"Stealth" Camera from Kodak Hits the Streets! (DX3500, DX3600) (UPDATED)
By
Dave Etchells
(Friday, April 20, 2001 - 17:58 EDT)
A new, unannounced Kodak digicam suddenly appears in the American heartland! Industry pundits stunned, journalists agog! ;-)
This just in via the anonymous tip line! A reader called to report seeing a new Kodak low-end two megapixel in a store at "an undisclosed location." All very mysterious, but we trust our source, and he said he'd actually bought one, had it in his hands. Particularly curious, given that there's been nary a peep out of Kodak about a new model. Here's what we know at this point:
Kodak DX3500 - 2.2 megapixel
- Fixed lens (single focal length)
- Up to 3x digital zoom
- 8 MB embedded flash memory
- (Empty) CF slot for expansion memory
- Built in flash
- Optical viewfinder
- Fits the "Kodak camera dock" (Same dock as for the MC3 camera/MP3 player)
- Power from 2AA cells
- Selling price of $299
Kodak's PR had already gone home for the day when we heard this, so we don't expect to have any official word until Monday. Very interesting though!
UPDATE, 4/23: - Kodak's PR isn't in the office yet, but there's an AP article out on the DX3500 and DX3600 Zoom, as well as separate pricing for the camera dock. No further details (in fact, fewer than we first posted), but the dock is priced at $79.95, and both it and the $299.95 DX3500 are slated for availability in "early May", while the zoom lens-equipped version is said to ship in June, for a price of $399.95$.
The camera sounds like a good deal, and joins the HP315 and Fuji FinePix 2300 in the "two megapixel under $300" category, but we question the $80 dock somewhat: Will folks really pay an extra $80 just to dock their cameras? - Time will tell, we guess, but $80 seems like a lot of money for not a huge increase in convenience...
UPDATED 2001-04-20 21:51ET: You heard news of Kodak's new DX3500 here first, and now we're proud to bring you another first - several new pictures of the camera that have yet to appear anywhere else on the web! We've now added 6 images to our coverage that let you see the camera for yourself...
UPDATED 2001-04-23 07:55ET:It's official! Kodak this morning officially announced both the DX3500 and DX3600 Zoom.
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