Contax announces i4R digital camera By
Michael R. Tomkins, The Imaging Resource (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
Contax announces i4R digital camera
