If you’re looking for great deals on digital cameras, check out the latest Black Friday pricing stunts.
Kmart will have a Kodak C143 with 3X zoom and a free 4-gigabyte memory card for $69.99. A year ago, the camera was $125 to $150, with $25 or so more for the card. Target has an ultra zoom Canon for $129 that once sold for $300.
“Canon wouldn’t have ever considered selling it so low back then,” says Chris Chute, an analyst at IDC. “But they can do it now, because the competition is so intense.”
At a time when more photos are now taken by smartphone cameras, manufacturers are under pressure to keep selling cameras at any cost.
More cameras will sell this year than last — 35.9 million in the U.S., up from 35.3 million in 2009, says technology research firm IDC, as consumers respond to post-recession deals and new features.
Besides lower prices, some cool add-ons are new this year for point-and-shoot cameras:
*Shoot in 3-D. Sony’s $299 WX5 has 3D Sweep: Press the shutter button and capture 10 images at once while moving the camera from left to right. The camera then takes the 10 frames, with separate left-eye and right-eye images, and melds them into one big panoramic image. Watch them on a Sony 3-D TV (only Sony, not competitors’ models) and your 2-D camera images become 3-D.
*Self-timers that pop only if you’re smiling. Nikon’s Coolpix S80 has the Smile Timer, which, when activated, will take the picture only once you say, “Cheese.” The camera also promises to be “blink proof.” It takes two shots in a row, when activated, and saves the one that has eyes wide open.
*GPS. Casio’s $349 EX-H20G has built-in hybrid GPS that “remembers where you’ve been … even when you don’t,” according to the company. How it works:…