Electronics Show `96 Hotline

(Original PC Watch page).

Appearing earlier than Sony? MD Equipped Digital Camera.

Sharp MD Digital Camera ``MD-PS1''

SHARP MD-PS1 SHARP MD-PS1

Sharp is showing a digital camera ``MD-PS1'' which uses an MD as it's memory media. Speaking of MiniDisc digital cameras, it comes to mind that Sony showed a concept model called the ``Picture MD Camera'' at Windows World '96 in June. But it seems that Sharp is a step ahead and productization is going to happen.

The MD-PS1 on display looked considerably like a real product design, but unfortunately it was shut up in a transparent plastic case and we couldn't touch it directly. And, even questions regarding the product introduction date and price, etc., were answered only with ``We cannot say concretely''. Almost all of our questions did not receive an answer. Just the question ``Will it be offered for sale this year?'' was able to be answered with ``Hmm, that will probably be difficult''.

Since the main body is equipped with an MD drive, it's somewhat big. Looking from the front, it has a nearly square design. It comes with a 2.5 inch LCD display, the CCD has 350,000 pixels, the recording resolution is a VGA's 640 X 480 dots. Flash is also built in. When taking pictures the picture quality mode can be selected, high quality mode gives 1000 pictures, at standard resolution 2000 still images can be recorded. The MD media holds about 140MB. And, naturally, playback and recording of audio MDs is possible. Recording time is up to 80 minutes in monaural. Data is transfered to a personal computer through the rare parallel interface.

Because an MD drive is used which has a high power consuming motor, there is an interest in the battery life. However, regarding this, as you might expect, we couldn't get an answer. If the battery life is a practical limitation for its use, we wonder if this product may end up not being of interest to people who wish to take a large amount of pictures at once.

More information is available in English from Sharp's Electronics Show Report.

[MD-PS1]
Item Means
Camera Picture
Recording
Section
Image/Picture Size 350,000 pixels / 640X480 dots
Normal / Telephoto 2 Focus settings: F4.0 f=6 / F5.6 f=12mm
Macro Close up function included
Picture quality formats
(storable image quantity)
High quality:1,000 pictures, Standard quality 2,000 pictures
Interval mode Included
Flash Included
Audio / Dubbing
(Image & audio combined mode)
Images: 365
Audio: Mono 80 minute, Stereo 40 minute.
Date stamp function Automatic year, month, & day stamping
Playback
Functions
LCD section 2.5 inch TFT LCD (backlit)
Index display included
Interval playback included
Zoom playback 2X
Data
Memory
Record
Functions
Disc Type MD Data Disc
Memory Capacity 140MB
Recording Method Magnetic Modulation Direct Overwrite Method
Average Data Transfer Rate 130.6KB/second
Average access time 500ms (1/3 stroke)
Output Functions Parallel I/O terminal
Audio
Section
MD
record
playback
edit
Disc Type MD Audio Disc
Audio Record / Playback Method ATRAC system stereo / mono
Recording function included
Playback function included
Audio quality adjustment function Bass boost
Input functions Character input function included
Display functions Character display function included
Edit Functions ID Edit

[Reported by Ishibashi]


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