We don't foresee too many tears being shed over this news, but the Hasselblad faithful will probably want to know that the tried and true H2 product line has been nixed. Not surprisingly, the company reported that "demand simply no longer justified the dedicated manufacturing line required for its production," and that it would be shifting those resources to the H3DII. On a more positive note, the outfit is introducing the H2F, which is being billed as a "greatly simplified film-only version of the H2," so those (still) sticking with film can look here to get their fix. Lastly, the firm reassured H1 / H2 owners that it would continue to support those products "for a minimum of 10 years from the date of purchase." So long, H2, it's been a good run.

[Via CNET]

You know how it goes, first comes the announcement, then comes the pr0n, and now comes the critiquing. Canon's first endeavor into the hybrid still camera / HD camcorder realm looked great at first glance, but after you peered beyond the admirable size, manageable price, and HD capabilities, how does this thing really stack up? DCRP got real with the TX1, and while the design was smiled upon, it was still oddly deemed "a bit too small," as reviewers claimed that the "controls were tiny, cluttered, and poorly placed," leading to a good bit of frustration when it came to actually operating the device. Still, the crew did praise the flip-out LCD, impressive optical image stabilization system, and SDHC support, but mirrored just about everyone's gripes when they complained about the Motion JPEG format choice. Put simply, "Canon created a camera that's big on style and features, but lacking in terms of ergonomics, flash strength, movie recording times, and battery life." All in all, we fully expect the next iteration of the TX1 to be a serious contender, but the current rendition just seems to fall a bit short in the areas that matter most.

[Via DigitalMediaThoughts]