Rollei Introduces the Rollei d530 flex 5.24 Million Pixel Digital Camera

With its latest d-Series models, Rollei is opening a new chapter in its long and successful history of “cameras made in Braunschwieg Germany”. Rollei has always been committed to developing tools suited to mastering the challenges facing discriminating photographers.

For this reason, there have always been different types of Rollei cameras to cater to different photographic needs. Different as they may be, however, all of them are made with the same cutting-edge optical quality and precise mechanics that have cemented the legendary reputation Rollei has been enjoying for the past 82 years.

This tradition is a great challenge now that the information and communications technologies of the digital age are calling for suitable photographic tools.

The Rollei d530flex SLR camera has a bright focusing screen for precise framing and focus monitoring, 95% viewfinder accuracy, TTL exposure metering for precise exposure even with lens attachments and a hot shoe for the dedicated Rollei f28 flash and other flash units. The lens accepts 49mm filters for total creative control and the integral lens hood reduces contrast reducing reflections.

To support this high level of image quality, the data are saved without compression and thus loss-free in raw format - leaving their high quality intact for subsequent processing in a computer. File sizes of 6+ MB in raw data (approx. 18+ MB as TIFF files) per image make more detail and color information available in the final picture.

Rollei has intentionally chosen a 2/3"CCD chip with a resolution of 5.24 megapixels because its geometry allows the use of higher-quality lenses than with smaller chips. Its larger pixel area results in particularly good light sensitivity and a better signal-to-noise ratio.

Uncompressed, loss-free saving in the form of raw data (30 bits per color) produces recording of over 1 billion colors. Many police forces and government agencies around the world have received acceptance of these images in court because raw data cannot be manipulated.

Due to its PCMCIA interface, most of the storage media currently available can be used in the d-flex cameras - PCMCIA cards (type I to III), PC-card hard disks plus, with PCMCIA adapter, Compact Flash cards, CompactFlash MicroDrive, SmartMedia cards, Iomega Clik! diskettes and Sony Memory Stick. No other digital camera in the world can accept this wide range of media.

The flash options available in d-flex cameras and their ease of use leave nothing to be desired. The built-in flash with guide number 40 (ISO 100) has three operating modes. In programmed AE, flash is synchronized at 1/125 s; in the manual mode you can sync with any speed from 1 /8000 s to 1 /2 s. In the standard “auto ” mode, which is always active when the flash is flipped up, the flash will be fired if the camera’s metering system determines a shutter speed slower than 1 /30 s at full aperture. To avoid red-eye effect, a preflash can be fired before the main flash.

In the “fill in ” mode, the flash will fire for every exposure, making it suitable, for example, for filling in deep foreground shadows in daylight photography. Should the range of the built-in flash of 17 ft. at minimum focal length or 10 ft. at the telephoto end of the zoom be insufficient, the powerful and compact dedicated Rollei f28 flash unit may be attached to the hot shoe. Its guide number is 92 (ISO 100). Regardless of the flash mode chosen or whether using the built-in or an external dedicated flash, the distance-linked flash-output control and the TTL pre-flash guarantee consistently perfect flash exposures irrespective of areas of high or low reflectivity.

The Rollei d530flex’s wide-angle focal length of 10 mm, is equivalent to 40 mm in 35mm photography. The telephoto focal length of 30 mm, is equivalent to 120 mm in 35mm photography. Aspheric lens elements are used to produce the highest resolution – allowing the d530flex to be one of the only digital cameras truly capable of fully utilizing the sensor chip’s resolution.

The Rollei d530flex will be available April 2002.

For more details contact www.rollei-usa.com or www.rollei.de

SOURCE Rollei