Contax announces i4R digital camera By
Mike Tomkins
(Thursday, September 30, 2004 - 00:18 EDT)
Contax has announced a new ultracompact digital camera model with a stylish (and rather unusual) design that puts the flash strobe on the sliding lens cover.
The Contax i4R has a resolution of four megapixels, and a fixed focal-length lens equivalent to 39mm on a 35mm camera. Other features include SD memory card storage, resolutions to 2272 x 1704 pixels, a 15fps VGA movie mode, 6x digital zoom, nine-point AF, three metering modes, ISO ratings from 50 - 400, a 1.5" LCD display, eight scene modes, and burst modes of 3fps without autofocus, or 1.4fps with autofocus. Pricing and availability for the camera have not been announced at this time. | Contax i4R |  | | Type | Digital still camera with record, playback and erase modes | | Recording media / Recording method | SD memory card/MMC (Multi Media Card), in compliance with DCF (*Note 1) (Exif Ver. 2.2), in compliance with JPEG, DPOF compatible (*Note 2) | | Effective Pixels | 4 Megapixel | | Image Pickup Device | 1/2.7” square pixel original color filter interlace reading system CCD (total number of pixels: 4,190,000) | | Pixels (still image) | 2272×1704, 1600×1200, 1280×960, 640×480 | | Moving image sizes | 640x480, 320x240 | | Moving image frame rate | 15 frames per second, 30 frames per second | | Lens | Carl Zeiss Tessar T* (4 elements in 3 groups) (2 aspheric, 1 high index lens element) Focal length: 6.5mm (equivalent to approx. 39mm in 35mm film format), Aperture: f/2.8 | | Electronic zoom | Up to 6x, 13 steps | | Focal adjustment | Video feedback auto focus (nine-point multi AF or spot AF selectable) | | Range of shooting | Approximately 60cm (24 inches) to infinity from the surface of the front lens element, approximately 5 (8 inches) to 60cm (24 inches) in macro mode | | Exposure control method | Program AE | | Light metering system | 3 modes selectable: CCD multi-area evaluation, center-weighted and spot metering | | Metering link range | LV6 ~ LV16 | | Exposure compensation | +2.0EV ~ -2.0EV (1/3EV steps) | | Shutter | Using both CCD electronic shutter and programmed electronic shutter with independent aperture control, 1 second to 1/2000 second | | White Balance | Auto, sunlight, overcast, incandescent, fluorescent and preset | | Color modes | Color, monochrome, sepia | | Sharpness | 5 levels: -1, standard, +1, +2, +3 | | Chroma | 3 levels: +, -, standard | | Sensitivity setting | AUTO, ISO50, 100, 200, 400 | | Liquid crystal monitor | 1.5” 130,000-pixel TFT color liquid crystal monitor with adjustable brightness control | | Flash | Built-in system, shooting range (for sensitivity setting at AUTO): approx. 60cm (24 inches) to 1.8m (5.9 feet) | | Flash Mode | Auto flash, Auto flash for red-eye reduction, Flash off, Fill-in flash | | Scene Mode | Sport action, Portrait, Night Portrait, Sunset, Twilight, Night view, Black and white, Sepia | | Moving image recording mode | AVI | | Movie image recording time | Up to full capacity of the memory card *1 | | Other shooting modes | Self timer mode (2 seconds and 10 seconds), REC review (on/off), Digital zoom | | Continuous shooting | High-speed continuous shooting: Maximum 3 frames per second, AF continuous shooting: Maximum 1.4 frames per second (Recording image size: 2272×1704), up to the full capacity of the memory card *2 | | Voice memo mode | Up to 30 seconds for each image | | Resize | Images can be resized to 320×240 or 160×120. The area to be resized can be selected. File format: JPEG | | Playback mode | Single display, group display, multi image display (six images), zoomed playback function, continuous shooting playback function, voice memo, protect, erase (single image), erase (all images), rotate, slide show, close-up playback 2x, 4x, 8x, thumbnail playback, playback of movies shot with camera, information display, DPOF setting, PictBridge setting (Note 3) | | Setup function | AF mode setting, LCD brightness adjustment, date setting, date insertion, card format, auto power-off setting, shutter sound/operational sound adjustment, startup screen selection and setting, REC review ON/OFF selection (4 seconds, 2 seconds, OFF), language selection (Japanese, English, Germany, French, Spanish, Chinese), video output selection, consecutive file number reset, setting reset, mode position of power-ON selection, digital zoom ON/OFF selectable, DISPLAY selection (information display ON/OFF) | | Input/output terminal (Camera) | Input/output terminal only for cradle connection | | Input/output terminal (Cradle) | Video output terminal(NTSC/PAL composite video, audio signal), DC input (using a dedicated AC adapter), USB terminal (miniB) | | Power source | 3.7 volt lithium-ion battery 760mAh | | Captured Images | Approximately 100 images with a new, fully charged lithium-ion battery, at room temperature, based on the guidelines of the Camera & Imaging Products Association (CIPA) | | Dimensions | 94 mm width × 38.5 mm height × 21 mm depth, excluding protrusions | | Weight | Approximately 90g, excluding battery and the recording media | | Operating temperature | 0~45 degrees Celsius (no condensation) | | More Photos |  |  |  | | . |
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