CES 2012 Highlights

Fujifilm X-Pro1

After watching all the news coming out of CES 2012 in Las Vegas, it seems to be a good year for cameras. Fujifilm have announced the X-Pro1, the next in the line following on from the X10 and the very popular X100. Whilst this was not much of a surprise, the specs simply match up to those that were leaked shortly before, it was still eagerly anticipated as many people will be pleased that they have included interchangeable lenses.

Canon G1X

Continuing with the 'mid-sized' cameras, Canon announced the G1X, their answer to the flood of mirrorless cameras that have entered the market in the last few years. Rather than releasing a whole new line of cameras like Nikon and Sony, they have simply increased the sensor size in its G-series. And why not? They're great cameras and already have a fan-base, so there's no need to convince people that its worth buying into a new system. The increased sensor is 6 times larger than the G12 which brings it up to not much smaller than the APS-C used in most of the EOS-series.

But of all the announcements from all the companies, my favourite has to be from Polaroid. For a long time now phone companies have been increasing the megapixels of their cameras and selling them asgreat cameras as well as phones. I'm sure that any photographer will be able to tell you why there is more to camera quality than simply the amount of megapixels it boasts, and anyone who know's me will tell you that I moan about it regularly. They can also tell you that for quite some time I have been asking when camera manufacturers will think to put phone functions onto a camera. Well the time seems to be getting closer with the arrival of the Polaroid SC1630 Smart Camera. This is an actual 16mp compact camera, with 720p HD video recording, that boasts an Android powered 3.2-inch touch-screen interface. This allows for photo editing and uploading to your favourite sites straight from your camera, whilst shooting with a 3x optical zoom lens (36-108mm). The only thing it can't do is actually make calls, but its certainly a step in the direction of carrying less gadgets around in your pockets, and maybe it'll help put an end to all those awful photos that flood our social media streams uploaded from everyone's phone.

Polaroid SC1630