One thing I just don’t understand…

I simply don’t understand why P&S camera makers, after all these years, have not been trying harder to raise the bar in the wide angle department.

Almost EVERY camera I see released starts at 35mm, 36mm, or 38mm on the wide angle end. 35mm is HARDLY wide angle, and 38mm is just “mid-range”… It is a sorry excuse for wide angle, and it is one of the main reasons I just haven’t bought myself a P&S camera yet.

Only a handful of cameras are going to 28mm, and that is what I’d consider average wide angle. And out of the THOUSANDS of cameras made, only 2-3 that I know of go to 24mm. That is so sad.

I can understand if it’s just really tough to do, and lens construction gets more complicated. But that should only have been the excuse for the first couple years. NOW they should at least be able to hit 28mm or 24mm without adding TOO much cost, right? Instead, things are getting downright BORING- 3x optical zoom that starts at 36/38mm, a 2.5″ LCD, more and more megapixels, (why, oh why?) and more and more crazy feature ideas. (like stereo sound in video clips. Give me a break, the two mics are like ONE INCH away from each other! That’s not stereo!)

This is one reason I seriously consider getting what is in my opinion one of the sweetest, most innovative cameras on the market, the Kodak V705. Kodak said to themselves “hey, these tiny little CCD sensors are so cheap these days, why not just put TWO of them into the camera body, put TWO different lenses on them, one for wide angle and one for mid/tele, and seamlessly jump between the two? They were able to go to a whopping 23mm wide angle!!! (equivalent)

I applaud Kodak for their ingenious design…

Panasonic is one of the companies who has been trying to release more P&S cameras with 28mm wide angle with EIGHT 28mm P&S cameras since 2005, and Fuji has been goign to 28mm on their “prosumer P&S” cameras since mid 2005…

Nikon on the other hand hasn’t gone wider than 35mm SINCE 2005, and only made ONE camera ever that went to 28mm…

Canon has one recent P&S camera that hits 28mm, the SD800 IS, but other than that it’s back to 2005 for the S60/70/80 or the Pro1…

Olympus has gone to 28mm a few times with their prosumer P&S, but has only done it once with a compact P&S, the FE-200

Pentax has never hit 28mm, and has only gone wider than 35mm maybe twice with a couple 34mm cameras and I think one 32mm camera.

Samsung has gone to 28mm a couple times, not bad…

Sony has the prosumer R-1, which has the honor of being acclaimed as having a 24-120mm lens that is probably as sharp as a true 35mm lens. But other than that the vast majority of their P&S cameras are 38mm, save ONE that goes to 28mm from back in 2003. Come on, Sony!

…And then, oh by the way, have you ever heard of a company named “Ricoh” in the camera business? TWELVE, count them TWELVE P&S cameras that hit 28mm! (and small ones, slim ones even!) Yes ladies and gentlemen, one of the most un-known camera brands is the one who is answering the need more than anyone else. If it werent for the super-cool, indestructible Olympus 770sw, (waterproof to 30 feet and impact proof!) …and the nifty Kodak 23mm wide angle, I’d be in line for a Ricoh Caplio R6 right now… Oh and Ricoh hasn’t exactly gotten their AF game up to speed yet, by the way, so don’t just go uot and buy an R5; reviews are not that glowing for that camera…

That’s all for now,
-Matt-