Alphabetical list (page 2)

Note: Some of the stand shots were taken before the show was open to the public (hence the lack of anyone at the stand).

Epson

Epson had to stands, the smaller of which (pictured below) was clearly aimed at the digital camera market and had a couple of interesting prototype products. The USB Direct prototype printer claims to remove at least one unique feature Canon have touted for a while and that's the ability to print directly from your digital camera. The current prototype works with the new Olympus digital cameras (C-50Z, C-5050Z, C-730UZ). The other prototype printer had an xD-Picture Card slot for direct prints from xD flash storage cards, again linking back into their relationship with Olympus.

Epson stand	Epson Stylus Photo 915
"USB Direct" prototype printer	"xD Direct" prototype printer
Site links	External links • Epson Europe • Epson USA

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Foveon

Foveon had a suitably subtle and reserved stand, primarily their space was taken up by meeting rooms. There were definitely people passing the stand and asking questions about the X3 sensor technology but we suspect the real business was going on behind closed doors. Despite hanging around near the stand for a short while we didn't see anyone from any of the major manufacturers going in or out... The majority of the public 'X3' activity was of course at the Sigma stand.

Foveon Stand
Site links • Foveon X3 • Foveon X3 exclusive preview	External links • Foveon

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Fujifilm

Fujifilm introduced two new cameras at Photokina. The FinePix F402 is a smaller, fixed focal length version of the F401 Zoom. Sticking with a similar sliding front power switch design the F402 is quite thin and certainly lighter than the F401, it has the same 2.4 megapixel SuperCCD sensor but looses the zoom lens replaced by a fixed focal length lens. Also new at the show was the interesting FinePix M603, a dual-purpose digital camera which is capable of recording either still images or video directly to xD-Picture Card or IBM Microdrive. A nice design with a very large 2.5" LCD monitor and a two times optical zoom lens the M603 is certainly quite capable of recording long video clips, my concern however is that it's still not using a particularly efficient video compression algorithm.

The front of the huge Fujifilm stand	The digital camera part of the Fujifilm stand
Front of the FinePix F402	Rear of the FinePix F402
Front of the FinePix M603	Rear of the FinePix M603 - big screen!
FinePix M603 Storage - Type II CF or xD Card	The first SuperCCD to be used in a non-Fujifilm product, in this case a Japanese 'J-Phone'
Site links • Fujifilm FinePix F402 • Fujifilm FinePix M603	External links • Fujifilm UK • Fujifilm USA

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HP

HP announced the Photosmart 850 approximately three weeks before Photokina. The 850 is probably HP's biggest step forward in the digital camera arena in some time. It's based on the four megapixel engine used in the 812 but adds an eight times zoom Fuji lens and a bright (surprisingly in fact) EVF. The HP stand was impressive because of the number of demonstrators and demo stations, there was plenty of opportunity for visitors to get hands on and do test prints.

The very interactive HP stand	Demonstrator showing the HP 812
The new HP 850 demonstrated and hands-on	Rear of the HP 850
Site links • HP Photosmart 850 • HP Photosmart 850 Preview • HP Photosmart 812 Review	External links • HP

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Kodak

Kodak as usual had the biggest 'space' (we can't call it a stand, it occupied an entire hall) at Photokina. A large yellow room separated into various business units (digital consumer, film, professional etc.) and dominated by two huge cut-out faces positioned perfectly for you to walk into when not concentrating. The Kodak hall was also positioned perfectly as the 'walk through' from halls 1, 2 and 3 to halls 9 through 14.

On the compact consumer side of product Kodak announced the LS443 a very nicely designed and 'quality feel' four megapixel three times optical zoom compact digital camera. This camera has some promise and is kitted out with branded (Schneider-Kreuznach) lens. The LS443 is priced at $500 and should be available in October.

For $3500 more you can get yourself the fourteen megapixel DCS-14n which is based around the Nikon F80 exposure system and F-mount and has a full size (36 x 24 mm) CMOS sensor. Kodak probably stole the show with this announcement. This camera was a shock to the industry, especially announced just a day before Canon's 11 megapixel EOS-1Ds which will cost considerably more. The DCS-14n marks Kodak Professional's return to the SLR market, with a vengeance. The camera is compact and light, something we've not previously been able to relate to a Kodak DCS D-SLR. The full size sensor means that those nice wide Nikkor lenses will provide a full field of view in the same way they would on a Nikon film camera (there is no field of view crop).

The DSC-14n is also spells the end of Canon's ownership of the large format CMOS sensor as a unique selling point. The sensor in the DCS-14n was designed by the FillFactory (Belgian company) and is produced in Israel (Tower). It's the first (and we suspect not the last) large, high pixel CMOS sensor outside of Canon. Other unique notes about the sensor are that it has no anti-alias filter (which will make it sharper and more sensitive, although more susceptible to moiré) and no microlenses (which can lead to chromatic aberration effects).

The DCS-14n's body (the lower portion) is designed and made by Kodak (you'll find a picture of the cast below), the top third of the camera is from Nikon, as is the exposure and AF system, some of the connectors and the F-mount. A lot of the camera's weight saving comes from its battery pack which is made from two Lithium-Ion mobile phone style batteries and is extremely light. The camera felt good and shot well with a logical menu and good information feedback LCD below the main LCD monitor. Obviously we'll be doing a full review of the DSC-14n just as soon as Kodak can get one to us!

Also new was the 645H medium format back which features Kodak's 16 megapixel sensor. The H suffix indicates compatibility with Hasselblad's new H1 medium format camera, which drew big crowds of its own. We were lucky enough to steal away with a sample shot from this combination, you'll find a link to that just below these photos.

Front entrance to the Kodak stand	Inside the stand, this was a quiet moment
EasyShare LS443 in its dock	EasyShare LS443
EasyShare LS443 rear	Kodak Pro DSC-14n
Kodak Pro DSC-14n	Kodak Pro DSC-14n rear
Kodak Pro DSC-14n main body mould	Kodak Pro DSC-14n battery pack (very light)
Kodak Pro DSC-14n circuitry (some of)	Kodak Pro DSC-14n CMOS sensor
Site links • Kodak EasyShare LS443 • Kodak Pro DCS-14n • Kodak Pro 645H Back • Kodak Pro 645H Back sample	External links • Kodak

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