Meanwhile, a Kodak-branded bridge camera, the AZ521, is due to go on sale in the UK within days

The S1, which will adopt the micro-four-thirds format, was first announced in January and a model went on show at an event in China shortly afterwards.

It is being developed under a licensing agreement with US company JK Imaging.

However, there is, as yet, no working sample of the camera, suggesting it may not be available this year.

Meanwhile, a 16-million-pixel bridge camera with a 52x f/2.8-5.6 optical zoom, the AZ521 (pictured), is expected to land on the UK high street this weekend.

It is expected to cost £249.99 and will initially be available only through Argos stores.

Features include a maximum lens focal length of 1,248mm, a 3in display, top ISO of 3,200 and Full HD video.

Kodak AZ521 bridge camera spec (as supplied by JK Imaging):
    
Image Sensor  

Type   1/2.3″CMOS
   Effective Pixels   16.38 Megapixels
   Total Pixels   16.79 Megapixels

Lens  

Focal Length   4.3mm (Wide) – 223.6mm (Tele)
   35mm film equivalent   24mm (Wide) – 1248mm (Tele)
   F number   F2.8 (Wide) – F5.6 (Tele)
   Lens Construction   13 groups 15 elements
   Optical Zoom   52x
  
Focusing Range  

Normal: (Wide) 60cm ~ ɬ,
(Tele) 300cm ~ ɬ
      Macro: 1cm ~ ɬ (Wide Only)
Autofocus System  TTL Autofocus
Electronic Viewfinder   Noʳ
Anti-Handshake   Optical Image Stabilization
Digital Zoom   4x Digital Zoom (Combined Zoom: 208x)

Number of
Recording Pixels  
Still Image   (4:3)
16MP: 4608×3456
10MP: 3648×2736
5MP: 2592×1944
3MP: 2048×1536
0.3MP: 640×480 (3:2)
14MP: 4608×3072 (16:9)
12MP: 4608×2592
2MP: 1920×1080
  
Movie   1920×1080: 30fps
1280×720: 60fps / 30fps / 15fps
640×480: 30fps
320×240: 30fps
High-Speed Movie 640×480: 120fps
Image Compression   Best, Fine, Normal
DCF, DPOF (Ver1.1) Support   Yes

File Format   Still Image   Exif 2.3 (JPEG)
   Movie   MOV [Image: H.264; Audio: Linear PCM (Stereo)]