Fuji has just released news of the upcoming 6 megapixel Finepix 610. The camera, which has the same upright for-factor as the older 601, has an improved CCD from previous models claiming 6 megapixels (12 mp interpolated?) for near-professional image quality. It has other tweaks, such as improved shooting speed, a second LCD for camera functions, continuous shooting mode (3.3 frames per second), and a high-quality movie mode that captures at 640 x 480 at 30 frames per second. At that rate of capture, the movie mode is easily as good as most standard tape-based video recorders. Most of these features are already available on the FinePix F700 ($350 street), including the 3x optical zoom, though that model doesn’t seem to have the improved CCD. Price of the new F610 is yet unreleased, but look for it around $500 in the first quarter of 2004. But before you spring for one of these please note that they both use the expensive proprietary xD card for picture storage.
Hardware Beyond the Hype