When I opened up my Firefox this morning, it looked like all the major and minor camera manufacturers had decided to announce some new product at the same day, in an attempt to make website editors’ lives either harder or easier, I’m not sure about which …

Anyways, here’s some cool new gear to check out!

Ricoh CX4

Ricoh have just announced the CX4 compact superzoom camera, successor to the almost identically equipped CX3. The CX4 sports the same 10.7x 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens, 10 mp backlit CMOS sensor, 920k  dot 3″ display and 720p HD video. Additionally, the CX4 has a new image stabilization, subject-tracking AF and some extra “creative shooting modes” which look suspiciously similar to Olympus’ Art Filters …

Picture courtesy of Ricoh Co., Ltd.

You can find the full press-release here at dpreview.com.
Full-size sample shots are available at Ricoh’s japanese website.

Canon PowerShot S95

Exactly one year ago, Canon introduced the PowerShot S90, an enthusiast’s compact sporting many features that should guarantee top-level image quality and great usability and versatility of the camera. The S90 sported a so-called “high-sensitivity” 10 mp sensor (allegedly the same as in the G11) combined with a bright f/2 lens in a sleek and small body, peppered with many versatile and intuitively operateable controls to appeal to professionals as well as advanced amateurs who wanted to be able to carry optimal iq in their vest pocket. The S95 is the successor to the S90, featuring – much like the Ricoh CX4 – pretty much the same specs as its predecessor. The only obvious changes seem to be a new image stabilization and SDXC media support.
The PowerShot S95 is already listed at B&H Photo, although not yet available.

Picture courtesy of Canon Inc.

Canon PowerShot G12

Contrary to the two beforementioned models, the successor to the PowerShot G11 that was announced last year together with the S90, the PowerShot G12 has not been officially announced yet. Rather, according to CanonRumors.com, it has accidentally been leaked by CNET Asia. According to the leaked info, the G12 now suppords HD video and features a new HDR mode that automatically combines three differently exposed frames to one picture with increased dynamic range. From the leaked picture it is also obvious that an adjustment wheel has been added above the hand grip, which is a very useful addition in my opinion.

In other news, Nikon announced the D3100 digital SLR as a successor to their popular D3000 entry-level model, as well as a revised version of the 85mm f/1.4 portrait lens. You can pre-order the D3100 at B&H Photo.