balance compensation level, focal length, focus area, file type, picture mode, file name, image size, recorded card type.
Exposure level view Histogram (R,G,B available), High light point warning, Shadow point warning.

Still image recording
EXIF 2.2
PIM III
DPOF
JPEG
JPEG compression 1/2.7 SHQ 1/8 HQ 1/2.7, 1/4, 1/8 or 1/12 SQ

Image size
3648 x 2736
3200 x 2400
2560 x 1920 SQ
1600 x 1200 SQ
1280 x 960 SQ
1024 x 768 SQ
640 x 480 SQ

Interface
USB 1.1
Combined V & USB output NTSC or PAL selectable

Size
Dimensions 129.5 mm (W) x 91 mm (H) x 53 mm (D) (excluding protrusions)
Weight 375 g (body only)

According to Bloomberg, Sony Corporation has taken more than a fifth of Japan’s digital single-lens reflex camera market in its debut month. Considering that the only other 10 megapixel DSLR on the market within the same range was the more expensive Nikon D200, I’m not surprised.

What will be interesting is if the Sony Alpha can maintain this momentum when the similar spec Nikon D80 and the Canon 400D / Rebel Xti goes on sale.

Bloomberg write : “.. Sony, which began selling its “alpha DSLR-A100” on July 21, had a 21.6 percent share in the month and a 19 percent share in the three weeks to Aug. 20, compared with the Tokyo-based company’s target for 10 percent of the global market this year, according to data compiled by BCN.

Sony and Panasonic’s entry into the digital SLR market, “is much welcomed, as this will raise consumer awareness and accelerate the growth of the overall digital SLR market,” said Canon Marketing’s Ashizawa. Canon expects the domestic digital SLR market to grow to more than 1 million units by 2010 from the estimated 660,000 units this year.

Source: Bloomberg

It looks like the Olympus E-1 replacement is getting closer and closer by the moment. As expected, the confirmed named is the Olympus E-3 as indicated through a search in the US Patent and Trademark site for the term E-3. Interestingly an extension to the trademark has been applied for on the 27th June 06.

According to Reuters, Nikon has exceeded expectation by boosting shipments of Digital SLR cameras by about 35 percent year-on-year in April and May 2006. This puts Nikon on track to beat its annual estimate.

The Nikon’s factory in Thailand, which produces the popular Nikon D50, D70s and D200 digital SLR models, is running at full capacity to meet world-wide demand. Unless there are problems with their current supply chain it looks like Nikon is going to have an excellent year as their efficiencies are at its maximum level.

Nikon Senior Managing Director Makoto Kimura says:

“Conditions for all three models are very tight worldwide. We can sell as many as we can produce,”

Kimura said its performance in April and May had put the firm on a pace to exceed its forecast for digital SLR shipments to rise 30.6 percent to 1.75 million units this financial year to March. That forecast was unveiled in May.

“We estimated growth of about 30 percent, but we are now moving at a pace that would allow us to beat that,” he said.

Nikon will be facing strong competition from Sony, Pentax, Panasonic and Olympus in the next few months as these newcomers especially Sony has their aim of gaining Nikons No.2 spot. Again Kimura has this to say:

“I consider them both to be a threat. They may not have a big impact in the short-term of one or two years, but from a long-term perspective of three to five years we will have to watch very closely the kind of products they bring to market,” he said.

The future trend with DSLR will be a reduction in price with current technology. The end result will be the introduction of new low cost models and may include the rumored EOS 3000D or even the Nikon D30.

Source