Camera Vendors Bid For All Niches This Holiday.

This article features four digital camera models from Casio, Norcent Technology, Rollei Logistics, and Samsung. Casio aimed high with a feature-laden 7-megapixel ultracompact unit, while Samsung targeted technology-savvy teenagers with a 4-megapixel model that can create and display animated figures on its liquid crustal display screen. Norcent introduced a competitively priced 4-megapixel snap shooter for mainstream consumers, while Rollei Logistics updated a decades-old camera design for the digital age, in the hopes of luring photo hobbyists and collectors. Casio's 7-megapixel EX-P700 was added to its ultracompact Exilim Pro line of digital cameras, which will ship in January 2005 for the price of $599.99. The P700 features a 4x optical/4x digital zoom, a 0.01-second shutter lag, a two-second start-up time, 2-inch LCD screen and a continuous shooting mode to capture three photos per second tor up to five images. A business shot mode automatically straightens photos taken at an angle, while an Auto Macro automatically switches between macro and autofocus, depending on the distance of the subject. The camera also offers a seven-point multi-auto-focus and a manual assist, which displays a sample photo on the liquid crystal display to demonstrate the effect that a manual setting change would have on an image.