The Fujifilm A850 is a new entry-level digital camera offering 8 megapixels, a 3x zoom lens and ISO 800 sensitivity at full resolution. Image Intelligence processing, 14 selectable scene modes, icon-based Graphical User Interface and complete the major specifications. The Fujifilm A850 will be available from retailers from July. Pricing will be announced nearer to the date of the launch.

Steves Digicams have reviewed the Pentax Optio E50, a new 8 megapixel entry-level digital camera with numerous automatic functions.

“Outdoor quality from the Pentax E50 is good. The images are well exposed, and the colors are bright and crisp. The 3x optical zoom, with a 35mm equivalent of 37.5-112.5mm, is great for shooting landscapes, group and individual photographs, but it is not enough to get you closer to distant objects. At the wide end of the zoom, you will see a moderate amount of barrel distortion and some vignetting. You will also see some edge softness throughout the zoom range.”

Website: Steves Digicams - Pentax Optio E50 Review

Steves Digicams have reviewed the Pentax A40, a new compact digital camera offering 12 megapixels, 2.5 inch LCD monitor and 3x optical zoom lens.

“Pentax’s Optio A40 is an ultra-compact digicam that is full of features. It has a 12-megapixel imaging sensor, Triple Shake Reduction technology, Enhanced Face Detection, Dynamic Range Adjustment and a 2.5” LCD screen with bright mode and a wide field of view. The face detection will select the proper exposure and focus based on the faces detected, giving you a properly exposed image every time, while Dynamic Range Adjustment automatically adjusts highlights and shadows to properly expose the whole image.”

Website: Steves Digicams - Pentax A40 Review

DCViews have reviewed the Olympus SP-570 UZ camera, which features a 20x zoom equivalent to 26-520mm.

“Image quality at low ISO settings is excellent, with well balanced, realistic colours and lots of punch. Saturation, sharpness and contrast can be upped or toned down on the screen menu, or a quick fix could be to choose for vivid or natural colours. White balance and exposure are spot on most of the time and images rarely require any exposure compensation except for extreme contrast situations with the sun in the picture or very dark shadow areas. Shadow adjustment can be set at the touch of a dedicated button at the capture stage or fixed in camera in post processing and this works okay.”

Website: DCViews - Olympus SP-570 UZ Review

Website: Read our Olympus SP-570 UZ Review

Ricoh have released a new firmware update, version 2.03, for the GR Digital II compact digital camera. Version 2.03 fixes the following bug:

Modified the following phenomenon. A camera will not recognize the recommended flash from Sigma below.
EF-530 DG ST (SA-STTL)
EF-530 DG SUPER (SA-STTL)
EF-500 DG ST (SA-STTL)
EF-500 DG SUPER (SA-STTL)

Website: Ricoh GR Digital II Firmware Update 2.03

Imaging Resource have reviewed the Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS ELPH, a new 8 megapixel compact digital camera.

“The Canon SD1100 IS is a full-featured point-and-shoot digicam that really impresses. It offers all the best feature sets of 8MP resolution, Image Stabilization, Face Detection, Widescreen/Panorama Stitch, Movie Mode, Macro mode, and much more, all in the size of a pack of playing cards. If you crave compactness without sacrificing too much, the Canon SD1100 really delivers. Probably the only real compromise is the “mere” 3x zoom, while some of Canon’s more expensive models offer 3.8 and 4x zooms.”

Website: Imaging Resource - Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS Review

Website: Read our Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS Review

Olympus have released firmware updates for their FE- range of entry-level digital compact cameras. Firmware version 1.1 is now available for the FE-350 Wide (pictured), FE-330, FE-310, FE-290 and the FE-270. There are two improvements:

- The camera’s stability improves during operation.
- Changes have been made to the Korean version.

Website: Olympus Software Downloads

Steves Digicams have reviewed the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W150, an 8.1-megapixel camera with 5x optical zoom lens and 2.7 inch LCD screen.

“As with past models, the W150’s overall image quality is good. I saw very little edge softness in our outdoor photos, and it seems the AE (Auto Exposure) system does well with sky detail (not over exposing the sky, leaving nice looking clouds.) I did see some small traces of noise in lower contrast areas when viewing images at 100%, even at ISO 100. However, this is something you will not likely see in your typical 4x6 or 8x10-inch prints. Colors are more natural looking (which I prefer), not as vivid as some manufactures models.”

Website: Steves Digicams - Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W150 Review

Steves Digicams have reviewed the Canon PowerShot SD770 IS Review, a 10 megapixel cameras with 3x zoom lens and optical image stabilizer.

“Canon has created another successful ultra-compact digicam with the release of the PowerShot Digital ELPH SD770 IS. It features a 2.5” PureColor II LCD screen, optical image stabilization and motion detection technology. This combined with all the usual features that you have come to expect from an ELPH like face detection, VGA movie mode, full auto and various pre-programmed scene modes make this camera incredibly easy- to-use for anyone.”

Website: Steves Digicams - Canon PowerShot SD770 IS Review

TrustedReviews have reviewed the GE E840s, a slim 8 megapixel camera with 4x optical zoom and 2.7 inch LCD.

“Perhaps the most surprising thing about the E840s is the image quality, which is much better than I had anticipated. It’s not really in the same league as some of the other compacts we’ve looked at lately, but then it costs half as much, and for a cheap camera it is really quite good. The lens produces some barrel distortion at wide-angle, but no worse than the £220 Nikon S600 I reviewed earlier this week, and while the overall image lacks a certain sharpness it is at least consistent from corner to corner. There is a little chromatic aberration towards the edges of the frame, but not enough to cause a problem in most circumstances.”

Website: TrustedReviews - GE E840s Review

Sigma have released a new firmware update for the DP1 compact camera. The new firmware version, 1.02, offers the following improvement:

- Correct the phenomenon that the “currently selected file” will be deleted, if the camera is turned off when the camera display remained in Delete Menu.

Website: Sigma DP1 Firmware Update 1.02

Imaging Resource have reviewed the new Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S780, 7.2 megapixel camera with 3x optical zoom lens and 2.5 inch LCD screen.

“The Sony Cyber-shot S750 has a few issues. Overall exposure is adequate in many cases, but image quality and color accuracy need improvement. Image noise is on the high side, and there’s a good deal of blurring from the camera’s effort to suppress that noise. The Sony S750 is inexpensive, easy to use, very portable, and results aren’t entirely terrible. Our printed results do show that it’s more of a 4x6-only camera, only capable of producing truly sharp 5x7-inch prints at ISO 100; raise the ISO any higher, you’re better sticking to 4x6-inch prints. Most 7-megapixel digital cameras are at least capable of printing sharp 11x14-inch prints, but the Sony S750’s output is too soft at that size.”

Website: Imaging Resource - Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S750 Review

Buy-n-Shoot have reviewed the Kodak V1073, a new 10 megapixel camera with 5x zoom lens and 3 inch LCD screen.

“he V1073 is also able to record High Definition video with audio in QuickTime and MPEG 4 format and can be marked in camera with either text or sound tags. This feature is also available for still images and proves useful when searching for favourite videos/photos at a later date. While the playback sound is fairly soft in-camera, even at full volume, this is not a problem once uploaded to your computer using the provided Kodak EasyShare software.”

Website: Buy-n-Shoot - Kodak V1073 Review

Fujifilm have released a new firmware update, version 1.02, for the FinePix F100fd digital camera. The new firmware update “reduces a “pinkish-colored band” which may be rarely found in the left side edge of image when the image is shot at ISO 400 or shot without flash on “NATURAL & FLASH MODE”.

Website: Fujifilm FinePix F100fd Firmware Update 1.02

DigiCamReview have reviewed the Canon Digital IXUS 90 IS, a compact 10 megapixel camera with 3x zoom lens.

” Image quality is very good - with excellent colour, with high levels of saturation, contrast and detail. Noise is controlled quite well considering the camera features a 10 megapixel sensor. There was also some red eye in group photos, but overall red-eye was generally quite low. The camera did a good job focusing even in low light thanks to the focus assist lamp, and had a high success rate due to the built in optical image stabilisation. There was no noticable vignetting (darkened corners), nor did I notice barrel or pincushion distortion.”

Website: DigiCamReview - Canon Digital IXUS 90 IS Review

Read our Canon Digital IXUS 90 IS Review

The entire range of GE digital cameras is now available through Amazon.com. Amazon has already been selling some GE-branded cameras, but will now expand its offerings to include all the 2008 models. “We’re delighted to offer our products through Amazon.com,” said Hiroshi “Hugh” Komiya, Chairman and CEO of General Imaging. “Amazon has continued its amazing growth through 2007 and now into 2008, and we’re happy to be a part of it.”

General Imaging has joined forces with JP Service Solutions in the UK to offer unrivalled after sales care for its GE camera range. Trained JPSS technicians will also handle all customer service enquiries, including responding to product questions, retail outlet information as well as dealing with any technical problems with the camera. Gary Sutton, UK Country Manager, General Imaging, commented “We know it is disappointing when a product fails but with JPSS’s support we are able to resolve the problem quickly and efficiently. We believe we will be offering the quickest turnaround time in the industry.”

Ricoh have released a new firmware update, version 2.02, for the GR Digital II compact digital camera. Version 2.02 fixes the following bug:

- After taking a picture with a long exposure time (1 second or slower) in the M mode (manual exposure mode), and then even if you take a picture in the Auto shooting mode, the image processing for the long exposure time will be performed.

Website: Ricoh GR Digital II Firmware Update 2.02

TrustedReviews have reviewed the Canon Digital IXUS 85 IS, a 10 megapixel cameras with 3x zoom lens and optical image stabilizer.

“As one might expect from a premium-priced camera like this, image quality is generally very good, but it is not without one or two annoying problems. The lens is very sharp and detailed over most of the frame, but the corners are soft and blurry, and barrel distortion at wide angle is much more pronounced than I would expect from the usually excellent Canon optics. Likewise image processing, normally another Canon strong-point, also has a couple of notable problems. Colour rendition is superb, with good detail even in saturated bright colours, but high-ISO noise control is surprisingly poor, with visible noise effects from as low as 200 ISO.”

Website: TrustedReviews - Canon Digital IXUS 85 IS Review

Purchase a Ricoh R8 camera in the UK between 1st May and 12th June 2008 and get £50 cash back. The R8 features 10 megapixels, a slim body and 7.1x optical wide-angle zoom lens. All claims must be received no later than 3rd July 2008.