Rollei has announced a second new camera, the five megapixel wideangle lens dr5100. The aluminum-bodied compact offers a 3x zoom lens (28 - 85 mm) as well as a movie mode, 1.8-inch LCD plus a very close macro mode of 1cm. Like the dk4010 also announced today, the dr5100 has a hot shoe for accessory flash, as well as a built in flash. Storage media of choice is SD/MMC card and there's 16MB of internal memory to get you started, although with a five megapixel CCD, this isn't likely to last very long. It is available now priced €349 (approx. $458).

Press Release:

Five Wins

Rollei add powerful 5.1-megapixel Rollei dr5100 to their line of digital cameras

Weighing in at only 205 g, the Rollei dr5100 is a pleasure to handle. Its stylish aluminum body and an ergonomically shaped rubber grip on the right-hand side make the new digital camera very handy indeed. But there is more to the Rollei dr5100 than just easy operation and good looks. Both discriminating amateurs and professional users will be impressed by its features: 5.1 megapixels, 3x D-VarioApogon zoom lens, voice and video recording plus a host of manual controls.

The Rollei dr5100 comes with a fast f/2.5-4.3 wide-angle zoom lens covering focal lengths from 28-85mm (converted to 35mm photography). The extremely short focal lengths at the lower end are ideal for sweeping panoramas and group pictures even in confined space. The 5.13-megapixel CCD sensor in conjunction with the Apogon lens is good for outstanding images that can be printed out to sizes up to DIN A3. The 3x optical zoom is backed up by a 4x digital zoom so that the range of focal lengths can, if necessary, be extended to a whopping 28-336 mm.

Autofocusing is possible from 30 cm to infinity. A macrofocusing mode permits full-frame closeups right up to 1 cm from the lens. In addition to a real-image zoom finder there is a 1.8-inch TFT color screen with 130,000 pixels for high-fidelity image display. In the sync-monitor mode, the monitor will switch off at the instant of exposure.

Professional users will appreciate the extremely short shutter lag of the Rollei dr5100. The camera is not only ready to shoot 1.2 seconds after it has been switched on, but will start exposure a mere 0.12 second after you have pressed the shutter release – certain to capture even fast-fleeting moments.

The power-supply concept is versatile: Users may choose between alkaline or rechargeable size AA batteries and a 3.7V lithium-ion battery.

Exposure, white balance and flash can be controlled either automatically or manually, to suit the shooting conditions. Automatic exposure control includes programmed AE and aperture-priority AE. Manual exposure compensation is possible in 1/3 increments over +/-2.0 EV. Metering methods include center-weighted average, multizone evaluative and spot metering. The built-in flash will save the day when the light is low, with auto, On, Off, red-eye reduction and fill modes. There also is a hot shoe for external flash units. In addition to Auto, white balance has presets for Manual, Sun, Cloudy, Tungsten and Fluorescent.

A very practical feature is the electronic dial located near the shutter release, which serves to conveniently set aperture, white balance ISO sensitivity (ISO 60 – 1500!) and exposure compensation with your index finger.

In addition to single frames, the Rollei dr5100 allows continuous shooting. A built-in self-timer will trigger the shutter with a delay of either 2 or 10 seconds. To simplify matters for the hurried or less skilled user, there are six subject modes, including portrait, sports, landscape, night, text and high sensitivity.

Rollei dr5100 specifications