Kodak and Polaroid show off newest digital cameras

Kodak is working to capitalize on the decision by Cisco to stop making Flip camcorders.  Their latest, the Playfull Dual, is designed to be both a great video camera and a great still camera.  A spokesman at CES told me it's the first digital video camera that is able to take still photos that look great when enlarged to 8x10.  It has a real flash on the front and takes 12 megapixel photos.

 

The other really cool feature of the Playfull Dual is the ability to shoot video at 240 frames per second.  This means you can play it back at 30 frames per second (typical television frame rate) and you get smooth slow motion video.  This is a great tool for analyzing your golf swing or helping your children understand the basics of other sports. 

 

The Kodak Playfull Dual will be available in black and white in March for about $200.

 

Kodak is also improving it's traditional still camera line by adding WiFi.  This means once you take a picture or video you can upload the media immediately to a selection of social media sites or Kodak's own gallery service.   They call this new camera the Easyshare Wireless.

 

"You don't have to go back in the house, you don't have to cable it up to your PC or Mac, you just hit send," said Brian Fox, Kodak spokesman.  

 

The Easyshare Wireless camera will be available in a variety of colors for $170 in April.

 

Polaroid is out with a new camera that it says is the first true camera with phone functionality built-in.  It has a full 16 megapixel sensor and 5x optical zoom but runs Google Android on the rear touch screen.  

 

A spokesman for Polaroid at CES told me it does everything you can do with your traditional Android smartphone but truly is a camera first and a phone second.  They don't call it a smart phone, they call it a smart camera.

 

It'll be available later this year for $300.