Fujifilm announces first 4G CCD digicams

 

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By Matt Whipp

Posted on 19 Feb 2003 at 16:58

With the PMAI (Photo Marketing Association International) show coming up in March, the camera manufacturers are rolling out new devices in preparation.

Fujifilm will be showing off cameras based on its fourth-generation Super CCDs and has announced details of the F410 Zoom and F700 - the first to incorporate the new CCDs.

With its 3.1 million effective pixels, Fujifilm claims the fourth generation Super CCD HR in the F410 is able to produce enough detail for images containing 6.2 million recorded pixels, using a CCD of the same physical size.

Conversely, the fourth generation Super CCD SR that is enclosed in the F700 houses 3.1 million diode pairs, meaning a 6.2 million effective pixel count. Physical size isn't the issue here, but rather picture quality. Fujifilm claims the diode pairs of the SR CCDs offer a greatly enhanced tonal range and will appear in the company's high-end range.

As the successor to the F401 Zoom, Fujifilm is keeping to the compact design and adopting the Super CCD HR that it claims captures 50 per cent more detail than its third-generation Super CCD.

The F410 Zoom (pictured) boasts a new Super EBC Fujinon 3x optical zoom high sensitivity settings of up to ISO 800. Movie mode can capture more than a minute and a half of AVI video at QVGA resolution (320x240) when using the bundled 16MB xD-Picture Card (Fujifilm's co-developed storage format that is optimised to handle images).

There's also a USB cradle for easy picture transfer and battery recharging.

Above and beyond this, the F700 offers even higher sensitivity settings (up to ISO 1600) and RAW mode, for the capture of uncompressed or processed images.

Fujifilm tells us that prices for the F410 will be comparable to the F401 it replaces, which hit the high street at around the £300 (including VAT) price. However, the price for the F700 has not yet been disclosed.

Both cameras are Mac and PC compatible.