Ben-Q debuts E1260 HDR digicam with 12-megapixels, 720p video
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted April 28th 2010 10:42AM
posted April 28th 2010 10:42AM
Ben-Q might not be the most well-known name in the gadget game, but it does have a pretty solid track record when it comes to entry-level consumer electronics. The company's newest shooter might not come in the most eye-pleasing package, but the 12-megapixel E1260 HDR should do well enough in capturing those spontaneously heartwarming (or cloying) scenes with the family this summer: 720p video! 28mm 4x optical wide angle zoom lens! A 'passable' 2.7-inch LCD display! And how about that HDR image enhancement technology? Apparently, this bad boy's "high dynamic range" feature manages high contrast lighting to eliminate excessive backlight. Intrigued? This one should hit store shelves sometime next month. PR after the break.
BenQ's E1260 HDR Camera – Make Every Shot Amazing!
2010-04-28
TAIPEI, TAIWAN, April 28, 2010 – BenQ announced the expansion of its digital camera lineup today with the E1260 HDR (High Dynamic Range) camera. With 12 Megapixels; 28mm 4x optical wide angle zoom lens; capability of shooting 720p movies; a bright 2.7" LCD screen; advanced smart scene mode; friendly user interface; G-Sensor application; and last but certainly not least the HDR image enhancement technology, E1260 aims to bring consumers more features, more fun!
BenQ's HDR image enhancement technology is designed bring out the finest details in the darkest and brightest parts of an image – allowing you to generate stunningly faithful photos under even the highest contrast lighting conditions. It is built to be more than just a backlight solution, and is the perfect tool to overcome high contrast lighting condition challenges.
Be sure to never take shots of segment of a mountain, portion of a lake, part of a tall building, or even half a face again with E1260's 4x zoom on the 28mm wide angle lens. The wide angle lens enables the users to take panoramic shots of scenic landscapes or bustling cityscapes, as well as great photos of friends and family – even close-ups. When faced with a situation hard to be captured into a still shot, those precious moments can be made into movies with the E1260's ability to shoot 720p videos. Users can forget about carrying a separate video camera when true-colour high-definition movies are just a button press away.
The E1260 comes with an upgrade on the advanced smart scene modes compared to its predecessors, automatically detecting up to 12 different scenes: Landscape; Portrait; Backlight; Backlight Portrait; Night Scene; Night Portrait; Macro; Sunset; Text; Foliage; Snow and Still Mode. Another one of BenQ's improvements is the intuitive and user friendly interface, which makes it quick and easy to access the camera's features and settings. With helpful explanatory text matching clear icons, it makes using advanced functions incredibly simple. Whatsmore, all these are displayed on a clearer and brighter 2.7" LCD screen.
Other features which are included in the E1260 include: Auto Face Tracking; Blink Detector; Self/Love Portrait; Beauty Enhancer; Smile Catch; Smart Focus; File Management; Auto Rotation; 3 Second Prerecording and Super Shake-Free (S.S.F.). Taking the perfect shot with E1260 has never been easier!
The E1260 comes in "Metallic Gun-Metal Gray" and "Metallic Blue", it will be available worldwide in May 2010. For more information, please visit www.BenQ.com
2010-04-28
TAIPEI, TAIWAN, April 28, 2010 – BenQ announced the expansion of its digital camera lineup today with the E1260 HDR (High Dynamic Range) camera. With 12 Megapixels; 28mm 4x optical wide angle zoom lens; capability of shooting 720p movies; a bright 2.7" LCD screen; advanced smart scene mode; friendly user interface; G-Sensor application; and last but certainly not least the HDR image enhancement technology, E1260 aims to bring consumers more features, more fun!
BenQ's HDR image enhancement technology is designed bring out the finest details in the darkest and brightest parts of an image – allowing you to generate stunningly faithful photos under even the highest contrast lighting conditions. It is built to be more than just a backlight solution, and is the perfect tool to overcome high contrast lighting condition challenges.
Be sure to never take shots of segment of a mountain, portion of a lake, part of a tall building, or even half a face again with E1260's 4x zoom on the 28mm wide angle lens. The wide angle lens enables the users to take panoramic shots of scenic landscapes or bustling cityscapes, as well as great photos of friends and family – even close-ups. When faced with a situation hard to be captured into a still shot, those precious moments can be made into movies with the E1260's ability to shoot 720p videos. Users can forget about carrying a separate video camera when true-colour high-definition movies are just a button press away.
The E1260 comes with an upgrade on the advanced smart scene modes compared to its predecessors, automatically detecting up to 12 different scenes: Landscape; Portrait; Backlight; Backlight Portrait; Night Scene; Night Portrait; Macro; Sunset; Text; Foliage; Snow and Still Mode. Another one of BenQ's improvements is the intuitive and user friendly interface, which makes it quick and easy to access the camera's features and settings. With helpful explanatory text matching clear icons, it makes using advanced functions incredibly simple. Whatsmore, all these are displayed on a clearer and brighter 2.7" LCD screen.
Other features which are included in the E1260 include: Auto Face Tracking; Blink Detector; Self/Love Portrait; Beauty Enhancer; Smile Catch; Smart Focus; File Management; Auto Rotation; 3 Second Prerecording and Super Shake-Free (S.S.F.). Taking the perfect shot with E1260 has never been easier!
The E1260 comes in "Metallic Gun-Metal Gray" and "Metallic Blue", it will be available worldwide in May 2010. For more information, please visit www.BenQ.com
12 MP? E1260 or the N8. Heh.
@brrip Crazy how irrelevant smartphones have made pocket cams.
12MP ? tick
720P ? tick
Xenon ? tick
2.7 LCD ? nah
3.5inch AMOLED with HDMI + 5.1 surround sound.
Nokia N8
@Nokia N900
N8 has 28mm wide angle too ! , only thing this is better is the optical zoom.. meh
@Nokia N900
I'm sure that the N8 is going to be a great phone, but I have a feeling that an unlocked N8 will cost about as much as three or four of these Ben-Q point & shoots. That, and how large is the sensor in the N8?
@Nokia N900
N8 doesn't have optical zoom? That is certainly a bummer! If you want to create a camera phone that rivals stand alone cameras optical zoom is a necessary addition
@minceyfresh
http://blog.gsmarena.com/how-large-is-the-nokia-n8-12-megapixel-large-image-sensor/
1/1.8
30% larger then normal digi cams
@mnhthebest
Optical Zoom require bigger body, just look point and shoot, usually longer zoom body tend to had bigger body.
Does anyone know if this camera take actual HDR photos (via multiple exposures), or is it more of a wide dynamic range in a single exposure (ala FujiFilm's EXR sensor)?
has anyone else realized the surveillance-state / police-state ramifications of putting super-high-resolution image capture, permanent broadband connectivity, and multi-terabyte storage capacities into every individual person's hands?
@Dan Fruzzetti Seriously, by 2020 Google will be able to render verdicts better than any jury.
@Dan Fruzzetti
I think as long as tinfoil is freely available we will be okay.
@Dan Fruzzetti
Sounds like live candid peek at you vids on the net... I sense more lawsuits comming to you soon?
Apparently none of the commenters understand what HDR is. Hit wikipedia up... for starters though, you'd normally need a tripod and 3 successive shots, and never of live subjects. This could be awesome.
@TrumanHW
Well technically you can do HDR with a single image as long as you've got additional exposure information (as in RAW formats.) What I'd like to see is improvements in sensor technology (not more megapixels) that would allow more flashless photographic possibilities. It would also be awesome if they would figure out how to incorporate additional data outside of the visual spectrum (like near infrared or UV) to enhance images. For example, it would be nice to be able to blend in some lightness from the infrared to lighten foliage or even out skin imperfections. This currently isn't something you can readily do and was never very practical to do with film. We need to break out of the film-think and start thinking ouf of the box. The electronic sensors are capable of capturing so much more information than film ever could.
@TIMMAH
I fully agree with you, but was trying to restrict my expectations to realistic leaps. Not technologically realistic, but how the mfg seem to, as slowly as possible stagger out change. Of what you said, I think the most important detail is MP vs. sensor size, of which, the manufacturers are all too happy to give consumers what they think they want. IF however, enough consumers (not enthusiasts), began buying based on sensor size, mfg would be forced to supply accordingly. Aside from the cost difference, which I think isn't 'as' bad as the price tiering would suggest, I think the technological issue would be getting a large sensor in a FLAT enough package. I.e., I bought my gf the S90, which is 10MP but has the largest sensor for the money I could find that was still relatively compact. But, this camera isn't nearly as pocket friendly as other point and shoot cameras are. Honestly, I'd have preferred it were a 5MP camera, for even better low-light performance. Print size is nearly never an issue for consumers, and low light almost always is. How can we make a difference aside from our dollar-voting system? It seems like the 4/3 systems are trying to fill this gap, but for now, you pay as much as a DX sensor based camera cost, with more expensive lenses, and lower IQ systems. In reality though, I'm grateful for the change that HAS happened..
Wierd.. I feel like it's been ages since I've read anything about a Ben-Q product. Didn't they used to drop some new LCD screen, low end digi cam, etc almost daily a while back?