Monday March 2, 2009 – Stewart Wolpin
We're soon going to have to come up with a new name for a new type of digital imaging product that could dominate the still picture/video-taking business in short order.
Digividicam?
Camvid?
Cameracam?
Digicam?
Why am I fussing with this silly nomenclature?
In the last couple of months, most of the major digital camera makers – Sony, Kodak, Panasonic, Canon – have joined Casio in adding H.264 HD video recording capabilities to models priced around $250 and up.
At the same time, a growing number of both familiar and unfamiliar camcorder manufacturers – Sony, Samsung, Sanyo, DXG – have introduced H.264 SD-based camcorders that also snap high megapixel (usually 5 MP or higher) digital stills, priced at around $250 or less.
Many of both types offer minimal – 3x-5x – optical zoom lenses, 2.5-inch and larger LCD screens, USB and, sometimes, HDMI jacks.
Exhibit A is the Sanyo Xacti VPC-GC10, due next month. It has a 5x optical zoom, offers 50-1600 ISO settings, a 285-degree swivel 3-inch widescreen LCD monitor, shoots 1280 x 720p H.264 video and snaps 10 MP digital stills via a CMOS sensor – for $199.99.
Okay, no peeking at an online picture. Is it a digital camera or a camcorder?
Sanyo has dubbed it and its other new merged-imaging models Dual Cameras. Nah, too many syllables.
How about Dualcams?
Yes, H.264-equipped digital cameras have a raft of digital photo specialty features – face detection, smile detection, panorama, et al – and processors designed to optimize digital stills. And high-megapixel-still-equipped H.264 camcorders have processors to optimize digital video. But there's no reason why these features can't and won't be merged.
Yes, form factor is an issue. Is the rectangular shape of a digital camera to best way to shoot video? Is a vertical pistol-grip or a beer-can-shaped camcorder the best way to snap stills?
For $200 to do both high-def video and high-megapixel stills, I'll bet consumers won't care how they're shaped. We just need to figure out what to call them.
Source: DTC
