First-Person: CES 2008 in Las Vegas Reveals Greater Flash Memory Storage and Advanced Camcorder Zooming

The Consumers Electronic Show in Las Vegas debuted a wide variety of new items that will soon be hitting the market. Among the products include new digital cameras, camcorders, and flash media.

I had the opportunity to visit the extravaganza. I was blown away by how many upgrades companies such as Kodak and Sony are making to their already popular products.

Canon is launching the MD205 camcorder which will bring users their new technology of advanced zoom. The new lens will allow the MiniDV camcorder to zoom up to 45x with high quality viewing. All of Canon's new MD200 series will feature this new zooming feature. It allows user to bring affordable, compact, yet defined picture quality to their home movies that they can share for years to come. The camcorder features a 16:9 widescreen recording on a 2.5" LCD screen that can be flipped around and used as a light. This enhancement to Canon's camcorders also is new to 2008, allowing anyone to experience panoramic recording.

The camcorder features a microphone input as well for better audio recording. Many cameras pick up background noises while recording, and to most that's annoying. An external microphone can be plugged in for better quality and up close sound recording.

Also a nice enhancement is the use of a remote control from multi-angles. Usually users have be in front of the lens to control the camera using a remote, however it is possible to stand anywhere near the camera and operate it. The camcorder comes with an Easy shooting mode where new users can simply press one button and the camcorder takes control of the settings. The Quick Start option allows users to quickly power up the camera to capture those precious moments almost immediately. This will allow users to never miss a thing that might have taken longer waiting for other cameras to power up and be put in stand-by mode.

For others who use flash memory for their camcorders, SanDisk is introducing its SanDisk Video HD Card line. The cards will be available SDHC and Memory Stick Pro Duo. The cards will let users know how much space is available as well as minutes available to record. The HD cards are designed for high-definition camcorders. Easily searchable in stores by customers, the red lettering will help the cards stand out. Each card comes with a chart, listing how much space will be available and how many minutes can be recorded based on the HD recording setting chosen. A very handy feature, the cards will be able for use in digital cameras as well that have video capabilities. This will allow greater storage space for photographers, novice or advanced, to take thousands of crystal clear pictures and videos. The cards are set for 1080 high definition recording.

The SanDisk HD cards will be available starting in March and will come in two sizes, 60 minutes/ 4 gig, and 120 minutes/ 8 gig. The prices are very similar for both formats being released, starting from $79.99 to no more than $150 for the 8 gig Pro Duo.

Cell phone users who use MicroSD cards wishing to increase their storage will now have that reality. SanDisk is releasing a 12GB card as well. Mobile phones have become such an important part of people's lives that they revolve around functions on their phone. Users have the choice today of having music players, high quality video recording, and higher megapixels on their cameras. The increase in size will allow users thousands of pictures, over 20 hours of video, and over 1,000 MP3 files for their entertainment.