Recently in Digital Cameras Category

Kodak, Canon and now Nikon have decided that producing conventional film cameras just doesn't make sense in this age of digital imaging -- just seems a bit sad when one of the great names in photography (often the gold standard for professionals and amateurs alike) makes a move like this. Of course, Nikon digital cameras share a similar status.

Of course it's all about economics, so with film camera bodies accounted for less than 5% of Nikon sales, it couldn't have been a hard decision. Nikon will also stop making lenses for those film camera bodies, too. (I'm sure a third party manufacturer will step into this breach -- still a big universe of film cameras out there.)

No doubt that eBay will see a continued interest in Nikon film cameras for both those looking to buy and sell ...

With Friday marking the official start of the holiday shopping season (all those 5:00 AM store openings and early bird specials!), digital cameras still look to be a very popular item on many gift lists.  With that in mind, it’s a good idea to take a look at the leading digital camera companies in the U.S. market.

For the fourth straight quarter, Kodak has maintained its lead over Canon and Sony (both tied for second place) as its market share rose to 21.3% from 19.8%.  Canon and Sony had a 17.7% market share (Sony losing share and Canon gaining.)

Fuji rose to fourth place from seventh (8.6% market share), while Olympus fell to a tie with Nikon for fifth place.  HP was next with 6.7% percent.

Worldwide, the digital camera sales leaders are Sony, Canon and Kodak.

These figures are from the latest IDC report, which forecast that “half of American households will own at least one camera” by the end of this year.

In an innovative tie-in to its consumer customer base, Corel® is giving away a digital camera kit with its new Paint Shop Pro® X photo editing software while supplies last through November 30.  Software includes Photo Album 6 Standard Edition ($29 value) free.  The Digital Camera Kit includes a leather Targus carrying case, mini tripod, a Targus AA battery charger and even batteries.

Nice holiday gift; maybe next year the camera will come with it!

Price: $99 boxed, $89 download (regularly $129) at www.corel.com

Olympus E-500 DSLR:

Olympus has bested their own popular Olympus E-300 digital SLR by putting out the Olympus E-500. The two cameras have similar specs, including 8.1 megapixels, however there are some design changes in the E-500. The E-500 sports a a 2.5-inch LCD, USB 2.0, storage via xD and CF, and can be powered by six standard AA batteries (the E-300 used proprietary batteries). The E-500 is shipping.