Inside Story
Don't miss the decisive moment
"Using the continuous shooting
functions, you will be able to capture
scenes you could not photograph in
the past." (Yoichi Ito)
One function that makes maximum use of the high-speed processing capabilities of the new image processing engine and the CMOS imaging sensor is "continuous shooting." This is high-speed continuous shooting that goes far beyond previous models. The CX1 will shoot maximum-pixel still images at 4 frames/second, and it can do high-speed continuous shooting of up to 999 images. In scenes with movement, such as races and school sports day events, you can continuously shoot many images and then choose that one special "work of art" for a large-size print later.
- *Continuous shooting speed will vary depending on shooting conditions, card type, card condition, etc.
"I wanted to make continuous shooting a 'usable' function on a compact digital camera," said software development team leader Yoichi Ito. There aren't many compact digital cameras capable of continuous shooting of maximum pixels at 4 frames/second. In addition, the CX1 also has the popular "M continuous shooting plus*1" function to insure you won't miss the decisive moment. The camera continues to shoot while you hold the shutter down, and the instant you remove your finger from the shutter release button, it saves the 30 images taken in the previous one second (at 30 frames/sec.) or in the previous two seconds (at 15 frames/sec.).
- *1Image size fixed at N1728 (2M).
"If you try to push the shutter the instant that a bird takes off, I think there will be cases where the finger movement is late and the bird flies out of the frame. Since you don't know when the bird will take off, with this function you can continue to push the shutter release button while watching for the right time, and then remove your finger at the instant of takeoff. Since the camera saves images from the previous one or two seconds, you can get the moment you want," explained Ito.
Overwhelming continuous shooting speed of 120 frames/second
The CX1 has achieved ultra-high-speed continuous shooting*2 at 120 frames/second for about one second or at 60 frames/second for about two seconds. In addition, since the images are saved using the new "MP file*3" standard, after being copied to a PC, they can be reproduced in a flipbook type of format. This function is perfect for checking someone's baseball pitching form or golf swing. "After thinking long and hard about what could be done to make the 120 images easy to view, we selected the MP file format. With the expanded scope of the CX1 continuous shooting functions, I think people will be able to capture scenes they have not been able to photograph until now."
- *2Image size fixed at N640 (VGA).
- *3Using the enclosed software "Irodio Photo & Video Studio," MP files can be displayed on a PC (Macintosh not supported). Playback software for Macintosh use (supported OS: Mac OS 10.4 to 10.5.5) can be downloaded here.
