Today in one of several announcements Fuji announced the MX-4700, based on the design of the rest of the 700 series but radically updated with a new LCD display built-into the command wheel, larger LCD display and a whopping 4.3 megapixel SuperCCD. This is now the highest resolution consumer digital camera on the market.

Vitals: 4.3 Megapixels, 3x Zoom, ISO: 200-800, SmartMedia, Price: 128,000 Yen (US$1100), on-sale: March 1st, 2000 (Japan).

UPDATED: Impress PC Watch post coverage of the Fujifilm Japan Launch of these cameras

Fuji FinePix 4700 Specifications

Fuji FinePix 4700 Storage Specifications

(Sizes of 4MB, 8MB, 16MB, 32MB & 64MB refer to numbers of images which could be stored on corresponding sized SmartMedia cards)

Reuters Press Release

Fuji Photo to sell 4.32 mln-pixel digital camera

TOKYO, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Fuji Photo Film Co Ltd said on Monday it will begin selling a 4.32 million-pixel digital camera in Japan on March 1.

The 32.9 millimetre-thin, 255 gram ``FinePix4700Z'' is the world's first digital camera using over four million pixels in a high-quality image sensor, Fuji Photo said.

The 0.58 inch CCD (charge-coupled device) sensor generates larger, octagonal-shaped photodiodes situated at 45-degree angles, which increases sensitivity and offers a wider range and sharper digital images, Japan's leading photo film maker said.

A Fuji Photo spokesman said the company will eventually sell the digital camera overseas, but declined to comment on its sales target.

Global digital camera demand was estimated at 4.5 to 5.0 million units in calendar 1999, and is expected to rise to about seven million units in 2000, a spokeswoman at Olympus Optical Co Ltd said last week.

Olympus, another Japanese camera maker, announced last week it will start selling a 3.34 million-pixel digital still camera in early March.

Canon Inc , a major Japanese maker of cameras and printers, also said last week it will begin selling a new 3.34 million-pixel digital still camera, the PowerShot S20, worldwide in March.