In early 2004 a bunch of different manufacturers all announced cameras with eight megapixels; except for Sony, which pioneered the field by delivering theirs in December 2003. And you know what they say about pioneers - they're the ones with the arrows in their backs.
Since there are so many new cameras all of a sudden, I thought I'd make a little table to keep them straight.
| sensor size | FL (35mm eq.) | lens speed | weight | reviews | other | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Sony DSC-F828 | 2/3" | 28-200mm (7X) | f2.0-2.8 | 35 oz. | SD DP IR DC | four-color sensor |
 | Nikon Coolpix 8700 | 2/3" | 35-280mm (8X) | f2.8-4.2 | 17 oz. | SD DP IR DC | ED glass |
 | Canon PowerShot Pro1 | 2/3" | 28-200mm (7X) | f2.4-3.5 | 19.2 | SD DP DC | UD glass & fluorite |
 | Olympus C-8080 | 2/3" | 28-140mm (5X) | f2.4-3.5 | 23.3 oz. | SD DP IR DC | ED glass |
 | Minolta DiMAGE A2 | 2/3" | 28-200mm (7X) | 2.8-3.5 | 20 oz | SD DP DC | image stabilization, megapixel EVF |
I'm surprised to find that all five have the same size sensor. The Sony has been criticized for noisy images, which are presumably caused by cramming too many pixels into a too-small sensor. It will be interesting to see whether the other four cameras have similar noise issues.
