Ricoh Co’s Consumer Products Group has been previewing its digital camera that can record and play back still images and full-motion scenes with sound. The pocket-sized RDC-1 camera will begin selling in the spring for $1,800 (CI No 2,731). It stores data on industry-standard PC Card memory boards – nee PCMCIA boards. Users can transfer the images and information directly to a personal computer or Macintosh or transmit them over phone lines via modem. The camera can be connected directly to a television or Ricoh’s optional 2.5 liquid crystal monitor for immediate playback. It can also output to a video printer for colour stills. The RDC-1 can record a maximum of 492 still images, four motion scenes of five seconds each with sound or about one hour and 40 minutes of sound on a 24Mb PC Card. It can capture still images, sound, still images with 10 seconds each of sound and motion scenes with sound. In addition, data can be retrieved and erased at the time of shooting. The camera’s ability to capture motion scenes and full-frame still images are possible using the optical signal processing capabilities of a chip jointly developed by Ricoh and Hitachi Ltd. It incorporates a 410,000-pixel charge-coupled device and records full-frame still or continuous images at Super-VHS quality 768 by 480 resolution. The RDC-1 comes with software to transform data into popular file formats, including TIFF, AVI, PCX and WAV. Images and audio recorded with the RDC-1 can be imported into word processing, desktop publishing and photo retouching application software running on Windows or Macintosh systems. The camera also has a Ricoh-designed compact zoom lens, shutter and viewfinder. Its 3X continuous zoom lens ranges from 7mm to 21mm (equivalent to 50mm to 150mm for a 35mm format camera). The camera offers automatic focus, exposure and white balance features. A credit-card sized remote control device lets users operate the RDC-1 from a distance. It measures 5.25 by 0.75 by 2.75, and it weighs 9 oz.
