CES 2011: Show's Over

The show's over at the Las Vegas Convention Center. We're looking back at the tidal wave of new camera announcements to come out of the show and a quick recap of the events.

Fujifilm and Canon were the first to announce products the day before the show. Fuji tipped the scales with sixteen new products with the new HS20 leading the way. They jumped on board the GPS bandwagon. Canon surprised us with a new model bearing an optical viewfinder just when we thought they'd gone extinct.

• Fujifilm adds thirteen new FinePix cameras
• Fujfilm, Casio keeps up with point-and-shoot curve
• Fujifilm FinePix HS20EXR, F500EXR and F550EXR introduce new EXR sensor
• Fujifilm X100 steps out, goes to market in March
• Canon PowerShot A1200 brings optical viewfinder back
• Canon launches new Vixia camcorders for CES 2011

Oh yeah, and Samsung threw in a few announcements here and there in the week leading up to CES. Their NX11 looks a lot like the NX10 with smarter lenses, and the big zoom WB700 packs a big 18x optic in a svelte camera body.

• Samsung launches NX11 with i-Function Lenses
• Slim Samsung WB700 boasts 18x optical zoom
• Samsung HMX-Q10 camcorder offers full HD, small price tag
• CES 2011: Kodak and Samsung

Casio joined in the fray with the Tryx, the ultra-flexible point-and-shoot that you've heard all about by now, and a new high-speed ZR100. It's notable for a 12x optical zoom and bursts of 10 megapixel images at a blazing 40 fps.

• Casio pulls Tryx from its sleeve
• Casio Exilim EX-ZR100, EX-ZS10 and EX-ZS5 debut for CES 2011

Behind displays of 3D HDTVs, Panasonic and Sony showcased new point-and-shoots. Sony introduced a few premium T and H series models with features like 1080 HD, GPS and 3D Sweep Panorama modes. Panasonic softened the somewhat stiff styling of its low-end point-and-shoots but left its high-zoom compacts alone for now.

• Sony Bloggie takes on 3D
• Sony ushers in new Exmor R CMOS sensor with five new Cyber-shots
• The new Panasonic 3MOS HD camcorders are coming
• Hands on with Panasonic's new Lumix cameras

Olympus saved its announcement until late on Wednesday, rolling out a new E-PL2 and the advanced compact XZ-1 along with refreshed tough cams and ultrazooms.

• Olympus unveils E-PL2 for CES
• Olympus launches SP-610UZ and two new Tough cams
• Olympus XZ-1 with Zuiko lens gets official with a hands-on preview

What does it all mean?
There were no truly great surprises for us camera geeks at CES 2011. We saw more 3D in more places, as expected, and GPS has been integrated into more devices. Nikon sat back and didn't make any announcements for the show, to the dismay of the Nikon mirrorless camera cheering squad.

The megapixel wars may have slowed down but we're still tipping the scales with plenty of compacts topping out at 16 megapixels. There are many factors that determine how a camera performs in poor lighting conditions, but adding more pixels to a sensor that wasn't performing well in the first place is generally bad news.

On the bright side, manufacturers are attempting to address the problem by introducing more models with BSI CMOS sensors. These chips are designed to allow for more efficient light collection by the sensor's photosites.

Just because we didn't see anything radically new or inventive at CES doesn't mean we're out of luck. The camera year is just starting.

Facing CES withdrawal? Fight the shakes with photos from the event on our Flickr stream. You can also read through our comprehensive show coverage from notebooks to tablets to printers and smartphones at the TechnologyGuide CES headquarters.