Sony Canada Press Release 01/12/03(found via A Digital Eye)

Sony unveils Cyber-shot DSC-F828, world’s first 8-megapixel digital camera
Advanced lens, colour filter and processor realize new levels of image quality and camera responsiveness

The Cyber-shot DSC-F828 camera is available in mid-December through authorized Sony resellers across Canada or at www.sonystyle.ca and has a suggested list price of $1,499.

TORONTO, Dec. 1 /CNW/ - Sony of Canada Ltd., Canada’s leading electronic and computer products solutions provider for consumers and business, today unveiled the Cyber-shot DSC-F828 digital camera, the world’s first 8-megapixel offering and the most powerful addition to the Company’s popular line of F-Series cameras.

With its lens-centric design, the Cyber-shot DSC-F828 is encased in a black, magnesium alloy body, and is the first to incorporate Sony’s recently announced four-colour filter CCD (Charge Coupled Device) technology and Real Imaging Processor(TM).

Along with the Carl Zeiss(R) T(*) optics, these components are integral in capturing colour accuracy closest to what the human eye can see and setting a new benchmark in camera performance.

“With our heritage in component design, Sony is uniquely qualified to realize this new standard in image quality,” said Hiro Futsukaichi, Senior Marketing Manager, Digital Imaging Products, Consumer Audio Video/Information Technology Group, Sony of Canada Ltd. “Specifically designed to handle the unique rigors of advanced digital still photography, the new Cyber-shot F828 camera embodies what we envision as a premier imaging experience.”

To complete that experience, the new camera offers extensive manual controls, giving advanced photographers a broader range of mechanisms to determine focus, exposure and recording modes.

Users will have the flexibility to store their images onto CompactFlash(R) Type I and Type II media, as well as a Microdrive(R) hard disk drive, Memory Stick(TM) or Memory Stick PRO(TM) media.

Recognizing that current digital cameras borrow a nearly 40-year-old colour reproduction system developed for televisions and computer displays (RGB, standing for red, green and blue), Sony began developing a new colour filter early last year to provide more flexible colour management and dramatically improve colour accuracy.

This new approach (RGB+E) adds an emerald-coloured pixel to the filter pattern, realizing colour fidelity that is closer to human colour perception. The first model to use this new colour system, the Cyber-shot F828, realizes a level of colour accuracy not possible with other digital cameras.

Specifically, photographers will notice an extraordinarily life-like rendering of blue, blue-green and red hues. With a more accurate reproduction of the subject’s colour, the camera’s
new Real Imaging Processor then converts the four-colour signal back into an ideal RGB colour space with a linear matrix system.

The processor is also the engine that powers the camera’s improved responsiveness, reducing shutter lag and cycle time. Because of a nearly 40 percent reduction in processing time, the Cyber-shot F828 model can capture an 8-megapixel image in almost half the time required by typical 5-megapixel cameras.

Custom-designed for digital cameras, the new processor is optimized to efficiently handle all the required tasks, which ultimately translates into increased speed with lower power consumption. Its key features and controls include the following:

-  Resolution: Sony’s 8-megapixel CCD image sensor provides the Cyber-shot F828 camera with a maximum image size of 3360 X 2460 pixels, equating into 11 X 17-inch prints at 200 dots per inch (dpi) or 8.5 x 11-inch prints at 300 dpi;
-  Optics: The new camera features a Carl Zeiss(R) Vario-Sonnar(R) T(*) 7X zoom lens (28 - 280mm, 35mm equivalent) with manual zoom for greater framing control, to fully extract the performance of the 8.0-megapixel CCD sensor;
-  Five-Area Multi-Point Auto Focus: The camera evaluates five separate areas of the frame and intelligently focuses on the subject, displaying the selected focus point, or the user can choose any of the five points for manual control;
-  NightShot(R) Infrared System: Enables the camera to capture infrared images in total darkness at a distance of up to 15 feet;
-  NightFraming System: To capture crisp images in low or no light, this feature illuminates the subject with the NightShot system for proper framing, focuses with Hologram AF(TM) illuminator and lights the scene with the appropriate amount of flash;
-  Image File Formats: In addition to JPEG and TIFF formats, the camera supports Sony’s RAW format, which allows the photographer to change the parameters of an image (e.g., white balance and color depth).
-  Software will be included for converting RAW files;
-  Video Recording: MPEG-VX Fine mode records video at 640 x 480 pixel resolution at 30 frames per second, up to the capacity of the storage device, for TV-quality video; and
-  Bundled Accessories: The camera comes with an InfoLithium(R) M battery, AC adapter/in-camera charger, A/V output cable, USB cable, shoulder strap and lens cap.

About Sony of Canada Ltd.
Established in 1955, Sony of Canada Ltd. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation of Tokyo, Japan, a world leader in the manufacture and marketing of electronic and computer products for consumer, business, electronics publishing and multimedia applications on a global scale. With headquarters in Toronto, sales offices in Vancouver, Calgary, and Montreal,
and distribution centres in Coquitlam, British Columbia, and Whitby, Ontario, approximately 1,200 employees support more than 70 Sony stores and a network of more than 3,000 authorized dealers across Canada.