Higher-end cameras make digital splash

Semiprofessional digital cameras are making inroads in the domestic market as reasonable prices make these advanced cameras more accessible to consumers. LG International Corp., the distributor of Canon’s film and digital cameras, rolled out yesterday a 6.3 megapixel digital camera called the EOS 300D.; it is priced at 1.4 million won ($1,240) in Korea. Consumer-market cameras usually have 3 million to 4 million pixels, or picture elements, and can produce sharp 8-by-10-inch prints. The Canon comes with a 2x interchangeable zoom lens. The same camera, called the EOS Digital Rebel in the United States, sells for about $1,000 there. “Three years ago, models with 6-megapixel sensors were sold at several tens of million of won,” said Oh Kyu-sik, vice president and head of LG’s information technology operation. Canon has some competition. Sony Korea Corp. is gearing up for the introduction later this year of an even finer-resolution digital camera, the DSC-F828, which will have an 8.5-megapixel resolution. The Korean subsidiary has not decided on the timing of its release or its price, a Sony Korea official said it would hit the market at below 2 million won. The new model, equipped with Carl Zeiss lenses, costs about $1,333 in the United States. With increasing number of consumers taking, editing and printing pictures made with digital cameras, said Cho Byung-sang of LG, a home digital printing market will soon emerge. But that depends on how many traditionalists still want something on paper to slip into a photo album; many digital photos are e-mailed, posted on Web sites or just admired on a computer screen. Recently a group of Japanese digital camera makers belonging to the Camera & Imaging Products Association set an industry standard that would allow photos to be printed directly from a digital camera without being downloaded to a personal computer. Specialized digital photo printers, inks and paper are already on the market. by Limb Jae-un