German company Rollei, which suffered several setbacks in recent years, on Wednesday announced its return to the U.S. market with five new digital cameras that will debut at next week’s Photo Marketing Association (PMA) trade show in Orlando. The company will introduce a new top-of-the-line camera, the 16-megapixel 6008 AF, which is compatible with all of Rollei’s 6000 series AF lenses. It can be used with traditional film or with a SmartMedia storage card. Rollei’s Web site uses frames, so access the company’s medium format camera section and select the digital bundle at the top of the list, not the 6008 AF by itself, to see all the specs. Rollei expects to ship the camera later this month, with pricing around US$16,000.
The company’s other new cameras include the dr5, the dr5100, the dk4010 and the dp5200. Pricing for the dr5 hasn’t been set yet, but it will ship in March. It’s a 5-megapixel, thin-profile camera that features 4.8x optical and 3.6x digital zoom, video recording at 320 x 240 or 160 x 120 resolution, 12MB internal memory with expansion available through SD and MM media cards and PictBridge compatibility. It runs on a pair of AA batteries.
The 5.1-megapixel dr5100 ($400) doesn’t have a ship date yet. It offers 3x optical and 4x digital zoom, video recording at 320 x 240 or 160 x 120 resolution and 16MB internal memory with expansion available through SD and MM media cards. It also runs on a pair of AA batteries.
The 4-megapixel dk4010 ($500), which ships in mid-October, includes 10x optical and 6x digital zoom, unlimited continuous shooting at 3.3 images per second on average, VGA quality (640 x 480) or 320 x 240 resolution video recording, PictBridge compatibility and image storage on SD and MM media cards. It runs on four AA batteries.
Finally, the 5.2-megapixel dp5200 ($400), which ships in mid-November, offers 3x optical and 4x digital zoom and a 2.5-inch LCD that’s larger than the screens on the other cameras, including the 6008 AF. It also features VGA quality (640 x 480) or 320 x 240 resolution video recording, the ability to record 30-second audio clips and compatibility with SD media cards up to 512MB. It uses a rechargeable Lithium-Ion battery.