Digital Cameras at a Glance

Like many things on the web, this table is sorted in reverse chronological order.

	date	Mpixels	zoom	macro	storage	interface	battery	viewfinder	view freeze
Sony CyberShot DSC-F717	02sep2001	5	5x	0.8"	Stick	USB	InfoLithium	eye & panel	?
Pentax Optio 330	03jun2002	3.24	3x	5.5"	CF	USB	lithium	second optical path	yes
Nikon Coolpix 5700	29may2002	5	8x	1.2"	CF	USB	lithium	eye & panel	?
Olympus C-720UZ	08may2002	3	8x	4"	SM	USB	4 AA	eye & panel	yes
Minolta Dimage 7i	13mar2002	5	7x	9.6"	CF	USB	4 AA	eye & panel	?
Pentax Optio 230	23feb2002	2	3x	4"	CF	USB	2 AA	second optical path	?
Canon EOS D60	22feb2002	6.3	(Canon EF lenses)		CF	USB	lithium	SLR & panel	?
Nikon D100	21feb2002	6.1	(Nikon F/AF lenses)		CF	USB	lithium	SLR & panel	?
Nikon Coolpix 2500	21feb2002	2	3x	1.6"	CF	USB	lithium	no eyepiece	?
Sony DSC-P51	20feb2002	2	2x	3.1"	Stick	USB	2 AA	second optical path	?
FujiFilm FinePix S2 Pro	30jan2002	6.2	(Nikon F/AF lenses)		CF & SM	USB & FireWire	4 AA	SLR & panel	?
Minolta Dimage X	03jan2002	2	3x	9.8"	SD & MMC	USB	lithium	second optical path	?
Fuji FinePix 2800Z	11sep2001	2.1	6x	3.9"	SM	USB	4 AA	eye & panel	yes
Sony CyberShot DSC-F707	21aug2001	5	5x	0.8"	Stick	USB	InfoLithium	eye & panel	no
Olympus C-700UZ	19mar2001	2.1	10x	4"	SM	USB	2 AA	eye & panel	yes
Sony Mavica FD-97	09feb2001	2.1	10x	1.2"	Stick & floppy	USB	InfoLithium	eye & panel	?
Fuji FinePix 4900Z	01aug2000	2.4	6x	3.9"	SM	USB	lithium	eye & panel	?
Olympus C-2100UZ	15jun2000	2	10x	4"	SM	USB	4 AA	eye & panel	?
Sony CyberShot DSC-F505v	26apr2000	2.6	5x	0.8"	Stick	USB	InfoLithium	no eyepiece	yes
Sony Mavica FD-95	02feb2000	2.1	10x	1.2"	Stick & floppy	USB	InfoLithium	eye & panel	?
Sony CyberShot DSC-F505	18aug1999	2	5x	3.15"	Stick	USB	InfoLithium	no eyepiece	yes
Sony Mavica FD-91	16nov1998	0.8	14x	0.5"	floppy	none	InfoLithium	eye & panel	no

date:

When the camera was announced.

Mpixels:

Mega-pixels - millions of pixels.

zoom:

Ratio of widest to narrowest zoom setting. Optical zoom only, digital zoom doesn't count.

macro:

The closest the camera can focus in macro mode.

storage:

What form of local storage.

interface:

How pictures are transferred off the camera.

battery:

What kind of battery it uses.

viewfinder:

What type of viewfinder. Most digicams have both an LCD panel on the back, and an eyepiece to use when it's too bright out for the panel. Some lack the eyepiece, and just have the panel - this is not too bad. And some have an eyepiece that looks through a separate lens on the front of the camera - this is called a second optical path, and it's very bad.

view freeze:

Some cameras will freeze the viewfinder display for half a second while they are figuring out the auto-focus and exposure. This is horrible for framing your shot.