Polaroid

After what seems like years of waiting, the Polaroid x530 Foveon X3-chipped compact camera finally gets its official launch at Photokina this week, with several pre-production models on display on the Polaroid stand. The camera itself seems fairly nonedescript, though it has a relatively sophisticated feature set. The basic spec; 4.5 megapixel X3 sensor (3 layers of 1.5MP each), 3x (36-107mm equiv.) F2.8-3.4 zoom lens, VGA movies, 2.0-inch LCD, 1cm macro, AF illuminator, ISO 100-400. Interestingly, the x530 manages a trick the Sigma SD9/SD10 can't manage; as well as X3F file format it can save standard JPEGs. Another nice touch is fairly comprehensive in-camera image-editing, including red-eye reduction, white balance and color balance (we presume this only works if you are saving in X3F format). This was also our first look at Polaroid's PhotoLab software, which features the Foveon X3 Fill Light Tool, which has proved very popular amongst Sigma DSLR users.