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March 21, 2005 *— German camera manufacturer Praktica announced three new digital cameras to its Luxmedia series last weekend: the 5008, 6003, and 6103. Praktica names their cameras with the first number representing the megapixel count and the last number representing the amount of optical zoom. For example, the Praktica Luxmedia 5008 has 5 megapixels and an 8x optical zoom lens and so on. All three cameras will be available in Europe only.
The Praktica Luxmedia 5008 has a compact SLR-shaped frame with a larger 8x optical zoom lens and pop-up flash above it. A 1/2.5-inch type CCD with 5.2 total megapixels provides enough power for the full range of manual and automatic functions available on this model. The mode dial is oddly placed on the left side of the camera. There is a 1.6-inch LCD screen on the back, which is a bit small for this bulky camera. However, the 5008 packs impressive features with its 16 MB of internal memory and 3 frames-per-second shooting speed.
The Luxmedia 6003 looks more vertical than most digital cameras; it is almost a square shape from the front. With 6 effective megapixels on its 1/1.8-inch type CCD, the silver and dark gray digital camera has seven image size options. A 3x optical zoom lens boasts a 35mm equivalent reach of 37-111mm. The camera has a full range of automatic, manual, and movie functionality, but lacks a decent sized LCD screen at only 1.5 inches. The Praktica 6003 also has 16 MB of internal memory.
With only 0.1 more effective megapixels than the 6003, the Praktica Luxmedia 6103 offers 6.1 megapixels and a 3x optical zoom lens. The specs may sound very similar to the 6003, but this camera comes in a different frame for a different audience. Praktica took the basic imaging guts of its other camera and fit them into a more compact and traditional looking digital camera. The result is a more automatically oriented model with 19 scene modes rather than manual options. The Praktica Luxmedia 6103 has a 1.6-inch LCD screen and 9.6 MB of built-in memory.