Jon Pepper
Digital cameras are moving out of the realm of high-tech curiosity and into the world of everyday business. The ability of these cameras to let you preview images and upload them to a PC appeals to many consumers, at least in principle. But the execution of the first round or two of products left much to be desired, especially for cost-conscious businesses. The first digital cameras were often too expensive and too limited in quality, while suffering from less than optimal storage and battery life. That's all changing, however.
The latest digital cameras address many prior products' weaknesses while offering slick new capabilities and packaging. New sto
rage options and improved software have also reached the market.
Early digital cameras often looked l
ike high-tech binoculars. But newer cameras are smaller, and some have quite innovative form factors. For example, the new $499.95 PV-DC1000
PalmCam
from Panasonic (201-348-7000;
http://www.panasonic.com
) weighs just 5.5 ounces, yet it delivers VGA quality and stores up to 94 images (at 320 by 240 resolution) or 32 images at finer (640 by 480) resolution. And it still manages to include a 1.2-inch LCD for playback of images. The camera runs off a rechargeable nicad battery.
Another innovation comes from the $499
Coolpix 100
from Nikon (800-52-NIKON;
http://www.nikonusa.com
). This might be the ultimate digital camera for the road warrior. The Coolpix 100 is essentially a point-and-shoot camera on a PC Card: You can take photos and then access the images immediately by inserting the camera/card into a laptop or desktop PC. The images taken through the all-glass Nikon lens are very good. The camera can store 21 images in fine mode, 42 in normal mode.
Also notable is the new PowerShot 350 from Canon (800-848-4123;
http://www.ccsi.canon.com
). It has a 1.8-inch color LCD and a 350,000-pixel CCD sensor. The PowerShot uses a removable 2-MB CompactFlash card for storing up to 47 photos. The $699 camera is also available in a somewhat different version from Konica.
Image storage has been a big issue until now; many cameras haven't had a cheap and easy way to add extra "film."
Now, several competing schemes are on the market, including Intel's newly released minicards, which are featured in both the Konica Q-EZ and the HP PhotoSmart Digital Camera (made by Konica). These tiny cards are inexpensive (about $50 for a 2-MB and $75 for a 4-MB card) and hold about 16 fine and 32 regular-quality images. The cards will be manufactured by Intel and other companies, so they should be widely available. An optional adapter lets you view images directly on screen without using the camera. Other vendors, including Canon and NEC, use the competing CompactFlash format.
All these improvements have analysts forecasting that the number of digital cameras sold will double this year compared to last year. Businesses that want to easily put images into documents and to share pictures with clients or other workers in a secure fashion (i.e., no outside processing) are helping to fuel this new demand. Says Jonathan Cassel, an analyst with Dataquest, "I think a lot of the growth for this market will c
ome from business."
photo_link (13 Kbytes)
Panasonic's PalmCam fits in your hand yet holds up to 94 images.
photo_link (36 Kbytes)
Nikon's CoolPix is a camera on a card.
Cameras Get Down to Business
