<>As the pre-PMA rush starts out (and the post-Photokina doldrums have subsided, what with no real exciting product intros there…), the manufacturers are making up for lost-time.

<> Olympus, as an example, recently announced a plethora of new digi-cams, filled with astounding features (as well as the usual slew of 3x zoom pocket-cams).

One of them (click here) is available with an 18x (Yes, you read that right) zoom. Hmm, very neat to have one camera that can do it all with a 35mm equvalent-zoom of 28-504mm (image stabilized of course, this being an Olympus and not a Nikon point & shoot).

Makes me anxiously await the tests of the SP-550uz (or Uzi as it’s known…) to see if this will be a relatively sharp lens or the digital-equivalent of the old Tamron 28-300 which was, quite possibly, the worst lens I’ve ever owned (including the used Soligor I had that had fungus growing on the glass).

The next new Olympus of note is the high ISO model (FE-250) which has a claimed ISO of 10,000 (yup, you read that one right too…at 3-mp of course…)! (click here)

Think that there’ll be noise? Think Ditka’s not an a**hole? Hope not, then they can combine the 18x zoom and the 10,000 ISO and actually get a clear shot!<>

Imagine being able to zoom-out to 500mm and take a shot of that fighter-jet overhead at 1/10,000th of a second (10,000 ISO @ f22) and making out every detail on the pilot’s face?

Or how about freezing a bullet passing thru an apple? “Doc” Edgerton would have loved this!

Don’t get me wrong, I just love advancements and break throughs like this , but it just seems while all the other manufacturers are having troubles making clear images with 5x zooms, or noise-free images at 800 ISO (don’t even get me started on the Panasonics and Sonys….), this might not be as big (or should I say “useful”?) break through as it first appears.

<>I hope it is, ’cause that’d be cool.
<>Now…where did I leave that snake-oil?…..

<>Now Panasonic has realeased so many point & shoots with close-to or similar specifications that our friends over at DC Views had to put together a chart to show what feature is on what camera (click here)!

Do you want a 7.2 mp with a 12x zoom, a 10x zoom or a 3x zoom? pretty soon you’ll have a choice of 7.3 megapixels, 7.2 megapixels, and 7.1 megapixels, all with 3x zooms!

Oh, the humanity….

When I’m now asked what point & shoot should I buy, about all I can say is to buy one that takes pictures. No way can I keep track of all this stuff! (Thank god the practice of including “video-games” built into the digicams hasn’t really caught on…hello Fuji you listening?).

With more time to pass before PMA actually takes place, and all the Manufacturers trying to grab headlines before the event to help them get more exposure, who knows what will appear in the near future.

I await, with baited-breath, the announcement of 1000 more 3x zoom point & shoots before the show….

The last item, just for fun, was the announcement from Apple about 3-d Endoscopy. Now, while this break-through technology is really very cool (and incredibly important), it just struck me as I read their article (click here), this is probably one aspect of digital-photography I probably won’t get into…..