The 84^th Annual PMA kicked off in Las Vegas on Thursday. PMA bills itself as “The Worldwide Community of Imaging Associations”, and if it has to do with imaging you will find it on display at PMA. The event is usually a late February or early March event, but this years scheduling placed it just a few weeks after CES. The other major photo event, Photokina in Hanover, Germany, happens every two years. 2008 is a Photokina year, so some major announcements will likely wait for that show this fall.

Around 20,000 attendees are expected to visit the halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center, and every digital camera maker is represented here this year. Like CES, many early announcements appeared from major names in the industry, presumably so they don’t get lost in the volume of PMA coverage. Canon announced their 12.2 megapixel XSi last week, which replaces the current XTi.

Pentax also introduced their 14 6 megapixel K20D in the week before the PMA show. The K20D also marked the introduction of a 14.6 megapixel sensor jointly developed with Samsung and manufactured by Samsung.

Samsung has been marketing their own versions of Pentax cameras for the past couple of years, so it was no surprise to see they will be marketing their own version of the Pentax K20D called the GX20. Features and specifications appear all but identical to the Pentax K20D.

Despite the early announcements there were still more introductions as PMA kicked off – and a few surprises in the digital camera arena.

Nikon launches D60 Entry DSLR

Nikon was very busy at the end of 2007 with new camera introductions. The prosumer 12.2 Megapixel D300 finally shipped in Novemeber. Nikon also introduced their first full-frame DSLR in the D3, which is selling for around $5000.

It was widely expected that Nikon would replace their entry-level D40X/D40 with a new model – possibly at PMA. The new D60 was announced earlier this week and we got an opportunity to spend some time with the new entry level DSLR at PMA.

The D60 is tiny like the D40X/D40 it will eventually replace. All models will coexist for a while, but the D60 is the Nikon that will continue in production as the entry level model in the Nikon line.

Like Canon, the Nikon entry-level D60 will now ship with an optically stabilized lens, the Nikon 18-55mm VR. This means all the major camera makers will now offer some form of anti-shake in their entry SLRs. Nikon and Canon will include an optically stabilized lens, while Sony, Olympus, and Pentax cameras feature body-integrated Image Stabilization that will work with any lens.

Automatic sensor cleaning, a feature Nikon once proclaimed as unnecessary, is also featured on the D60. Nikon adds their own unique twist with an Airflow Control System that also channels airflow and dust away from the sensor. The D60 also adds an eye-sensor to turn off the LCD when the user looks through the viewfinder and auto menus orientation – the LCD info turns when the camera is moved to vertical. Both these features were pioneered by Minolta/Sony and standard in the current Sony cameras.

The D60 is otherwise a mild upgrade to the D40X, and ergnomics and handling are very similar to the model it replaces. However notable the addition of auto sensor cleaning, the D60 may be more notable for the things that it did not bring to the fiercely competitive entry Digital SLR market. The screen resolution remains 10.2 megapixel, where Canon moves the XSi to 12.2 megapixel. The LCD screen remains 2.5 inch, where Sony and Pentax move to 2.7 inch and Canon moves to 3 inch. All their competitors feature Live View but the D60 does not. Also, Nikon and Olympus are now the ONLY two entry DSLR cameras without the option of adding Battery Grips for extended shooting times and better handling of vertical shots.

Buyers of entry-level DSLR cameras do not typically have a collection of lenses that influence their buying decision. For that reason Nikon may have a hard time convincing new buyers to go Nikon with a feature set that is not particularly competitive. An update to the current D80 can not be far behind and perhaps it will bring the sizzle that seems to be lacking with the D60.

Availability is likely in March and the final US selling price has not been announced.

Sony Surprises with Quick AF Live View and 14.2 Megapixels

Sony just introduced the A200 at CES about 4 weeks ago. Rumors were floating that even more new Sony models would launch at PMA, but no one really expected the two feature-laden models Sony introduced yesterday.

The A300 and A350 are new models that add Live View to the list of features. It is not, however, Live View like everyone else has recently introduced. The Sony Live View is clearly the best implementation of that feature on any SLR.

Olympus pioneered Live View a couple of years ago with the E-330, an expensive DSLR that enabled Live View with a separate sensor feeding the LCD image. In retrospect this was a superior method of providing a live view to the LCD screen.  It must have also been an expensive solution since Olympus abandoned that method in future versions of Live View. So did every other manufacturer.

Everyone now uses the imaging sensor to provide Live View, and while that method works and is fairly cheap to implement, it does have serious limitations. First, it eats precious power, as the mirror has to be flipped up and held out of the image path during Live View. Second, the camera must flip down the mirror for focus and metering, which slows down shooting and momentarily turns off Live View. This makes Live View more a check-box feature on today’s digital SLRs than something truly like the Live View seen on Point-and-Shoot cameras. Some variations of this exist, such as the Canon Live View system with contrast-detection focusing, but all the Live View systems have been slower and less capable than optical AF.

In the A300 and A350, Sony introduces a totally different Live View System, based on an additional live view sensor and a tilting pentamirror.

In the Sony Quick AF Live View the pentamirror tilts and the optical viewfinder closes during live view. The dedicated sensor enables true TTL (Through The Lens) phase-detection continuous AF during Live View.

The A350/A300 also sport a larger 2.7 inch LCD display that can tilt down 40 degrees or up 130 degrees (180 degrees measured from film plane) to make the Quick AF Live View even more useful. This is not quite as flexible as the Olympus and Panasonic tilt-and-swivel LCDs, but it is a big improvement on flexibility over a fixed-position LCD.

While Quick AF Live View was an unexpected surprise, Sony had another surprise at PMA. The entry-level A300 is utilizes a 10.2 megapixel CCD sensor, but the A350 step up resolution to 14.2 megapixels.

All three new Sony cameras will sell under $1000 in Kits with the Sony 18-70mm (27-105mm equivalent) lens. The A200 kit will sell for $699, the A300 kit for $799, and the A350 kit for $899. The A350 will also be available as body only for $799. All three Sonys can add a battery grip with the same new Vertical Grip VG-B30AM.

Sony announced their new full-frame 24.8 megapixel CMOS sensor at PMA. That means the major piece of the A900 puzzle is now in place. Sony has shown their full-frame Pro model at other shows, but now with an official sensor the prototypes were generating even more interest than usual.

Sony was prominently featuring the camera, flash, grip, and new lenses for their coming full-frame flagship model. The new Pro model is widely expected to be called the A900, but Sony would neither confirm nor deny that name.

There was still no announcement of the introduction date of the new full-frame, but a Sony Marketing Executive did confirm that an introduction date had been set and that it would definitely be in 2008 as announced a few months ago. When asked if this would be introduced at Photokina Sony had no comment.

We also asked if it would be introduced sooner or later than Photokina. But still no comment. The Sony Marketing Executive did talk in some detail about Sony’s commitment to full-frame technology, pointing out that of all the new and continued Sony, Carl Zeiss, and Minolta lenses that only six lenses were exclusively for APS C sensor size. All the other lenses are capable of working on a full-frame sensor. Sony also made clear their intention to introduce more motor-driven lenses in the future, expanding a feature now mostly available on Sony extreme telephoto lenses.

The Sony Digital SLR Product Line has mushroomed with the recent introductions. The current line consists of the A200, A300 and A350 in the Entry Level, the A700 in Prosumer space, and a coming A900 full-frame professional model. That five DSLR line-up covers, in one or more models, every hot feature in the current DSLR market – from entry level to professional. That certainly fits Sony’s stated goal of becoming a major player in the Digital SLR market. The lineup is impressive but buyers will decide whether Sony has enough guns and expertise to crack this market that is mostly owned by Canon and Nikon.

What else is Hot?

While the sizzle, growth, and profits have been in the Digital SLR segment for the past couple of years, the Point-and Shoot cameras still account for the greatest sales volume. The hot topic everywhere in PS is Face Detection, where the small sensor cameras can find and lock-in on faces in shapshots.

New models with variations on the face detection theme were everywhere. Several new models from Sony can use face detection to distinguish between children and adult faces, or they can carry it even further by refusing to take a picture unless the child in the scene is smiling. Sony calls this selectable feature “smile shutter”.

Panasonic pushes the face detection to new heights, with the ability to recognize up to a combined 15 faces anywhere in the frame. The face-detection system can then insure that shooting parameters are selected to keep all 15 faces in focus.

All of these new P&S cameras seem to be featuring some form of anti-shake to help keep pictures sharp and Auto ISO and everything else to improve shooting in lower light. The PS models are not challenging Digital SLR cameras for speed, low-light capabilities, or high image resolution. However, manufacturers are adding everything they can think of to make the P&S models as easy as possible to just point, click and come away with decent snapshots.