Fujifilm announces the touch and go Finepix Z300
Touchscreen controls are quickly taking over the cellular phone market, but now Fujifilm thinks the interface also has a place in the digital camera market, too.
Apple’s iPhone started a revolution in the mobile phone market with its touchscreen interface, and now all of the other phone manufacturers are attempting to play catch up with them. It seems Fujifilm wanted to to be the pack leader when it comes to the touchscreen concept in the digital camera market.
Launching on June 20 in Japan, the Finepix Z300 will be the first point and shoot compact camera to do away with physical buttons on the back of the camera. As opposed to the traditional system of lightly touching the shutter button to make the camera focus, the user will simply touch the portion of the image they wish to focus on while viewing it through the 3-inch touchscreen on the back. You will also be able to use the screen to move images to different folders, use the built-in editing functions, enlarge images while viewing them in playback and more.
The camera will use SD/SDHC cards for memory, which is a new feature for the Finepix series as they used xD cards up through the last iteration. Considering the number of cameras now using this memory card format, perhaps we are finally moving towards a more universal format, but that is pure speculation, and wishful thinking, on the part of this writer.
The camera features a 5 times optical zoom, 10 megapixels, ISO settings up to 1600, image stabilization and so on. The camera goes on sale in Japan for ¥40,000 (approximately $400 US) this weekend, with no word when, or if, we will see it released elsewhere.
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