Fuji Shows New and Improved FinePix

Fuji Photo Film will launch a new 3-megapixel class digital still camera, the FinePix S3000, later this year, the company said Tuesday.

The camera is scheduled to ship in October and has almost the same specifications and styling as one of the company's current offerings, the FinePix 3800, but there are some differences and a lower price.

The FinePix S3000 will cost $400, said FujiFilm. That's $50 cheaper than the FinePix 3800 model.

Making Improvements

"We have three improvements," said Hiroshi Shirai, of FujiFilm's electronic imaging products department in Tokyo. "The first one is lower power consumption. The 3800 can take 300 shots but the S3000 can take 350 shots."

"The second is that the customer can choose between NTSC and PAL video. On the 3800 the NTSC and PAL models were separate. Third, there are more display languages. The 3800 has three: English, French, and German; but the S3000 have five: [the same three and] Spanish and Chinese."

Both cameras have a 3.2-megapixel class image sensor and can record images at up to 2,048 pixel by 1,536 pixel resolution in the JPEG format. Other features include a 6X optical zoom lens with a focal length equivalent to between 38 millimeters and 228 millimeters on a 35 millimeter camera. Shutter speed is between three seconds and 1/5000 second. Images are stored on XD Picture Card and there is a 1.8-inch TFT LCD panel.

Dimensions of the new camera are identical to the older one, at 3.9 inches by 3.0 inches by 2.7 inches, said FujiFilm and weight is also unchanged at 10 ounces.