Nikon has developed a couple of new digital still cameras with built-in wireless LAN adapters.

At a basic level the Wi-Fi connection can be used in place of a USB cable to transfer images to a personal computer for storage or to a Wi-Fi printer for printing. It's also possible to set the camera to automatically transfer each picture to the PC immediately after it's taken. In this case, the image is also stored in the camera's memory so the camera's temporary buffer memory can be cleared and shooting can continue while images are being transferred.

border=0 />Communication can take place two ways: in ad hoc mode a direct connection is established between the camera and a host device such as a personal computer and in infrastructure mode the connection runs through a wireless LAN base station to a device connected to the network. </p> <p> The Coolpix P1 and P2 cameras, which will be available from later this month, are largely identical. The only significant difference between the two cameras is the resolution at which they take pictures. The P1 is an 8-megapixel camera while the P2 is a 5-megapixel model. In practice, this means full-resolution images from the P1 are 3,264 pixels by 2,448 pixels and those from the P2 are 2,592 pixels by 1,944 pixels. </p> <p> It takes about eight seconds to transfer a full-resolution image from the P1 and about four seconds to do the same with the P2, the camera maker said. </p> <p> <img src=