Sony unveils digital still cameras, printer

Sony Corp. unveiled three new digital still cameras in its Cybershot F series, including an updated version of its top-of-the-line camera, and a new home photo printer on Tuesday.

The first of the three new cameras, the DSC-F77, has a similar form to the DSC-F55DX that Sony launched in February of last year, but improves upon the earlier model in several ways. Most obviously, the F77 is a lot smaller, measuring 93 millimeters by 71 millimeters by 27 millimeters and weighing just over 150 grams. It too has a lens mounted towards the top of the body that can swivel around, through 300 degrees, and has a USB (Universal Serial Bus) cradle through which images can be easily transferred to a PC.

Features include a 4 megapixel class CCD (charge coupled device) image pick-up, optical view finder and 1.5-inch TFT (thin film transistor) LCD (liquid crystal display) panel. The device can record up to six minutes of video in Sony’s 320 x 240 HQX video mode.

A second model, the FX77, is similar to the F77 in all ways bar one: the addition of a Bluetooth feature which allows users to transfer their images via short range wireless to a personal computer or other device. The function conforms with the Bluetooth BIP (basic imaging profile) specification for transferring images between Bluetooth devices.

At the top of its digital still camera range, Sony has also unveiled a successor to its popular DSC-F707. The DSC-F717 has many similarities with the previous model, such as a similar body, 5 times optical zoom and 5 megapixel CCD image pick up. Most noticeable to F707 users will be the new position of the zoom control, which is still mounted on the left hand side of the lens barrel but is now horizontal and a lot smaller.

Other changes have been made to the camera’s electronics and these include an ISO 800 sensitivity setting, maximum shutter speed of 1/2000th of a second, more auto focus points, extra shooting and exposure modes, more white balance settings and better noise reduction. Also new is a USB 2.0 port and support for Exif (exchangeable image file) 2.2 data in stored JPEG files.

Alongside the three new cameras, Sony also unveiled a home photo printer. The DPP-EX5 is much smaller than its predecessor, the DPP-SV55, and like the earlier model allows users to print out high quality copies of their digital images without a personal computer. The quality has been left unchanged at 16.7 million colors and a resolution of 403 dots per inch (dpi). The printer has three quality modes and can also print out game screen shots from the company’s PlayStation or PlayStation 2 game consoles.

Prices of all four new products have yet to be announced and they will all go on sale in Japan in October. They will also be on show at Sony Dream World, an exhibition of Sony products and services that is due to take place in Yokohama, Japan, on Sept. 14 and 15.