Digital Photo Camera Reviews

Olympus E-510 EVOLT Review

2008-01-11T12:11:00.000-08:00

Just before PMA in March 2007 Olympus introduced two new Four-Thirds system compact digital SLRs, the E-410 and this model, the E-510 (which is essentially a replacement for the well regarded E-500). Although the E-510 has much in common with its little brother, including an all-new (Matsushita) Live MOS Image Sensor that can provide Full Time Live-View on the LCD monitor and an updated TruePic image processor, it is a considerably more sophisticated tool with some important extra features. Key amongst these is a sensor-shift image stabilization system and more sophisticated external controls, though are also numerous minor feature differences too. Note that some of the text in this review (when describing identical functions) is repeated from the E-410 review.

Compared to E410 - key differences

Once you start to look under the hood there are actually a surprising number of differences between the E-410 and the E-510, even putting aside the obvious; the latter's CCD-shift image stabilization system and bulkier design (the E-510 has a true 'grip', something the E-410 does without). This is obviously a camera aimed far more squarely at the 'enthusiast' market than its kid brother, and it offers a far more sophisticated level of control and customization. Below is a far from exhaustive list of the key differences:

Larger and heavier
Sensor-shift Image Stabilization
Dedicated buttons for WB, ISO, Metering and AF mode
Dedicated AF area button
Customizable Fn button
Two 'MyMode' custom modes
Finer, customizable EV steps (1/3, 1/2 and 1 EV)
Wider range of custom settings and minor extra features (e.g. file naming options, customizable HQ mode, Auto ISO limit etc)
Very slightly different continuous shooting / buffering (6 raw frames vs 7 on the E-410)
Optional wireless remote control

Nikon D40 Review

2008-01-09T15:24:00.001-08:00

The Nikon D40 is an all new affordable, compact, point-and-shoot digital SLR from Nikon, it follows on from the D50 but at a significantly lower price point and with a subtly different feature set. The biggest news however is probably fact that Nikon resisted the temptation to keep chasing megapixels (hooray for that) and instead appear to have concentrated on what makes a good camera, a decent viewfinder, short shutter lag, very short viewfinder blackout. They've trimmed some of the 'less important features' (you can't change the exposure steps for example) but have squeezed a range of new features such as custom Auto ISO which we welcomed with the D80.

Auto Focus only for AF-S or AF-I lenses

Perhaps the biggest negative on the D40 is that it doesn't have an internal focus drive motor and hence no mechanical focus drive pin, instead it only has CPU contacts which means it can only Auto Focus with AF-S and AF-I lenses (those with built-in focus motors). Indeed our 'standard' lens the Nikkor 50 mm F1.8D (and the F1.4D) are manual focus only on the D40. The images below show the difference between the mount on the D40 and D80, the D80 has a mechanical focus drive pin at about the 7 o'clock position.

Key features

6 megapixel DX format CCD (1.5x FOV crop, as D50)
Nikon Image processing engine (as D80 / D200)
3D Color Matrix Metering II, 420 pixel sensor (as D80 / D50)
New Multi-CAM530 three area AF sensor
ISO sensitivity range 200 - 1600 plus HI 1 (3200 equiv.)
Custom Auto ISO (selectable maximum ISO, minimum shutter speed)
2.5 fps continuous shooting (as D50), unlimited in JPEG
No status LCD, new LCD monitor based status / settings screens
Help suggestions on LCD monitor (eg. scene too dark, try using flash)
Large 2.5" 230,000 pixel LCD monitor
Bigger viewfinder view (x0.8 magnification, 95% coverage)
Short shutter lag and viewfinder blackout
Support for SDHC (SD cards over 2 GB in capacity)
In-camera retouching
- D-Lighting (shadow / highlight enhancement)
- Red-eye reduction
- Trimming
- Monochrome
- Filter effects
- Small picture
- Image overlay
USB 2.0 with PTP and Mass Storage device support
Very compact, light body (smaller, lighter than D50)
Improved menu user interface (as D80 / D200)
New EN-EL9 Lithium-Ion battery (7.2V, 1000 mAh)
New 'Version II' AF-S DX 18-55 mm kit lens

Sony DSC-S730 review

2008-01-05T11:32:00.000-08:00

Light, compact and easy to use, the new Cyber-shot S730 presents a great-value entry point to the world of digital photography.

While it’s remarkably affordable, the Cyber-shot S730 doesn’t compromise on imaging quality. There’s a Sony 3x optical zoom lens to bring distant objects closer, while pictures captured with the 7.2 effective megapixel sensor look crisp with superb detail – even when blown up to A3 size.

The Cyber-shot S730 lets you grab clear, blur-free pictures without the aid of flash if you’re shooting in low light or on cloudy days. Selecting ‘High Sensitivity’ mode on the easy-to-adjust mode dial boosts sensitivity to ISO 1250. This allows shooting at faster shutter speeds to reduce the risk of camera shake, even with moving subjects.

A new multi-point autofocus mode ensures pin-sharp images, even when your subject is moving or isn’t in the centre of the frame.

Pictures and camera settings can be viewed clearly on the large 2.4-inch screen. Touching a button switches instantly to Playback mode, making it quick and easy to check pictures during shooting. There’s also an on-screen Histogram mode that displays image brightness in graphical form – useful if you’re fine-tuning exposure settings for the best possible results.

Even if you’re new to digital photography, the Cyber-shot S730 guides you with a handy display of functions like flash, macro and self-timer settings. There’s also on-screen advice to help you select the right settings for your chosen subject as selected with the Shooting Mode dial.

The Cyber-shot S730 can even help beginners pick the optimum image size for shooting, depending on your preferred printing paper size and the amount of memory space remaining.

The Cyber-shot S730 will be available from January 2008.

7.2 effective megapixels
2.4-inch LCD screen with wide viewing angle
High Sensitivity ISO 1250 for reduced camera shake
Easy-to-use on-screen function guide
3x optical zoom lens

Fujifilm Finepix F50fd review

2007-12-29T11:28:00.000-08:00

As the replacement for the Fujifilm F30/F31fd, a camera that has reached an almost legendary status since its launch back in 2006, the Fujifilm F50fd has some big shoes to fill. If anything deserves to be called a 'classic' camera in the shortlived world of digital compact cameras it would have to be the Fujifilm F30/F31fd. It wasn't very pretty, it wasn't very feature packed and it wasn't even very cheap. But the F30/F31fd produced some of the best results we've ever seen in a compact camera, and was leaps and bounds ahead of all its competitors when it came to low light / high ISO performance, proving that just because a camera has a small sensor it doesn't have to be completely useless at anything over ISO 400.

The F30/F31fd's outstanding performance in low light was the result of some clever technology (Super CCD sensor and Real Photo Processor) on the one hand and Fujifilm's admirable refusal to succumb to the pressure to compete in the 'megapixel race'. In an almost unique attempt to optimize image quality (rather than marketing potential) they limited the F30/F31fd's resolution to 6 megapixels, on a sensor that is slightly bigger than the competition's.

Although the F30 and F31fd sold in pretty decent numbers, proving that it is possible to sell a camera on image quality rather than numbers, Fujifilm has finally caved under the pressure and joined the mainstream with the F50fd, doubling the F30/F31fd's pixel count to squeeze a whopping 12 megapixel on the tiny 1/1.6in sensor.

The F50fd also ups the 'whiz bang' factor condsiderably, adding a range of new features including a mechanical CCD-shift image stabilization system, improved face detection and a 2.7" LCD monitor. But can it match its predecessor's peerless image quality or has Fujifilm thrown the baby out with the bathwater by not only joining the megapixel race, but going right to the top with a full 12 megapixels? Let's find out, starting, as ever, with the headline specification.

Face Detection 2.0 Technology built-in to the camera’s processor
Dual Image Stabilization (High sensitivity + CCD shift)
2.7-inch TFT screen with 230.000 pixels
ISO 1600 sensitivity at full resolution
12 million pixels Super CCD HR VII sensor
3.0x optical zoom
IR Communication (IR simple™/IR SS™)
VGA movie capture of 25 frames per second with sound
Micro thumbnail view (up to 100 thumbnails visible)
5fps continuous mode (3MP, 12 frames max)
Aperture and shutter priority modes

Olympus SP-560UZ review

2007-12-25T15:26:00.000-08:00

Olympus was one of the first manufacturers to realize that building digicams around small sensors allows much longer zooms to be offered without the bulk of the camera becoming unmanageable. With its "Ultra zoom" range, starting back in 2000 with the 1.3MP C-2100UZ, Olympus almost single-handedly created a niche for digicams offering 10X optical zooms in relatively compact formats. Over the years, that niche has developed into a popular and fiercely fought market segment.

Realizing that the utility of a 10X zoom was great enough to make many users overlook the compromises that such a large zoom range entails, Olympus decided to investigate whether customers would put up with still more compromises if the zoom range was even greater. The result was the SP-550UZ with its astonishing 18X zoom range. And, just a few months later, the Olympus was joined on the market by similar offerings from Panasonic and Fuji, suggesting it wasn't alone in its thinking. So here we have Olympus' second-generation 18X zoom camera, the SP-560UZ. The question is, having lost its unique selling point, can the Olympus still make a convincing pitch for your money, and have the SP-550's shortcomings been overcome? Let's find out...

Headline features

18X optical zoom, giving a 27mm-486mm equiv. range
Dual IS, combining sensor shift technology with high ISO settings
8.0 million pixel sensor
ISO 6400 at 3.1MP
ISO 3200 at full resolution
RAW mode
Face detection
Face detection-combined In-camera red-eye reduction
Rapid continuous shooting (up to 15fps at 2MP)
25 scene modes
Smile mode (waits for subject to smile)
Expression Edit
Shadow Adjust
Control of off-board flashguns, with latest firmware

PENTAX Optio V10 review

2007-12-18T15:07:00.000-08:00

The Pentax Optio V10 is a 8.0 megapixel digicam featuring 3x optical zoom and 3.0" LCD squeezed into an aluminum alloy shell just 19mm thick - Pentax having achieved this feat of miniaturization through a redesigned circuit board and extra-slim battery. Face Detection AF & AE, Digital Shake Reduction and a wealth of automatic scene modes round off the specification. The Pentax Optio V10 will be available from October 2007 with a recommended price of US $249.95, more after the jump.

Main Features:

An ultra-slim body with a sophisticated texture
By using an exclusive slim battery and making the circuit board smaller, it is possible to realize an ultra-slim body of just 19mm even though featuring large LCD monitor. High quality aluminum alloy is also used for the outer cover, giving the camera a sophisticated texture.
Large, 3.0 inch easy viewable LCD monitor
The Optio V10 comes with a high resolution, a 3.0-inch LCD monitor with approximately 230,000 pixels that enables images and the text to be displayed largely and clearly. The LCD monitor has a wide viewing angle of 170 degrees from all directions, making it easy to confirm images, even when looking at the screen diagonally.
Digital SR(Shake Reduction)
Digital SR (Shake Reduction) mode automatically adjusts sensitivity, to as high as the ultrahigh sensitivity of ISO 3200 according to the brightness of the subjects, and effectively reduces camera shakes and subject blurring when photographing still images. With fast shutter speeds, photography with reduced blurring is available.
”Face Recognition AF&AE” function that is convenient when photographing portrait
The Face Recognition AF&AE*1 function automatically detects and focuses on faces, regardless of where the people appear in the photo frame. So, it allows you to take beautiful photograph of people easily by letting the camera determine the focus and exposure.
*1:Available when the photography mode is “Portrait” and “Natural Skin Tone”, and the camera is directed at people from the front
Auto Picture mode automatically determines the best photography mode for shooting conditions
The Auto Picture mode lets the camera automatically determines the shooting conditions for Landscape, Portrait, Night Scene, and Normal modes and choose the optimum settings for each subject. This function eliminates the necessity of making a number of individual settings.
3X optical zoom and 4X digital zoom for a maximum of 12X magnification
The Optio V10 features a 3X optical zoom lens with a focal range covering angles of view equivalent to those of a 36-108mm lens in 35mm format, which is ideal for a broad spectrum of subjects from landscapes, through memorial photographs, to portraits. Such zooming power can also be combined with 4X digital zoom to achieve a total of approximately 12X zoom capability.
High Resolution Images
The Optio V10’s 8.0 effective megapixels and high performance PENTAX lens, which precisely captures images down to the finest details, realizes to delivers high resolution photos that look sharp even at large magnifications.
Others
1. Mode palette provides quick access to 16 shooting modes and 13 playback modes
2. Record movies with Movie SR (Shake Reduction) function can deliver high quality image rivaling camcorders
3. Auto-Macro mode allows for close-up photography as near as 10cm while in the normal focusing mode
4. Auto-tracking AF continuously focusing on a moving subject
5. Date imprint function for easier image categorizing
6. Calendar Display function allows image retrieval based on the capture mode
7. Approximately 52.1MB of built in memory
8. FotoNation’s red-eye correction function for flash shots
9. Includes the ACDSee for PENTAX 3.0 image viewer/image management software that support Windows Vista™
10. Support PictBridge, DPOF functions, Exif Print, and PRINT Image Matching III

Nikon Coolpix S510 review

2007-12-06T09:38:00.000-08:00

Proven lens shift VR image stabilisation

Field proven technology originally developed for interchangeable lenses used in Nikon SLR camera systems, optical lens shift VR image stabilisation counteracts the effects of camera shake in lower light or when shooting to help achieve sharper results. Active full time, VR also stabilises images displayed on the 2.5-inch high-resolution LCD monitor for easier framing and more reassured shooting.

ISO 2000 capability for extended shooting range
The COOLPIX S510 makes it easier to take great-looking pictures in lower lighting conditions or to capture fast moving subjects with outstanding clarity by offering manual sensitivity settings as high as ISO 2000. And the new image processing engine preserves high image quality even when shooting with high ISO settings, thanks to enhanced noise reduction and an improved signal-to-noise ratio. Also available is AUTO ISO control, which automatically selects the optimal sensitivity for the shot across a range between ISO 64 and ISO 1000, and High-Sensitivity mode which minimises blur by automatically selecting optimal light sensitivity from a range between ISO 64 and 1600.

Large 2.5-inch LCD monitor for quality viewing and menu operation
The COOLPIX S510 has a high quality 2.5-inch LCD monitor featuring 230,000 dots of high resolution, a wide viewing angle of 160 degrees, anti-reflection coating for better display in bright situations, and a new acrylic panel that prevents scratches and fingerprints.

Nikon COOLPIX S510 Other Features

Three Unique Nikon Image Innovations
- Face-priority AF with improved speed and efficiency
- In-Camera Red-Eye Fix
- D-Lighting
Light weight with highly compact dimensions
Macro shooting from as close as 15 cm (5.9 in.)
4x digital zoom extends compositional freedom
Improved menu interface, available in a choice of 23 languages
Time zone function for easy setting of multiple locations
Approx. 52 MB of internal memory
SDHC card compatibility
USB connectivity
PictBridge compatibility

Olympus E-3 review

2007-12-05T11:19:00.000-08:00

The new flagship of the Four Thirds Standard-based Olympus E-System. The E-3 gives photographers a high-performance tool that is primed for any assignment and satisfies the most stringent demands for D-SLR photography. It represents the ultimate choice for the professional photographer and provides the highest levels of speed and image quality as well as Live View capabilities and the ultimate in reliability.

The E-3 features the world’s fastest* auto-focusing speeds thanks to an advanced AF system and new ZUIKO DIGITAL SWD (Supersonic Wave Drive) lenses. Matched with shutter speeds of up to 1/8000th sec. and 5fps sequential shooting (with a 19 image RAW buffer in burst mode), the E-3 gives photographers a crucial edge to help capture that decisive shot.

Ensuring the best image quality in the widest range of situations, this new professional model also incorporates a powerful built-in image stabilisation system which is capable of compensating against the effects of camera shake to the equivalent of up to 5 EV steps. This is complemented by a 10 Megapixel High Speed Live MOS sensor and Olympus’ TruePic III image processing engine. Together with the ZUIKO DIGITAL lenses – which are custom-made for the needs of D-SLR photography – photographers can rely on optimal results each time.

Meanwhile, the camera’s Live View capabilities provide the freedom to shoot with more versatility: Whether wanting to keep eye-contact with the subject or shooting above the head or close to the ground, compositions can be framed with ease on the 2.5”/6.4cm multi-angle HyperCrystal LCD, which also faithfully displays the effect of camera adjustments in real time.

In addition to Live View, photographers can also choose to use the camera’s large viewfinder which provides 100% coverage. Like all Olympus E-System cameras, the E-3 incorporates the most effective dust reduction system available – the Supersonic Wave Filter. Reliability of the camera system is further heightened under all types of shooting conditions thanks to dust and splashproof protection of both body and most E-System lenses. Moreover, a shutter life of 150,000 operations guarantees that the E-3 will tolerate the treatment of even the most active photographer with ease.

Reliability – exceptional durability

The E-3 also takes viewfinder performance up a notch. Full professional level coverage of 100% plus 1.15x magnification enhances framing ease even when using the eyepiece.

Since the development of the world’s first dust protection system in 2003, Olympus has continuously improved on it so that it still remains the most effective solution available today. The critically acclaimed Supersonic Wave Filter ingeniously protects the High Speed Live MOS sensor from dust and other foreign particles that could otherwise compromise image quality and serves as a symbol of Olympus’ long-standing commitment to imaging excellence.

Its magnesium alloy construction combined with dust and splashproof protection lets the E-3 go wherever the action is: No matter at a rainy football game or on the dusty plains of the Serengeti. The power grip and a wide selection of lenses are equally protected against the elements, thereby considerably reducing the risk of downtime as the E-3 is always ready for the next assignment no matter the conditions. And with a shutter life of 150,000 operations, professionals will really come to appreciate this model’s extreme reliability.

Ideal selection

Naturally, low light doesn’t put an end to shooting opportunities. In addition to the built-in flash (GN13), the E-3 allows wireless control of flash units, such as the new Olympus FL-36R and FL-50R, in up to three groups – enhancing lighting options dramatically.

In addition, the E-3 boasts flawless automatic white balance. This is due to a hybrid detection system which employs a dedicated white balance sensor in conjunction with the image sensor. The combination of colour data from two different sources results in stunningly faithful colour reproduction.

A complete D-SLR system

Adhering to the Four Thirds Standard, the E-3 is optimised for the special demands of digital photography and provides photographers with a superior level of flexibility and freedom. Cross-manufacturer compatibility ensures a future-proof investment that users can rely on. 32 lenses and three lens converters are available to date, including many from the award-winning ZUIKO DIGITAL range, which is designed for the specific demands of digital SLR photography. Furthermore, Four Thirds enables a smaller, lighter lens construction which means photographers benefit from more mobility and control, thus increasing the likelihood of magnificent imaging results.

In addition to the many lenses which include the recently-introduced ZUIKO DIGITAL SWD models for attaining the world’s fastest* autofocus speeds, a wide and exciting range of E-System accessories await professionals looking to customise their photographic experience with the E-3. For flash control without the need for cables, Olympus offers the FL-50R and FL-36R wireless flash units. And for assignments that go into overtime, the Power Grip HLD-4 provides long-lasting battery power and conveniently includes a shutter release button on its side to make the quick capture of shots in portrait format just as simple as landscapes. Two new eye-cups (DE-P3 and DE-N3) are also available to broaden the camera’s dioptre correction adjustment capabilities. Shifting the dioptre either up or down by 3m-1, an expansive total range spanning -6m-1 to +4m-1 is possible. Moreover, the optional FS-3 Focusing Screen provides a grid matte screen in the viewfinder on which the image area is divided into 4 x 6 sections to assist in framing (purchase & installation via Olympus Service Dept. only).

Sony Alpha DSLR-A700 review

2007-12-02T14:31:00.000-08:00

Nearly two years after Konica Minolta transferred its camera division over to Sony, and over a year after Sony's first DSLR (the A100), today is the day that the curtain is finally lifted on the long-awaited 'high end' Alpha digital SLR (in principle the replacement for the Konica Minolta 7D). The new model sports an impressive specification including magnesium alloy construction, 12MP CMOS sensor (with on-chip A/D conversion), 5fps shooting and a wealth of features and customization options, though interestingly (given the recent spate of announcements) no live view option. There's also a couple of new lenses and a new vertical shooting grip.

The new model features advanced imaging technologies and ultra-responsive operation, as well as a lightweight, dust- and moisture-resistant, magnesium alloy construction common to enthusiast-class D-SLR cameras.

Like Sony’s mainstream DSLR-A100 model, the new A700 unit incorporates Super SteadyShot® Inside image stabilization in the camera body and is compatible with most Minolta Maxxum® mount lenses in addition to Sony lenses.

“Discerning photo enthusiasts will be impressed with the rugged construction and outstanding performance of the A700, said Phil Lubell, director of marketing for digital cameras at Sony Electronics. “We also expect that this new camera will re-define the post-capture experience with HDMI™ output for high-quality playback of images on high-definition televisions.”

Picture Quality

The camera’s new 12.2-megapixel Exmor™ CMOS sensor conducts analog-to-digital (A/D) signal conversion and dual noise reduction right on the sensor itself. Noise reduction is applied to analog signals before A/D conversion and the resulting digital signals are then subject to a second round of noise reduction.

According to Lubell, “These digital signals are virtually immune to external noise and interference.”

Clean, noise-free digital signals are then sent to the newly developed BIONZ™ processing engine. Lubell said this engine has been optimized to process data-rich picture information at high speeds, and to reduce picture noise in the RAW data stage before final image compression and encoding. The results are high-resolution, detailed images with rich tonal reproduction.

Extraordinary Responsiveness

The A700 camera is engineered to be fast and ultra-responsive so as to become “a virtual extension of your own senses,” Lubell said, “capturing fleeting moments as you see them.”

A newly developed, auto-focus system features 11 wide-area sensors, including a center dual cross sensor comprised of two horizontal and two vertical line sensors for exceptional AF precision. An F2.8 line sensor leverages the brightness of fast aperture lenses for even greater precision. Lubell said that extraordinary focusing speed has been realized through improved algorithms and a high-torque focusing drive motor.

The large, bright, viewfinder uses a precision-ground optical glass pentaprism and a high refractive index eyepiece lens to provide 0.9x viewfinder magnification and 95 percent frame coverage. Manual focusing is aided by an interchangeable spherical acute matte focusing screen.

The camera has a high-performance vertical traverse shutter with a maximum shutter speed of 1/8,000th of a second to freeze fast-moving action. A high-power coreless motor charges the shutter and mirror mechanism, allowing continuous shooting at up to five frames per second. In JPEG fine or standard mode, continuous shooting is limited only by the capacity of the media card (sold separately), while up to 18 frames can be captured in RAW.

Expanded Creativity

The new camera features fourteen creative styles, including night view, autumn leaves or vivid, which can be selected to enhance images. These effects can then be fine-tuned by customizing contrast, sharpness, zone matching and other parameters.

Sony’s Dynamic Range Optimizer (DRO) function has been updated on this model so users can choose the desired level of detail recovered in areas of shadow. The advanced mode offers the option of five levels of user selectable correction. Additionally, DRO bracketing creates three images from a single capture with three different levels of DRO.

There is an extensive array of customization options to personalize the camera to match shooting styles. The unit’s quick navigation interface can be accessed instantly with the four-way multi-selector, and selected parameters can be adjusted directly by control dials.

Up to 28 camera settings can be stored in one of three user memories for instant recall. The unit’s custom function button can be assigned to 15 frequently-accessed functions.

With the supplied remote capture application, the camera can be controlled from a compatible PC via USB without even touching the camera, and files can be stored on the computer instead of the media card.

High-Quality Pictures on an HDTV

The A700 model features an HDMI output for connection to HDTV sets, putting a high-resolution spin on the conventional photo slideshow.

When connected to a Sony BRAVIA® LCD HD television, photos are optimized for viewing with the new “PhotoTV HD” mode. This mode brings the look of actual printed photography to the television, reproducing high-quality digital photos by fine-tuning such image parameters as sharpness, gradation and color specifically for photographs.

The exceptional viewing experience of this camera also extends to viewing photos on its 3-inch LCD screen. The screen’s size and ultra-sharp resolution (921K) makes it possible to check focus and image quality with much greater accuracy.

Panasonic DMC-L10 review

2007-11-25T15:05:00.000-08:00

Panasonic, a leader in digital technology, is delighted to announce the launch of their second digital single-lens reflex camera (SLR) – the DMC-L10 with an interchangeable LEICA lens. The DMC-L10 features an advanced 2.5-inch free angle LCD for full time live view that offers 270 degree rotation and a versatile shooting style. A 10.1-megapixel Live MOS Sensor provides beautiful images with delicate gradation and wide dynamic range. Dust reduction with a Supersonic Wave Filter system prevents dust from attaching to the sensor to degrade the pictures. The superb image processor, Venus Engine III, boasts high quality image rendering and a high speed response.

Four Thirds System – Developed Exclusively for digital SLR

The DMC-L10 adopts the open format of the Four Thirds system for its lens mount – so the L10 can be used with lenses made by a variety of manufacturers, giving users a host of equipment options. Drawing on leading technologies while defying any stereotype ideas in SLR cameras, Panasonic’s DMC-L10 is designed to help you make the most of your photographic creativity.

One of the DMC-L10’s real talking points is the LEICA D VARIO-ELMAR 14-50mm / F3.8-5.6 / MEGA O.I.S. lens. Sold as a complete kit – the combination of the world renowned Leica lens, with Panasonic’s excellence in digital photography – makes an impressive proposition.

Full-time Live View for a New Digital SLR Shooting Style

The full-time live view function on the LCD proposes a dramatic change in the shooting style of digital SLR cameras. The DMC-L10’s 2.5-inch large LCD offers 270 degree rotation and a versatile shooting style even in situations when looking into the viewfinder is not easy – so you don’t need to get down on bended knee, or lie flat on the ground – you can see the subject even while holding the camera up high. This free angle LCD also features an Intelligent LCD function that offers an automatic brightness level control function according to the light condition, under the strong sunlight or in darkness, to secure clear view anytime.

The full-time live view gives users more shooting flexibility and greater convenience not previously achieved by conventional digital SLR cameras without live view capability. Not one to rest on its laurels, Panasonic introduces another first for a digital SLR camera by incorporating a Face Detection and Intelligent ISO Control function. The face detection system detects human faces (up to 15 human faces can be detected simultaneously) and sets a focus and appropriate exposure to capture a face clearly and beautifully lit. The Intelligent ISO Control function detects and meters the movement of the subject and sets the suitable ISO setting and the shutter speed according to the amount of the movement to suppress the generation of motion-blur in the picture.

The live view enables the user to check the outcome image in advance after compensating the exposure or adjusting the white balance. The white balance can be adjusted in the area of two-axis of coordinates precisely. Furthermore, the DMC-L10 provides options of picture taste with a function called Film Mode. Each analog film has its characteristics, for example colour, contrast, gradation and these effect the outcome of the picture, they are ways of expression. With the DMC-L10, the Film Mode allows you to choose the one that takes the best advantage of the scene or the subject you take out of a total of nine film modes including Standard, Dynamic, Nature, Smooth, Nostalgic, Vibrant, Standard B/W, Dynamic B/W and Smooth B/W, with the capability of fine adjustment of contrast, sharpness, saturation and noise reduction. All these settings can be confirmed before you take the picture.

Users can also change the aspect ratio (4:3, 3:2 and 16:9) according to the situation. As a leader in the flat panel market, Panasonic has been proposing further enjoyment of photography, by viewing the dynamic photos you take in HD (high-definition) 1920 x 1080 resolution image size on 16:9 wide screens.

In conventional digital SLR cameras, the live image could be seen only through the view finder and the LCD existed just for the playback of images once taken. But with the DMC-L10, any trials of setting, adjustment and effect can be checked beforehand, ensuring the picture will be just as the user intended.

Olympus E-410 EVOLT review

2007-11-22T12:05:00.000-08:00

The Olympus E-400 was announced on the 14th September 2006, just before the Photokina show in Cologne, Germany. At the time there was much excitement about this compact and lightweight camera however this turned to disappointment for many of our readers when we discovered the camera would not be available in North America. Fast forward six months and we have the solution, the new E-410, gone is the Kodak CCD replaced with a (Matsushita) Live MOS Image Sensor which can provide Full Time Live-View on the LCD monitor, an updated image processor and a few other added features. So finally an affordable, compact, lightweight 4/3 digital SLR for everyone, including those who live in North America.

New features (compared to the E-400)

Ten megapixel Live MOS Image Sensor (provides Full Time Live-View)
Auto Focus in Live View (although still requires live view freeze and mirror flap)
TruePic III processor (faster, better image quality, better noise reduction)
Improved continuous shooting; still 3 fps but unlimited at JPEG HQ or 7 RAW
No warning message at higher sensitivities (E-400 warned from ISO 800 upwards)

Two new ZUIKO Zoom Digital lenses

In conjunction with their announcement of the E-410 Olympus also announced two more ZUIKO Zoom lenses. There is a new kit lens in the 14-42 mm F3.5 - F5.6 which provides a nice wide angle three times zoom coverage equivalent to 28 - 84 mm on a 35 mm camera, next up is the 40-150 mm F4.0 - F5.6 which when combined with the kit lens would give you a full 28 - 300 mm equiv.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18 review

2007-11-21T08:43:00.000-08:00

Barely half a year after the introduction of the DMC-FZ8, Panasonic added another model to its popular range of compact 'super zoom' Lumix cameras in the shape of the FZ18. Although obviously based on the FZ8 (they are externally almost identical), the FZ18 doesn't replace it; it's a sort of 'big brother' with a bigger zoom, more pixels and a smattering of new features.

The biggest news is the optically stabilized lens, which has 'grown' at both ends and now sports a whopping 18x (28-504mm equiv.) zoom, putting the FZ18 into direct competition with Olympus' SP-550UZ (now updated to the SP-560UZ) and Fujifilm's recently announced FinePix S8000fd.

Almost inevitably the FZ18 squeezes even more pixels onto its 1/2.5-inch sensor, although the increase has been fairly moderate from 7.3 to 8.3 megapixels. Other new features include a dedicated AF/AE button, Face Detection and a new Intelligent Auto mode which integrates Image Stabilization, Intelligent ISO, Face Detection and Scene Detection into a 'Super' Auto Mode.

Despite the usual noise issues you would expect from a tiny sensor/big zoom camera (and our dislike of Panasonic's approach to noise reduction), overall we were pretty impressed with the FZ8 when we reviewed it a few months ago. This was to a large degree due to the superb LEICA lens. So let's find out how Panasonic have tackled the noise challenge - and if the new lens, with it's much more ambitious zoom range, can match its predecessor, starting with a look at what's changed:

Major differences to DMC-FZ8

18x optical zoom (28-504mm equiv.) - FZ8 has 12x (36-432mm) zoom
Smaller maximum aperture at long end of zoom (F4.2 vs F3.1)
8.3 megapixel sensor (vs 7.2 megapixel)
Face Detection
Intelligent Auto mode
Manually selectable ISO 1600
ISO 6400 High Sensitivity mode
AF/AE lock button and dedicated AF/MF button
1cm macro (was 5cm)
Custom mode and extra scene modes (plus 'advanced scene modes')
Five level Noise reduction (was three level)
Slower continuous shooting (burst)
Heavier and slightly larger

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T2

2007-11-20T08:58:00.000-08:00

The 8-megapixel model features 4GB of internal memory and can store up to 40,000 VGA-quality photos or 1,000 8-megapixel pictures, eliminating the need to manage multiple media cards. And, you won’t spend hours trying to find your pictures on this camera.

The camera’s album folder makes it easy to organize and access thousands of photos in-camera. Images can be viewed in chronological order and displayed in a helpful calendar view. By installing the bundled Picture Motion Browser software, you can also view images by events like birthdays or Sunday BBQs.
Beloved photos can be selected and moved to the camera’s “favorites” folder for virtually instant retrieval, without having to navigate through hundreds of pictures. In favorites, photos can be arranged in six separate subfolders with a touch of a finger.

The “sharemark” folder can store those photos and videos deemed worthy for sharing beyond the camera onto the web. The T2 model is pre-loaded with Sony PMB Portable software, a user-friendly application that automatically runs when the device is connected to a compatible PC via the supplied USB cable. The software lets you publish photos and videos directly to popular web sharing sites, such as Crackle™, Flickr™, Photobucket™, Shutterfly™ and YouTube™.

Designed to be both powerful and stylish for the holidays, the camera has a new look with a compact silver body; black LCD frame; and a sliding lens cover available in blue, green, pink, white or black. The fashionable Sony LCS-TWE carrying case is also available in the same colors to match the camera.

Its touch-panel LCD screen replaces small buttons with on-screen icons and a user-friendly interface to make camera operation fast and simple. You can touch the screen to select the subject you want to focus on (shooting mode) and where you want to zoom in (playback mode).

Sony’s distinctive “smile shutter” function makes capturing informal portraits and family snapshots effortless. The function automatically detects and captures a person smiling without the need to press the shutter. If there are several people in the frame, you can select the primary subject for the camera to watch by touching the screen. A sequence of up to six smiling shots can be taken without the need to manually press the shutter.

Combined with such technologies as face detection, optical image stabilization and high sensitivity (ISO 3200), the camera is equipped to capture life-like holiday memories.

Photo viewing can be festive with the camera’s new scrapbooking feature, which allows you to choose up to 16 colorful designs to view photos on the camera’s anti-reflective screen. The unit also lets you add up to eight different creative effects to your photos, such as blurring and filter effects.

For the ultimate in photo viewing, you can gather family and friends around a high-definition television set and enjoy memories in full 1080 HD resolution. The T2 camera can be connected to the TV set via HD component cable or an HD cradle (both sold separately). Equipped with a built-in slide show function, the camera lets you view photos, complete with dynamic transitions choreographed to your choice of programmed music clips or by adding your own.

Nikon D3 review

2007-11-19T14:58:00.000-08:00

The professional Nikon D 'single digit' series of digital SLR's started life back in June 1999 with the groundbreaking D1. Groundbreaking because it was the digital SLR which broke Kodak's stranglehold on the digital SLR market and fundamentally brought prices down to a level which most professionals could afford (around the US$5,500 mark). Since then we have seen a steady progression of this line of cameras, while the core values of a high quality full size body with integrated grip have remained the line split into two halves, one targeted at high resolution photography the other high speed sports type photography (lower resolution but faster continuous shooting); the X and H suffixes. It's been almost three years since Nikon introduced a completely new digital SLR with a new sensor (the D2X) and there has been much anticipation that Nikon's next move would be a full-frame chip.

This predictions have come true with the introduction of the 'FX format' (new moniker created by Nikon) D3 which features a 36 x 23.9 mm 12.1 megapixel CMOS sensor as well as a vast array of new features which absolutely raise it another notch above previous single digit Nikon DSLRs. Important headline improvements include high sensitivity support by default, up to ISO 6400 with 25600 available as a boost option, 14-bit A/D conversion, a new standard image processor, a new shutter, new auto focus sensor, focus tracking by color, nine frames per second continuous, dual compact flash support, DX lens support (albeit at lower resolution) and a 3.0" 922,000 pixel LCD monitor (which it has to be said is lovely).

Some will undoubtedly question Nikon for 'only' delivering twelve megapixels on their first full frame digital SLR, all we can presume by looking at past model line history is that this camera is designed for speed (both in sensitivity, auto-focus and continuous shooting).

Nikon D3 Key Features

First ever Nikon DSLR with a Full-Frame (36 x 24 mm) sensor (coined FX format)
12.1 megapixel full-frame sensor (8.45µm pixel pitch)
ISO 200 - 6400 (with boost up to ISO 25600)
Also supports DX lenses, viewfinder automatically masks (5.1 megapixels with DX lens)
5:4 ratio crop mode (10 megapixels, up to 9 fps, viewfinder masked)
14-bit A/D conversion, 12 channel readout
Nikon EXPEED image processor (Capture NX processing and NR algorithms, lower power)
Super fast operation (power-up 12 ms, shutter lag 41 ms, black-out 74 ms)
New Kevlar / carbon fibre composite shutter with 300,000 exposure durability
New Multi-CAM3500FX Auto Focus sensor (51-point, 15 cross-type, more vertical coverage)
Auto-focus tracking by color (using information from 1005-pixel AE sensor)
Auto-focus calibration (fine-tuning) now available (fixed body or up to 20 separate lens settings)
Scene Recognition System (uses AE sensor, AF sensor)
Picture Control image parameter presets (replace Color Modes I, II and III)
Custom image parameters now support brightness as well as contrast
Nine frames per second continuous with auto-focus tracking
Eleven frames per second continuous without auto-focus tracking
Ten / eleven frames per second continuous in DX-crop mode (AF / no-AF)
Dual Compact Flash card slots (overflow, back-up, RAW on 1 / JPEG on 2, copy)
Compact Flash UDMA support
3.0" 922,000 pixel LCD monitor
Live View with either phase detect (mirror up/down) or contrast detect Auto Focus
Virtual horizon indicates if camera is level (like an aircraft cockpit display)
HDMI HD video output
'Active D-Lighting' (adjusts metering as well as applying D-Lighting curve)
Detailed 'Control Panel' type display on LCD monitor, changes color in darkness
Buttons sealed against moisture
Dual battery charger as standard
Available November 2007

Sony Cybershot W80 review

2007-11-17T09:32:00.000-08:00

Announced at PMA in February 2007, the Cyber-shot W80 is one of three almost identical models that differ only in their pixel count (the range-topping W200 is 12MP, the W90 is 8MP and the W80 is 7MP). The W series has been gradually refined over the last few generations and now offers a more affordable alternative to the ultra-slim 'T' series whilst still offering a compact body, optical image stabilization and - new for these models - HDTV (1080i) output - albeit with an optional composite video cable or Cyber-shot Station dock. Also new to the W series is a new multi-point AF system and - of course - face detection AF/AE. Otherwise the spec is pretty standard ultra compact fare; 3x zoom, 2.5-inch screen and a claimed 340 shot battery capability. This is a crowded part of the market and Sony is one of the most successful players, and the W80 has proved very popular since it arrived in stores a few months ago. But is it any good? Let's find out, starting as usual with the headline features:

1/2.5" CCD sensor, 7.2 million effective pixels
3x Carl Zeiss branded optical zoom
2.5" LCD screen
HDTV video output (requires optional cable or dock)
Super Steady Shot image stabilization
4cm macro
ISO 80-3200
7 Scene modes
2.8 fps continuous shooting
Available in 4 colors (black, silver, white and pink)

Nikon D300 review

2007-11-14T09:57:00.000-08:00

Just under two years since the D200 Nikon reveals the D300, the range of changes is so significant that it wouldn't be inappropriate to call it a 'compact D3' (less the full-frame sensor of course). From the top there's a new CMOS sensor with twelve megapixels, a new auto-focus sensor with 51-points (15 of which are cross-type sensitive), there's focus tracking by color, scene recognition, Picture Control presets, six frames per second continuous shooting (or eight frames per second with a battery pack), Compact Flash UDMA support, Live View (with contrast detect AF) and the mighty impressive 3.0" 922,000 pixel LCD monitor (oh and HDMI video output). It's an impressive list, the D200 was a fair step up from the D100, the D300 can be seen as just as big a step, certainly more than enough to make the competition sweat.

Nikon D300 Key Features

12.3 megapixel DX format CMOS sensor
Self-cleaning sensor unit (low-pass filter vibration)
ISO 200 - 3200 (6400 with boost)
14-bit A/D conversion
Nikon EXPEED image processor (Capture NX processing and NR algorithms, lower power)
Super fast operation (power-up 13 ms, shutter lag 45 ms, black-out 100 ms)
Shutter life 150,000 exposures
New Multi-CAM3500DX Auto Focus sensor (51-point, 15 cross-type, more vertical coverage)
Auto-focus tracking by color (using information from 1005-pixel AE sensor)
Auto-focus calibration (fine-tuning) now available (fixed body or up to 20 separate lens settings)
Scene Recognition System (uses AE sensor, AF sensor)
Picture Control image parameter presets (replace Color Modes I, II and III)
Custom image parameters now support brightness as well as contrast
Six frames per second continuous shooting (eight frames per second with battery pack)
Compact Flash UDMA support
3.0" 922,000 pixel LCD monitor
Live View with either phase detect (mirror up/down) or contrast detect Auto Focus
HDMI HD video output
'Active D-Lighting' (adjusts metering as well as applying D-Lighting curve)
Detailed 'Control Panel' type display on LCD monitor, changes color in darkness
New MB-D10 vertical grip fully integrates into body, multi battery type compatible
Buttons sealed against moisture

Canon - Ixus V2 review

2007-11-13T08:43:00.001-08:00

Canon's Ixus V2 is a true pocket digital camera. Its sleek, credit card-sized, all-metal case is under 30mm thick, making it very easy to take with you. The 2-Mpixel camera is a model of simple design, with power and shutter release buttons on its top surface, together with a centre-sprung, two-way jog-switch to control zoom level. The Canon lens offers 2x optical zoom and there's a further 2.5x digital zoom, giving a total of 5x.

On the back there's a 38mm colour LCD display, which also shows icons for the various camera settings. You navigate the menus with a circle of four buttons and make selections with four further buttons under the display.

One of the key features of the Ixus V2 is AiAF, or intelligent auto-focus. With most digital cameras, in fact almost all cameras offering auto-focus, you have to trick the technology if you want to focus on an object which is not in the centre of the field. The new Canon system uses three points to assess which part of the frame to focus on and normally takes the object closest to the lens. The system works well, but can be turned off if you want to achieve special effects.

Images are captured onto an 8MB CompactFlash card, which slides into the side of the camera. A rechargeable NiMH battery pack slides into the bottom and can be recharged in the supplied charger in a couple of hours.

Picture quality from our test images was very good with a bright, well-focused macro shot and high fidelity colours in the landscape image. A great little camera if you don't require ultra-high resolution.

Fujifilm - FinePix 30i review

2007-11-12T12:02:00.001-08:00

Even with the batteries in place, the FinePix 30i feels rather lightweight and plastic. Designed very much for the youth market, Fujifilm highlights the fact that it can also be used as an MP3 music player. The company even supplies a wired remote control so you can select tracks while the camera is in your pocket. With only a 16MB SmartMedia card for storing audio or images, though, you'd be lucky to fit more than four music tracks on it, depending on the sampling rate.

As a camera, the FinePix 30i is quite fiddly to use. The buttons are small and the two shaped menu selectors, positioned around the jog-switch which controls the digital zoom, are particularly awkward. The three other buttons set into the back of the camera are hard to operate with a thumb, as they're too close together.

The FinePix 30i comes into its own as a fun camera, with extra features such as sound captioning of stills, short video sequences and sound-activated shooting. The idea of this last feature is to set the camera up, perhaps at the start of the party, so it shoots whenever there's a burst of laughter or shouting. If the party's any good, though, wouldn't it be going off most of the time?

Our test images came out over-bright, with the macro, flower picture looking particularly washed out. You can adjust for this using manual exposure compensation, but the automatic setting should have made a better attempt.

The FinePix 30i is a peculiar mixture. While its sound-based features could make it a handy toy in a busy social life, the price is not really right for a gadget. As a camera, its lack of optical zoom and fiddly controls make it look rather expensive.

Kodak - Easyshare DX4900 review

2007-11-12T12:00:00.000-08:00

Kodak supplied both its DX4900 camera and the optional EasyShare USB dock into which it plugs. The camera alone is a similar price to the others in this group.

The DX4900 has a chunky and rather utilitarian design, full of bumps and lumps. On its back panel is a four-way thumb control and two other buttons with which you can navigate the menu system, which appears on the 38mm colour LCD display. Unusually, the top surface of the camera also contains a mono LCD, for status information like the number of shots remaining.

A 2x optical zoom lens powers out of the front at switch on and, with a further 3x digital zoom, provides a good degree of magnification. The built-in software makes effective use of this, enabling you to magnify a shot within the camera and pan around it on the LCD.

The 4-Mpixel CCD array produces large files and a 16MB CompactFlash card is provided to hold them. A single use, Lithium battery provides power if you buy the camera on its own, but a rechargeable NiMH pack is included in the version with the bundled dock. The battery recharges all the time the camera is docked.

Our test macro image came out very well on this camera, with the huge magnification available from its maximum 2,448 x 1,632 resolution. The landscape picture was also well reproduced and again can be zoomed to show the fine detail.

The DX4900 is an effective digital camera with great flexibility of control, including manual focus and exposure adjustment if needed. It's a shame Kodak's industrial designers still feel it has to look like a £40 'Brownie', though.

Ricoh - Caplio RR10 review

2007-11-12T11:56:00.001-08:00

Ricoh's Caplio RR10 has an unusual vertical/horizontal design. About the size and shape of a hand-held dictation machine, you slide it down on one of its ends into a supplied dock, which you keep connected permanently to your PC. The dock, known as the Ricoh Base, acts as a recharger for the built-in Lithium-ion battery, a link for downloading pictures and the same for uploading music files.

Music files? Yes, this is another multi-function camera, designed for people who want to listen to music on the move. However, a late-night bus or train is probably not the ideal place to brandish a £300 piece of technology and anyway, the 8MB Secure Digital memory card will only hold a couple of music tracks.

Used as a camera, the Caplio RR10 is well-designed, although a little limited in function. A large thumbwheel on its back panel selects function - including music playback, audio recording and a short sequence of video - and most other controls are operated from 4 buttons above and below the LCD display and a thumb-pad for controlling the zoom level.

There are a few shortcomings to the Caplio RR10's feature list. There's no optical viewfinder for a start; you have to use the LCD display for every shot, which won't be to everyone's taste. There's no tripod mount and no macro facility, either, though in its normal mode the camera focuses down to a very useful 40mm.

Image quality was fair, though the lack of a macro mode was obvious on the close-up flower picture. The landscape shot was better, with reasonably natural colours and decent clouds. Overall, the Caplio RR10 is a better attempt at a camera with multimedia pretensions than the FujiFilm FinePix 30i.

Samsung - Digimax 350SE review

2007-11-08T13:36:00.000-08:00

Like the Kodak EasyShare DX4900, Samsung's Digimax 350SE is a chunky design, but with a lot more style. A blue or silver band and handgrip mark out its body and its controls are commendably easy-to-use. On top there's a six-position dial to select photo, video or playback modes, with the shutter release set in its centre.

On the back there's a toggle switch controlling zoom level, with a 3x optical zoom and 2x digital, a five-way thumb-pad to navigate the on-screen menus and two other buttons for selection of extra features. Finally, there is an easy to spot, red, lozenge-shaped power button.

Samsung's new camera has a 3.2-Mpixel CCD array, which gives it a maximum resolution of 2,048 x 1,536, for highly detailed images. Our test shots were well reproduced, though the colours were a little bland in comparison with real life. The macro mode produced a very detailed close-up of our test subject.

In its basic form, the Digimax 350SE doesn't come with rechargeable batteries of any kind. A set of AA alkaline cells is all that's supplied, though NiMH batteries and charger are available as optional extras. A 16MB CompactFlash card is provided, which can hold up to nine images at the camera's highest resolution.

The camera makes electronic sounds when you press the power or shutter-release buttons. This is comforting for beginners but may scare off some subjects, like small birds. Other than this, and its relative heaviness, Samsung's latest venture into the digital camera world is a success. The Digimax 350SE is easy and comfortable to use and produces fair images straight out of the box.

Canon - Ixus v3 review

2007-11-08T13:33:00.000-08:00

It is entirely possible that 'Q' never issued a Canon Ixus digital camera to James Bond, and we feel that is a terrible oversight. The Ixus v3 is a 3.2 megapixel update to the original Ixus and it looks for all the world like a small block of brushed stainless steel that measures 90mm x 60mm x 25mm.

Press the On/Off button and the lens extends, but not very far as this model only has a 2x optical zoom. As this is such a small camera the controls are all close to hand, but they are well laid out and easy to operate. The zoom is particularly neat, as you adjust it with the same fingertip that operates the shutter button.

The battery is Li-Ion and drops out of the camera to charge in a charger that Canon supplies. There's no option to plug the camera into the mains or use it with a flat battery. The media is regular Compact Flash, which is on the one hand quite chunky and on the other very cheap and cheerful at £30 for 128MB.

We found that indoors shots were clear, sharp and well balanced, but we were less impressed with outdoors photos. They were acceptable but unimpressive; not very sharp, as though the "intelligent 9-point AiAF system" couldn't quite decide where to focus, and the 2x optical zoom didn't help matters either.

We were a little surprised that the Ixus wasn't natively recognised by Windows XP and actually had to resort to the Canon driver CD. We also noted that Canon uses a proprietary port for the USB cable, which can also be used for the supplied AV cable, as well as its direct print devices.

There's more to taking a photo than pointing and clicking, and the Ixus v3 comes with a full package of software including ArcSoft CameraSuite 1.2, ArcSoft PhotoImpression and ArcSoft VideoImpression as well as PhotoRecord and PhotoStitch. The only way to improve that would be to include the same Adobe Photoshop Elements package that Canon bundles with some of its scanners.

We feel that the Ixus v3 is fundamentally limited by its size, and a fair amount of that is taken up by the battery and compact flash card, but if you work within the limitations of the camera you'll be very happy with it. The price isn't extortionate either, and represents fair value for money.

HP - Photosmart 850 review

2007-11-08T13:27:00.000-08:00

Somewhere in the depths of the huge HP corporation there is a team that desperately wants to develop a 35mm film camera. Instead they've been told to sort their act out and develop a digital camera fit for 2003, so here it is: the HP Photosmart 850, a digital camera that looks just like a traditional film camera. As a result it's quite large at 120mm x 120mm x 85mm with the lens extended.

The specification includes some big numbers, including a 4.1 Megapixel resolution, 8x optical zoom, 7x digital zoom and a lens that is the 35mm equivalent of 37-300mm. In fact the specification actually says "Total 4.13 Megapixels (3.89 recorded Megapixels)" so let's err on the side of caution and say it's approximately 4 Megapixels.

HP has chosen to power the Photosmart 850 with four AA batteries (supplied), which is not a choice that we approve of, as one of the beauties of a digital camera is that it has no consumables to pay for. If a Li-Ion battery isn't appropriate for some reason then at least give us four AA Ni-Cads and a charger. Anyway, the four batteries live in the part of the camera that looks like it should hold a roll of 35mm film.

The rest of the layout is conventional, with a decent-sized 50mm display and just enough buttons to navigate the set-up menu comfortably.

You'll find the flash on top, where it pops up when you release a catch. This is hardly rocket science, but again it's not quite what we want to see. A regular flash set in the front of the camera can respond to the auto setting as necessary. Perhaps it's all a ploy to discourage us from using up those AA batteries.

Thankfully all this is mere quibbling, as the HP is very good indeed when it comes to taking photos, both indoors and outside. The colour balance is just right, the picture is sharp and clear, and that huge zoom range drags the subject just as close as you want. The most important thing is that the Photosmart 850 doesn't add or remove any information; instead it takes the picture that is in front of you.

HP includes both a USB cable to connect to your PC and a USB Direct print cable, should you have an appropriate printer. That's inevitable as HP is an imaging company, however we tend to find that pictures need a bit of editing before printing. The included HP Instant Share software helps you to send photos to your nearest and dearest over the Internet, although we trust that visitors to this site are au fait with e-mail and attachments and so likely to be able to manage on their own.

Fujifilm - FinePix A204 Zoom review

2007-11-07T03:09:00.001-08:00

A sub-£200 digital camera with this specification would have been unthinkable a year ago. Prices continue to fall and the FinePix A204 Zoom from Fujifilm has an impressive feature list. It starts with a 2-megapixel CCD array, so the camera can capture high-resolution images at up to 1,600 by 1,200 pixels, and adds to this a 3x optical zoom. Zoom lenses are normally only found in digital cameras costing well over the £200 mark.

Fujifilm has adopted a technique used by Olympus to protect the lens with a sliding cover but, unlike its rival, the sliding mechanism isn't linked to its power switch. This means you can leave the lens exposed with the power off or leave it covered with the power on, neither combination being particularly helpful.

Its other controls are more sensibly grouped into bars of three on the back panel, or around the shutter release on its top. Also on the back panel is a 38mm LCD monitor, a quality device unlike the cheaper LCDs found on many entry-level cameras. There's an optical viewfinder, too, so you don't have to rely on the LCD to compose your pictures. The menu system is clear and easy to navigate and most of the everyday exposure and timing decisions are made for you automatically. The camera has a built-in flash too.

Fujifilm has long been a fervent supporter of the SmartMedia memory card format, but with this model has moved to its own, new xD-Picture card. The card is about the same size as a Multimedia or Secure Digital card and seems to have few advantages over these more widely used storage media. While the 16MB capacity is generous for a camera in this price range, it's a shame yet another format has to be added to the list.

The camera can capture video at up to 10 frames per second in QVGA format, at a resolution of 320 by 240 pixels. On the card supplied with the camera, though, you can only fit 20 seconds of video. Fujifilm's supplies its own FinePix Viewer for uploading images to a PC or Macintosh and the software is reasonably accomplished at performing simple manipulations of your pictures.

Images are finely detailed, even when blown up for large prints, and the colour balance is good for a camera in this price bracket. Pictures taken in bright light, though, can suffer from over-vividness in their hues.

The FinePix A204 Zoom is supplied with twin AA alkaline batteries, but you can use rechargeable NiMH cells, too. A carrying strap is included, but there's no case as standard with the camera.

Polaroid - PDC 2150 review

2007-11-07T03:07:00.000-08:00

There's no doubt that digital cameras are making an impact in all areas of photography, from the high end to the entry level, plus a few new niches like key-ring cameras.

Ultimately, though, the mass market requirement is for pocket cameras that can be used at parties, on holidays and other 'real world' events. Such cameras need to be small enough to fit into a pocket or handbag, with high enough resolution to compete with basic 35mm cameras, plus a long battery life. If they're easy to use, so much the better.

And that's pretty much what we have here. The Polaroid name has been attached to this PDC 2150 digital camera, but there's no 'instant film' inside. That old style of Polaroid mechanism has been pretty much relegated to the sidelines by digital imaging, and this camera has a 2.1-megapixel CCD instead. There's 8MB of memory built in plus a slot for an SD card with which you can install more memory (although if you use this, the 8MB of internal memory is temporarily disabled; you can't use both at once).

Refreshingly, it's point and click. So much so that there's rarely any need to use the small, backlit LCD screen. You can leave it off while you take pictures, which helps to prolong the battery life. You will need to use the screen to change resolution and perhaps tweak the settings - such as exposure, flash type, resolution, etc. - but on the whole you can get by without it most of the time.

So, what else do we have? A switch between macro and normal modes, two resolution settings, the higher of which - 1600 x 1200 pixels - produces surprisingly good photos, particularly when used outdoors. It's not so much that the resolution is particularly high, more that the colour balance is good and the JPEG algorithm, which can sometimes leave a lot to be desired, has been well implemented so that smooth edges don't look too jagged. In fact, the PDC 2150 would shame some more expensive cameras.

There's a 2x digital zoom, which is pretty much irrelevant since you can do the same thing in software, and... well, that's about it. Leaving aside the adequate photo imaging software, USB and video connection cables and the carry case that are included in the box, the only other point worth mentioning is that the PDC 2150 can be used as a Web-cam too should you feel the need.

Pentax - Optio S review

2007-11-07T03:05:00.000-08:00

It would be easy to start this review with the well-worn cliché about all good things and their predilection for small packages. However, when it comes to cameras, size really is important. If a model is too big or clunky it's more likely to be left at home, while one that's very small may be portable but can lose out on features or suffer from shaking hand syndrome.

At first glance, the Optio S is off to a good start. Smaller than a packet of 20 Marlborough, this camera will genuinely fit into most trouser pockets and handbags. It's also incredibly light, weighing just 113g complete with lithium battery and memory card, but the small dimensions belie a remarkably robust design. The aluminium body feels solid in your hands and a slightly milled finish makes it easy to grip.

Pentax has managed to pack an enormous amount of features into something so tiny. Along with its 3.2-megapixel resolution, the Optio S offers 3x optical (35-105mm equivalent) and 2x digital zooms, a 1.6-inch colour LCD display, 11MB of built-in memory and video-out facilities. There are eight shooting modes, including Panoramic Assist, 3D and movie settings, and seven picture modes with two macro options for close up work.

Images are captured at up to 2,048 x 1,536 pixels, with a choice of three compression settings, while movies come in at 320 x 240 in 12 frames per second AVI format. The latter trades the zoom facility for audio capture and 30-second sound bursts can be attached to still images. There's also a neat time-lapse video mode and the camera can even act as a digital voice-recorder, though how many people will use it as such remains to be seen. The internal memory stores seven pictures at full-quality and this can be supplemented with both MMC and SD storage cards.

We really enjoyed testing the Optio S. The menu system and settings are clear and the majority of images we snapped were crisp and noise-free. What's more, the automatic picture mode performed admirably in a variety of lighting conditions. Transferring pictures to a PC is simply a matter of attaching the USB lead; the camera then appears as another drive.

In fact, aside from a slight lag in shooting speed and some blurred night scene photos there's really only one thing we can moan about. The Optio's size has forced Pentax to mount a tiny four-way controller for accessing menus and settings. It's not the worst we've seen but it is fiddly, making it easy to select an option accidentally when you want to scroll around and vice versa. You do get used to it after a while but you still need to use it slowly. Fitting a slightly larger version would make a world of difference. Hopefully Pentax will take note for the S2.

Canon - PowerShot S50 review

2007-11-05T12:06:00.001-08:00

Canon is aiming this new camera at what it calls 'advanced amateurs', which seems to fit the bill quite nicely. It's not a professional camera - for a start it doesn't have the option of huge, screw-in lenses and hot-shoe attachments - but it is some way above the conventional point-and-click fare, especially when it comes to manual control of the photographic process.

This is a surprisingly hefty camera given its pocketable size, so unless Canon's built the chassis out of lead, there's quite a selection of electronics inside. A quick glance at the control system will confirm that it's the latter. The sliding cover reveals a motorised mechanism containing a 7.1 - 21.3mm lens (equivalent to 35 - 105mm on a 35mm camera) with 3x optical zoom. The top dial is the sort you'd seen on Canon's film SLRs, with pre-sets for portrait, landscape, action, night scene, 'stitch assist' and the option of short video clips (there's a microphone and speaker on the top of the camera). In addition to this there's a thumb-pad controller for navigating menus, plus eight other buttons, not counting the shutter release.

Despite this, it is reasonably easy to use the PowerShot S50 as a simple point-and-click camera. Just rotate the dial to the appropriate setting and you're away. With a 5-megapixel CCD and Canon's respected lens and image processing electronics, you're pretty much guaranteed to get some decent photos on the standard settings.

Actually, 'decent' is doing the camera a disservice. The results are excellent, with few or no artefacts (even when saving pictures in JPEG format as opposed to raw mode), high levels of detail and 'real' colour balance. We noticed a very faint trace of blue/red separation around hard contrast edges, but only if we zoomed into the image, and this was less than we've seen in other cameras in this price range. It's actually hard not to produce decent photos with this camera, which will flatter would-be professionals everywhere.

But that's only part of the package, because it's the range of manual settings that gives the PowerShot S50 its 'advanced amateur' appeal. You can adjust pretty much everything, from the usual flash modes and white points to colour balance, aperture size, shutter speed, focus mode and flash sync. You decide what the LCD panel tells you (if anything - you can switch it off and use the viewfinder instead) and the menu system for altering the camera's settings includes user pre-sets so that you can quickly recall your own preferred settings. In playback mode the LCD can give you a histogram of your image, so you can see whether the colour settings are appropriate to the conditions.

A 32MB CompactFlash disk is included, so you can either use the USB connection cable to link to your PC or simply plug the CF disk into a card reader. Cables are also included for playback to a TV set and there's a selection of software from ArcSoft and other manufacturers that should provide all you need for fairly advanced photo editing.

This is not a studio camera; there's no hot-shoe option or other straightforward means of controlling external flashes. But for any other use, the results obtained are considerably better than you might expect given the relatively cheap price tag. There are just two problems that we can see. First, because the PowerShot S50 uses a proprietary rechargeable battery (it comes with a mains charger) there's no point in carrying round a set of 'emergency' alkaline AA batteries. Instead you'll probably want to carry around a spare rechargeable battery, which won't be cheap. Second, the soft carrying case is an optional extra - now that is cheap.

Trust - 770Z review

2007-11-05T12:03:00.000-08:00

With an initially quite impressive-looking specification for the price, Trust's compact and sleek 770Z digital camera arrived with a reasonable degree of promise. The manufacturer behind it, while not likely to rival the likes of Sony or Kodak, has been steadily growing in confidence with its digital camera range after a bumpy start. The 770Z? No big cigars, but a steady, straightforward digital solution.

It does score points immediately for being blindingly straightforward to use. A minimal selection of buttons on the unit itself makes its operation eminently obvious to mildly experienced camera users, and you can be quickly snapping away without needing to open the manual.

The camera has a 3.3-Megapixel resolution, with a 3x optical zoom. That's not bad going for the price tag, and you can theoretically use the added 3x digital zoom as well, although we found that doesn't work as well when it comes to the end image. Still, the in-built TFT screen is crisp, with a decent enough menu system for you to make picture choices from the unit itself.

Mind you, the weedy 8MB memory won't get you very far. If you're thinking of the 770Z as a bargain, then you at least need to factor in the cost of a bigger memory card. As it stands, at top resolution you're looking at getting around seven or eight images stored on it (twiddling with resolutions can squeeze up to 60 in there, with the obvious hit on quality as a result); but those images will look quite good. A clear 300 dpi image taken on the camera measured in at a healthy 13 x 10cm, which is ample for most prints.

Where the Trust camera skimps, though, is in not doing things quite as well as some of its competitors. For instance, the in-built flash boasts red-eye reduction capabilities, yet the first snap we took with the camera had the eyes of a 'Doctor Who' monster staring back at us. It's easily corrected with a piece of software, and four good Ulead packages - Photo Express 4.0 SE, DVD PictureShow SE and Photo Explorer 7.0 SE and Cool 3D- deal with the PC-based tasks. Also, the camera's optical zoom is fine, but digital zoom rarely works out that well, and this camera is no exception in that respect. And it eats batteries like nobody's business!

Still, the Trust 770Z has a good auto-focus that works really quite well, and for the money it's hard to find a camera that can match it in terms of both features and the very generous selection of software you find in the box. Mind you, anyone more than an enthusiastic amateur really should look to spend a little bit more.

Canon - Ixus 430 Review

2007-11-05T11:38:00.000-08:00

If you've seen a Canon IXUS before then the new IXUS 430 will be quite familiar to you. Externally similar to the previous models, Canon has added some new features and updated the specification, but at heart this is still the same old IXUS.

The design is starting to show its age a little so Canon has decided to cover its options with the 4.3-megapixel 430 and 5-Megapixel 500 models, and it has also introduced the tiny IXUS I to cater to customers who want the smallest possible camera.

The single most obvious sign of the age of the IXUS is its use of Compact Flash as storage medium, where most cameras use an SD card or media that is even smaller in size such as xD.

Most of the right-hand end of the IXUS 430 is filled with the battery and Compact Flash card, and it is tempting to think that if Canon used smaller internal parts then the four-way navigation pad could be moved to the right and that in turn would allow Canon to enlarge the LCD screen.

That LCD is a conventional 1.5-inch unit, and it is very clear to read as Canon has used white writing on a black background, with each option turning red as it is highlighted. It's incredibly clear and easy to use, but we find that a bigger screen makes it easier to frame the shot with a high-resolution camera, as there's so much information included in a 4-megapixel photo.

The IXUS 430 looks quite complicated, as there are so many buttons and switches all over the back. Most of these have quite limited functions so the rotary control, for instance, only has four positions where some manufacturers would cram in up to nine pre-set profiles, and you have to wonder if it is strictly necessary to have a dedicated switch to change from Camera to Transfer mode. Kodak, for example, uses an automatic system that detects when you plug in a USB cable with no need for a Transfer switch at all.

Canon includes a Direct Printing button as the IXUS 430 supports the latest PictBridge technology, so you can connect your camera directly to an appropriate printer and then use the LCD on the camera to navigate the printer controls. Naturally Canon hopes that you'll use a Canon printer, but we regard PictBridge as yet another reason for manufacturers to include the largest possible display on their cameras.

Despite all those minor quibbles we loved the IXUS 430. It feels solid and well made, and the menus and controls are quite intuitive to use. Picture quality is generally good, and close-up photos using the macro setting work particularly well both with and without the flash.

Portraits taken indoors were clear and displayed accurate colours and skin tones. Exterior shots also look good, but the IXUS only has a 3x optical zoom like so many compact digital cameras, so it helps to bring the subject closer to the camera, but can do little more than that.

The IXUS 430 is a good all-round performer and while it doesn't excel in any one area it won't disappoint you.

Fujifilm - Finepix S2 Pro review

2007-11-04T10:15:00.000-08:00

If you're used to professional digital cameras, then the design of the Finepix S2 Pro won't hold many surprises, but if you're used to consumer cameras then you'll be impressed by the build quality. This is a chunky camera that gives the impression (although we didn't test it) that it would survive a knock or two. There's the familiar hand-grip design (as an aside, one wonders how left-handed people cope with the standardised right-handed camera design) with a four-way thumb selector on the rear panel along with a few extra buttons and the 1.8-inch LCD screen below a backlit LCD status panel. On top is the shutter release, wheels for aperture and exposure settings and the main mode selector.

The usual settings are all available. You can change the resolution up to a maximum of 4,256 x 2,848 pixels - that's 12.1 million from the camera's 6.17 million 'effective' pixels - and change the file storage quality too. Various levels of JPEG are the default, but TIFF and raw mode (where the CCD output is dumped straight to file without even going through the camera's image processing electronics) are also present.

Four shooting modes are available; single frame, continuous (approximately two frames per second), preview and multiple exposure. There are also four exposure modes; multi-programmed AE, shutter-priority AE, aperture-priority AE and manual. And, conveniently, there are also four focusing modes; Dynamic AF, Dynamic AF with closest-subject-priority, Single Area AF and Focus Tracking. White balance can be adjusted as can the colour saturation level.

Most of the functions can be locked once you've set them, to prevent accidental changes to the picture quality. The two that aren't lockable are the aperture and exposure wheels, presumably so that you can change them to suit varying lighting and depth conditions while you work. It's possible that these could be adjusted accidentally while you're shooting, but it's not too likely.

We've deliberately left the jargon out of this review, because what matters is the photographic result, not the technical means by which it's achieved. But it is worth mentioning Fujifilm's "Super CCD sensor" which is claimed to produce very realistic colours. It does. There are no tricks involved - the colours aren't made more vibrant than life - but the results are excellent, with fine detail clearly shown, good optical density and outstanding colour balance.

Even on the medium resolution settings the camera produced publishable results, so the top resolution raw mode is really only likely to be necessary for absolute perfectionists and those printing posters. This mode produces 36MB images, but the camera has a large enough buffer that you can still shoot quickly and leave the camera to write the data afterwards. That data is written to either SmartMedia or IBM Microdrive cards. The latter seems more practical, as the 1GB drives are readily available. Camera connectivity is via IEEE1394 FireWire and USB interfaces, although a card reader will suffice.

It's important to bear in mind that you only get the camera body when you buy - lenses have to be bought separately. The Finepix S2 Pro is compatible with all AF-D type, AF-G type and AF-S type Nikkor lenses, so you've got plenty from which to choose. Ultimately, the only thing we didn't like about this camera is its built-in flash, which produced harsh, high contrast photos whatever the setting. Professionals are very unlikely to use it anyway.

Mustek - DV2000 review

2007-11-04T10:13:00.000-08:00

There's not an awful lot in Mustek's low-cost DV2000 digital camera to send serious photographers heading down to their local shop. But for the more casual user on a tight budget, there's quite a lot to admire here.

Its flexibility is arguably this camera's strongest appeal. The unit can work in three modes - as a web-cam, a digital camera and a digital video camera. It's fair to say that the latter mode is the weakest. Storing around three minutes of video on the supplied 16MB MMC flash card (it also supports SD cards), the quality really doesn't come close to competing with a dedicated video camera, although there's little doubt that it's a handy feature to have for those just-in-case moments. The relatively small resolution of the footage - 320 x 240 is as high as it will go - means that the output is best suited to online use. A big plus, though, is that given the relatively low weight and size of the DV2000, it's really easy to lug around.

As a digital camera, it fares better. Accepting that for under £100 you're not getting anything incredibly special, it works fine during the day, and can happily take some good snaps. However, one of the major omissions is a flash, and that makes night photography all but impossible unless you have an alternative lighting source. Yet considering this is a 2.1-megapixel device, when the circumstances are right you really do get some good output from the camera (incidentally, if you're after higher resolution, then the DV3000 is available with 3.1-megapixel support, although unlike the 2000 this relies on both hardware and interpolation). Images of up to 1,600 x 1,200 pixels can be taken with the DV2000.

Aesthetically, the DV2000 has the look of a digital camcorder, only smaller. It has a fold out screen on which you can review your images and the device as a whole is devilishly easy to use. That's because Mustek hasn't overburdened the camera with umpteen buttons, and those that are present are well labeled. Sadly, the zoom isn't much cop. Entirely digitally based, the zooming function theoretically goes up to 2x (which isn't an awful lot anyway), with underwhelming results.

A big thumbs up for the generous software package, though. It includes Special Edition versions of popular Ulead titles Photo Express, VideoStudio, Cool 360 and Photo Explorer. Each of these are fine applications that can help you achieve good results.

Ultimately, with the DV2000 you get a little more than you pay for. We've been quite extensive in our criticism of it, but that has to be significantly tempered by its low price tag. Compared to many other units on sale at a similar price, this is a strong purchase, and will suit the casual photographer thanks to its simple, user-friendly layout, plus its ability to produce a good image at the end.

JVC - GR-DVP9 Miniature High-Band Digital Camcorder review

2007-11-04T10:12:00.001-08:00

Like everything else in the electronic field, camcorders have been gradually shrinking in size. Yet there comes a point where a fine balance has to be struck between convenience and performance and JVC believes that its latest MiniDV has just about cracked it.

The Miniature series began in 1996 with the GR-DV1 and was quickly acclaimed for its sleekness and compactness of design - it was clearly intended to be slipped easily into a pocket, jacket or handbag. The GR-DVP9 keeps the cool, smooth lines of its predecessors while incorporating some new improvements.

Picture quality is, of course, the prime consideration and the GR-DVP9 has a high-density 1.33-megapixel CCD as well as a super high-band processor that calculates and restores the high-band components of the luminance signal that would normally be lost in conventional processing, raising the horizontal resolution to a maximum of 540 lines.

You'll be pleasantly surprised at the resulting clarity of picture from such a small piece of hardware. Unusually, in addition to the 2-inch fold-out LCD monitor, the camcorder comes with a colour viewfinder and the brightness of both the monitor and the viewfinder can be adjusted for more reliable shooting. The attached 'info-shoe' will also allow you to use an extra light source or stereo zoom microphone.

The usual kinds of wipe and fade effects come as standard, as do special effects like sepia, strobe and monochrome. The one innovation, though, is Night-Scope which boosts the sensitivity of the shutter speed by up to 30 times and will enable you to capture murky (possibly in more than one sense of the word) shots that you might previously have felt were beyond your reach. This feature works best, naturally, on a tripod as the effect frequently looks like its strobing and that's without the additional hazard of camera shake.

If you need an convincing that this camera is as much designed for fun as practical video recording, then the proof is in the variety of MP3 digital sound effects provided on the supplied memory card. You can now add everything from applause, cheering and laughter to explosions, buzzers and sirens to your recordings - which will be especially appreciated on stag and hen nights.

There's an incorporated Navigation feature which will make a thumbnail image of your last record point. This makes it easy both to go straight to the part of the tape you want to review again, and to decide where to edit or continue shooting from. The menu controls are housed in the hollow where the viewfinder folds in; it takes a while to master the correct pressure for the push-buttons.

The 10x optical zoom is more than sufficient for highly detailed close-ups and the 200x digital zoom produces impressive results at a distance. However, even with the digital image stabiliser engaged, you'll still need a steady hand to avoid the inevitable long distance wobble.

Fast data transfer to and from a computer is possible through the DV terminal and there's also a handy analogue input so you can dub non-digital material to MiniDV format. The USB interface will allow MPEG-1 streaming to a computer from which video CDs can be made, and by the same means the GR-DVP9 can be turned into a web-cam for teleconferencing or surveillance.

As you'd expect, the GR-DVP9 can also act as a digital still camera with four image size settings (from 640 x 480 to 1,600 x 1,200 pixels). At the highest resolution you can only store 9 images (in Fine mode) on the 8MB MultiMediaCard, but that expands to 165 in Standard mode on the lowest setting. Snapshots can be taken with sound effect on or off and there's even an MPEG-4 E-mail Video Clip recording function that can later be transferred via USB to your computer.

Bundled software includes Digital Photo Navigator for still image transfer, image re-sizing, slideshows, Web file creation and data library management, plus ImageMixer to help with MPEG-1 editing and the driver for USB video streaming.

Samsung - Digimax V4 review

2007-11-04T10:10:00.000-08:00

Samsung may not be one of the first names to spring to mind when you think of digital cameras, but the company has a good name for quality compact conventional cameras and now offers a wide range of mid-range digital devices.

The Digimax V4 is the company's new top-of-the-range camera and, although styled like a sub-compact, it has some very grown-up features. These include automatic, aperture and shutter priority and manual settings for operating the camera with the degree of control you want.

The camera has a high-tech feel with rather more buttons and dials than normal. On the back is five-way thumb-pad for navigating the menu system on the 45mm LCD panel, plus another four buttons ranged around it. There's a toggle switch for moving between wide-angle and the 3x optical and 4x digital maximum zoom, and an eight-way rotary switch to select between modes.

On top is a slide-on, slide-off power switch and the large shutter-release button. This array of buttons takes a while to master, though most make sensible single-functions out of other maker's menu options. The camera may take a little longer to master because of this, though.

In the right-hand end of the camera is a cover for the battery pack and a 32MB Secure Digital memory card, which is needed with the large CCD array in the V4. Samsung offers a true 4-megapixel sensor here and the camera can produce images with resolutions up to 2,272 x 1,704 pixels, which is easily enough for a detailed A4 print. You can also take a video clip, with or without sound, at a resolution of 288 x 208 and with length dependent on memory capacity.

Picture quality is natural without any major colour offsets, though reviewing shots on the display takes a little while, as the camera refocuses each image for the small panel. Using Easy mode, you need do little more than point and shoot, but you can take more precise control at any time. You can use macro mode to focus down to 30cm and super-macro to take it all the way to 6cm.

Although good value, one oddity of the Digimax V4 is that it contains a standard, non-rechargeable Lithium Ion battery pack. This means you either have to invest in the optional rechargeable pack, or start shelling out for replacement cells as soon as the pack expires. A £300 camera really should include rechargeables and a charger.

Formats

2007-11-04T09:59:00.001-08:00

Common formats for digital camera images are the Joint Photography Experts Group standard (JPEG) and Tagged Image File Format (TIFF).

Many cameras, especially professional or DSLR cameras, support a Raw format. A raw image is the unprocessed set of pixel data directly from the camera's sensor. They are often saved in formats proprietary to each manufacturer, such as NEF for Nikon, CR2 for Canon, and MRW for Minolta. Adobe Systems has released the DNG format, a royalty free raw image format which has been adopted by a few camera manufacturers.

Raw files initially had to be processed in specialized image editing programs, but over time many mainstream editing programs have added support for them, such as Google's Picasa. Editing raw format images allows much more flexibility in settings such as white balance, exposure compensation, color temperature, and so on. In essence raw format allows the photographer make major adjustments without losing image quality that would otherwise require retaking the picture.

Formats for movies are AVI, DV, MPEG, MOV (often containing motion JPEG), WMV, and ASF (basically the same as WMV). Recent formats include MP4, which is based on the QuickTime format and uses newer compression algorithms to allow longer recording times in the same space.

Other formats that are used in cameras but not for pictures are the Design Rule for Camera Format (DCF), an ISO specification for the camera's internal file structure and naming, Digital Print Order Format (DPOF), which dictates what order images are to be printed in and how many copies, and the Exchangeable Image File Format (Exif), which uses metadata tags to document the camera settings and date and time for image files.

Bateries

2007-11-04T09:57:00.000-08:00

Digital cameras have high power requirements, and over time have become increasingly smaller in size, which has resulted in an ongoing need to develop a battery small enough to fit in the camera and yet able to power it for a reasonable length of time.

Essentially two broad divisions exist in the types of batteries digital cameras use.

Off-the-shelf

The first is batteries that are an established off-the-shelf form factor, most commonly AA, CR2, or CR-V3 batteries, with AAA batteries in a handful of cameras. The CR2 and CR-V3 batteries are lithium based, and intended for single use. They are also commonly seen in camcorders. The AA batteries are far more common; however, the non-rechargeable alkaline batteries are capable of providing enough power for only a very short time in most cameras. Most consumers use AA Nickel metal hydride batteries (NiMH) (see also chargers and batteries) instead, which provide an adequate amount of power and are rechargeable. NIMH batteries do not provide as much power as lithium ion batteries, and they also tend to discharge when not used. They are available in various ampere-hour (Ah) or milli-ampere-hour (mAh) ratings, which affects how long they last in use. Typically mid-range consumer models and some low end cameras use off-the-shelf batteries; only a very few DSLR cameras accept them (for example, Sigma SD10). Rechargeable RCR-V3 lithium-ion batteries are also available as an alternative to non-rechargeable CR-V3 batteries.

Proprietary

The second division is proprietary battery formats. These are built to a manufacturer's custom specifications, and can be either aftermarket replacement parts or OEM. Almost all proprietary batteries are lithium ion. While they only accept a certain number of recharges before the battery life begins degrading (typically up to 500 cycles), they provide considerable performance for their size. A result is that at the two ends of the spectrum both high end professional cameras and low end consumer models tend to use lithium ion batteries.

Filter mosaics, interpolation, aliasing

2007-11-04T09:56:00.001-08:00

In most current consumer digital cameras, a Bayer filter mosaic is used, in combination with an optical anti-aliasing filter to reduce the aliasing due to the reduced sampling of the different primary-color images. A demosaicing algorithm is used to interpolate color information to create a full array of RGB image data.

Cameras that use a beam-splitter single-shot 3CCD approach, three-filter multi-shot approach, or Foveon X3 sensor do not use anti-aliasing filters, nor demosaicing.

Firmware in the camera, or a software in a raw converter program such as Adobe Camera Raw, interprets the raw data from the sensor to obtain a full color image, because the RGB color model requires three intensity values for each pixel: one each for the red, green, and blue (other color models, when used, also require three or more values per pixel). A single sensor element cannot simultaneously record these three intensities, and so a color filter array (CFA) must be used to selectively filter a particular color for each pixel.

The Bayer filter pattern is a repeating 2×2 mosaic pattern of light filters, with green ones at opposite corners and red and blue in the other two positions. The high proportion of green takes advantage of properties of the human visual system, which determines brightness mostly from green and is far more sensitive to brightness than to hue or saturation. Sometimes a 4-color filter pattern is used, often involving two different hues of green. This provides potentially more accurate color, but requires a slightly more complicated interpolation process.

The color intensity values not captured for each pixel can be interpolated (or guessed) from the values of adjacent pixels which represent the color being calculated.

Image resolution

2007-11-04T09:55:00.001-08:00

The resolution of a digital camera is often limited by the camera sensor (usually a charge-coupled device or CCD chip) that turns light into discrete signals, replacing the job of film in traditional photography. The sensor is made up of millions of "buckets" that collect charge in response to light. Generally, these buckets respond to only a narrow range of light wavelengths, due to a color filter over each. Each one of these buckets is called a pixel, and a demosaicing/interpolation algorithm is needed to turn the image with only one wavelength range per pixel into an RGB image where each pixel is three numbers to represent a complete color.

The one attribute most commonly compared on cameras is the pixel count. Due to the ever increasing sizes of sensors, the pixel count is into the millions, and using the SI prefix of mega- (which means 1 million) the pixel counts are given in megapixels. For example, an 8.0 megapixel camera has 8.0 million pixels.

The pixel count alone is commonly presumed to indicate the resolution of a camera, but this is a misconception. There are several other factors that impact a sensor's resolution. Some of these factors include sensor size, lens quality, and the organization of the pixels (for example, a monochrome camera without a Bayer filter mosaic has a higher resolution than a typical color camera). Many digital compact cameras are criticized for having excessive pixels, in that the sensors can be so small that the resolution of the sensor is greater than the lens could possibly deliver.

As the technology has improved, costs have decreased dramatically. Measuring the "pixels per dollar" as a basic measure of value for a digital camera, there has been a continuous and steady increase in the number of pixels each dollar buys in a new camera consistent with the principles of Moore's Law. This predictability of camera prices was first presented in 1998 at the Australian PMA DIMA conference by Barry Hendy and since referred to as "Hendy's Law".

Methods of image capture

2007-11-04T09:53:00.000-08:00

Since the first digital backs were introduced, there have been three main methods of capturing the image, each based on the hardware configuration of the sensor and color filters.

The first method is often called single-shot, in reference to the number of times the camera's sensor is exposed to the light passing through the camera lens. Single-shot capture systems use either one CCD with a Bayer filter mosaic it, or three separate image sensors (one each for the primary additive colors red, green, and blue) which are exposed to the same image via a beam splitter.

The second method is referred to as multi-shot because the sensor is exposed to the image in a sequence of three or more openings of the lens aperture. There are several methods of application of the multi-shot technique. The most common originally was to use a single image sensor with three filters (once again red, green and blue) passed in front of the sensor in sequence to obtain the additive color information. Another multiple shot method utilized a single CCD with a Bayer filter but actually moved the physical location of the sensor chip on the focus plane of the lens to "stitch" together a higher resolution image than the CCD would allow otherwise. A third version combined the two methods without a Bayer filter on the chip.

The third method is called scanning because the sensor moves across the focal plane much like the sensor of a desktop scanner. Their linear or tri-linear sensors utilize only a single line of photosensors, or three lines for the three colors. In some cases, scanning is accomplished by rotating the whole camera; a digital rotating line camera offers images of very high total resolution.

The choice of method for a given capture is of course determined largely by the subject matter. It is usually inappropriate to attempt to capture a subject that moves with anything but a single-shot system. However, the higher color fidelity and larger file sizes and resolutions available with multi-shot and scanning backs make them attractive for commercial photographers working with stationary subjects and large-format photographs.

Recently, dramatic improvements in single-shot cameras and RAW image file processing have made single shot, CCD-based cameras almost completely predominant in commercial photography, not to mention digital photography as a whole. CMOS-based single shot cameras are also somewhat common.

HP - Photosmart 735 camera review

2007-11-04T09:45:00.000-08:00

HP has been plugging away making cameras for the last five years or so, yet many of the main digital camera outlets don't stock them. This is a shame - just because HP's background is in computing rather than optics doesn't mean it can't make a good camera.

The latest Photosmart 735 may look a little bland - there are only a couple of curves to break up the fairly boxy look of this 35mm, compact-size camera - but its specification and performance put it up with many better known brands. As with previous HP cameras, the lens system is from Pentax, the two companies having collaborated on previous cameras, with each bringing its own expertise to the design.

The lens on the Photosmart 735 offers 3x optical zoom and the electronics add a further 5x digital zoom, producing an unusually high 15x total. The camera has a 3-megapixel CCD array, so it can cope with this high level of digital magnification. Other features more often found in higher-end cameras include manual aperture control, as well as several automatic presets for different environments, such as landscape, night-time and portrait photography.

The camera is straightforward to control and has two LCD displays. As well as the normal colour LCD used to view shots and make menu settings, there's a mono LCD status display on the top of the camera. This shows things like the number of shots remaining, battery status and the selected image quality. Buttons ranged around both displays make it easy to set up and change the camera's parameters.

Picture quality is generally very good, with the camera's optics and electronics working well together to produce natural colours and well-defined foregrounds. When set to fully automatic, the camera still manages to make most of the right decisions and is as 'friendly' for the novice photographer who wishes to point and shoot as for the more seasoned user, keen to take more control.

HP includes its Memories Disk with the Photosmart 735, offering basic image manipulation and management. This makes it particularly easy to get pictures off the camera and onto your PC, or further out onto the Internet. InstantShare is a function which uploads selected images to an HP-maintained Web site and automatically sends messages to selected contacts so they can view them directly from there. This saves sending bulky pictures to all your friends, particularly those with dial-up links.

Tapes of digital cameras

2007-11-04T09:34:00.000-08:00

A digital camera is an electronic device used to capture and store photographs digitally, instead of using photographic film like conventional cameras, or recording images in an analog format to magnetic tape like many video cameras. Modern compact digital cameras are typically multifunctional, with some devices capable of recording sound and/or video as well as photographs. In the Western market, digital cameras now outsell their 35 mm film counterparts.

Digital cameras can be classified into several categories:

Video cameras

Video cameras are classified as devices whose main purpose is to record moving images.

Professional video cameras such as those used in television and movie production. These typically have multiple image sensors (one per color) to enhance resolution and color gamut. Professional video cameras usually do not have a built-in VCR or microphone.
Camcorders used by amateurs. They generally include a microphone to record sound, and feature a small liquid crystal display to watch the video during taping and playback.
Webcams are digital cameras attached to computers, used for video conferencing or other purposes. Webcams can capture full-motion video as well, and some models include microphones or zoom ability.

Live-preview digital cameras

The term digital still camera (DSC) most commonly refers to the class of live-preview digital cameras, cameras that use an electronic screen as the principal means of framing and previewing before taking the photograph. All use either a charge-coupled device (CCD) or a CMOS image sensor to sense the light intensities across the focal plane.

Many modern live-preview cameras have a movie mode, and a growing number of camcorders can take still photographs. However, even a low-end live-preview camera can take better still pictures than a mid-range video camera, and mid-range live-preview cameras have much lower video quality than low-end video cameras; that is, products are not generally optimized for both still and video photography, due to their different requirements.

Compact digital cameras

Also called digicams, this encompasses most digital cameras. They are characterized by great ease in operation and easy focusing; this design allows for limited motion picture capability. They tend to have significantly smaller zooms than bridge and DSLR cameras. They have an extended depth of field. This allows objects at a larger range of depths to be in focus, which accounts for much of their ease of use. They excel in landscape photography and casual use. They typically save pictures in only the JPEG file format. All but the cheapest models have a built-in flash, although its guide number tends to be very low, perhaps just 6 or 8.

Bridge cameras

Bridge or SLR-like cameras form a general group of higher-end live-preview cameras that physically resemble DSLRs and share with these some advanced features, but share with compacts the live-preview design and small sensor sizes.

Bridge cameras tend to have superzoom lenses, which compromises – in varying degrees, depending on the quality of the zoom lens – a "do it all" ability with barrel distortion and pincushioning. These cameras are sometimes marketed as and confused with digital SLR cameras since the bodies resemble each other. The distinguishing characteristics are that bridge cameras lack the mirror and reflex system of DSLRs, have so far been always produced with only one single sealed (non-interchangeable) lens (but accessory wide angle or telephoto converters can be attached to the front of the sealed lens), can usually take movies, record audio and the scene composition is done with either the liquid crystal display or the electronic viewfinder (EVF). The overall performance tends to be slower than a true digital SLR, but they are capable of very good image quality while being more compact and lighter than DSLRs. The high-end models of this type have comparable resolutions to low and mid-range DSLRs. Many of the these cameras can save in JPEG or RAW format. The majority have a built-in flash, often a unit which flips up over the lens. The guide number tends to be between 11 and 15.

Digital single lens reflex cameras

Digital single-lens reflex cameras (DSLRs) are digital cameras based on film single-lens reflex cameras (SLRs), both types are characterized by the existence of a mirror and reflex system. See the main article on DSLRs for a detailed treatment of this category.

Digital rangefinders

A rangefinder is a focusing mechanism once widely used on film cameras, but much less common in digital cameras. The term rangefinder alone is often used to mean a rangefinder camera, that is, a camera equipped with a rangefinder.

Professional modular digital camera systems

This categoryincludes very high end professional equipment that can be assembled from modular components (winders, grips, lenses, etc.) to suit particular purposes. Common makes include Hasselblad and Mamiya. They were developed for medium or large format film sizes, as these captured greater detail and could be enlarged more than 35mm.

Typically these cameras are used in studios for commercial production; being bulky and awkward to carry they are rarely used in action or nature photography. They can often be converted into either film or digital use by changing out the back part of the unit, hence the use of terms such as a "digital back" or "film back." These cameras are very expensive (up to $40,000) and are typically not seen in the hands of consumers.

Line-scan camera systems

A line-scan camera is a camera device containing a line-scan image sensor chip, and a focusing mechanism. These cameras are almost solely used in industrial settings to capture an image of a constant stream of moving material. Unlike video cameras, line-scan cameras use a single array of pixel sensors, instead of a matrix of them. Data coming from the line-scan camera has a frequency, where the camera scans a line, waits, and repeats. The data coming from the line-scan camera is commonly processed by a computer, to collect the one-dimensional line data and to create a two-dimensional image. The collected two-dimensional image data is then processed by image-processing methods for industrial purposes.

Line-scan technology is capable of capturing data extremely fast, and at very high image resolutions. Usually under these conditions, resulting collected image data can quickly exceed 100MB in a fraction of a second. Line-scan-camera–based integrated systems, therefore are usually designed to streamline the camera's output in order to meet the system's objective, using computer technology which is also affordable.

Line-scan cameras intended for the parcel handling industry can integrate adaptive focusing mechanisms to scan 6 sides of any rectangular parcel in focus, regardless of angle, and size. The resulting 2-D captured images could contain, but are not limited to: 1D and 2D barcodes, address information, and any pattern that can be processed via image processing methods. Since the images are 2-D, they are also human-readable and can be viewable on a computer screen. Advanced integrated systems include video coding and optical character recognition (OCR).

Kodak - EasyShare LS633 review

2007-11-03T06:09:00.000-07:00

Kodak's 3.1-megapixel EasyShare LS633 is the world's first camera to use an OLED display instead of the more traditional LCD display. It's a stylish design offering good features and image quality.

The undoubted star of the EasyShare LS633 is the amazing 2.2-inch, 112,000-pixel OLED screen. OLED - or more correctly AMOLED (Active-Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode) - is a technology which Kodak has pioneered, and which it will brand under the name NeVue.

Unlike in a conventional LCD display, where the shades of light are blocked by the liquid crystal, in an OLED display each pixel generates its own light, hence there's no need for a backlight. The resulting image has a higher colour contrast than an LCD display. It also supposedly improves the battery life, although we didn't find that to be the case, mainly due to the sheer size of the EasyShare LS633's screen.

That screen comes into its own when you view it at an angle; images remain clear, crisp and vivid even when getting close to Kodak's claimed viewing angle of 165 degrees. They also remain clear and crisp even in sunlight.

Aside from this screen, the other important piece of technology is the 3.1-megapixel CCD sensor. This allows images to be captured up to a resolution of 2,041 x 1,533 pixels, good for prints up to 14 x 11 inches. The lens has a 3x optical zoom and is, as with most recent Kodak cameras, made by the German company Schneider-Kreuznach.

The lens has a range from F2.7 to 4.6 and a focal range of 5.6 - 16.8mm (equivalent to 37 - 111mm on a conventional 35mm camera). Captured photographs are perhaps a little over exposed and a little soft on things like trees or grass, but in general the images are sharp and well defined with good, natural colours.

The rest of the EasyShare LS633's features are what you would expect from today's point and shoot cameras. The manual options are simple and easy to use and include exposure metering and compensation, focus setting and light metering (up to ISO 400); the only thing missing is a manual setting for white balance.

The camera also has a "Capture always Ready" feature that allows you to snap a picture in any camera function mode, and although you can't frame the picture with the OLED when doing so, it does allow a picture to be taken, even if you are currently reviewing images.

The EasyShare LS633 can be used in video mode - it has built-in speakers and a microphone. Videos are saved in QuickTime at a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels and you can get around 81 seconds of video on the internal 16MB memory. For extra memory the camera supports SD and MMC cards.

Using the EasyShare LS633 presents no real problems and for beginners it displays a short description when switching between scene modes, helping you to make the right choice. There are six such modes; auto, close-up, landscape, sport, night and burst. To transfer images the camera can be connected to a Kodak cradle, but if you can't afford the extra expense of the cradle (£60), it also has video and USB ports.

Canon - Ixus i review

2007-11-03T06:05:00.000-07:00

We've got this theory that technology will destroy the world. It's not a particularly original thought and we've certainly watched Terminator a few too many times, it's true, but it seems inevitable to draw only one conclusion from the inexorable miniaturisation of gadgets that is the natural flow of technological evolution.

You see, in distant galaxies there are races far in advance of us who have produced washing machines the size of thimbles which harness anti-matter technology to compact clothing, suck it in, then spit it out whiter than white and re-enlarged.

And when these devices go wrong... that's where black holes come from. So this tiny digital camera from Canon is another nail in the coffin of our solar system, which is marching steadily towards oblivion via some disastrous, boffin-inspired implosion. Small is dangerous - you heard it here first.

Small is also incredibly cool when you wield a camera the same size as a credit card (albeit a 2cm-thick one) which weighs 100 grams and is truly pocket-sized. The real shocker, however, is that this fellow is a 4-Megapixel, all-singing, all-dancing affair, with a 5.7x digital zoom, a sharp LCD display and a host of other finger-tingling features. Oh yes.

The Ixus i is a small bundle of craftily-designed photographic joy. The on-screen menu is operated via a 4-way pad and two buttons, with a switch to toggle between photos, video film (you can shoot 180 seconds of video) and playback (reviewing your masterpieces). It's very easy to use and it bristles with features, some complex and some along handy, idiot-proofing lines.

This camera is an ideal compact point-and-shoot affair, as it has built-in auto-focus, auto-flash and red-eye compensation functions which are on by default. The auto-flash doesn't always get it right, but of course you can see that on the LCD display and re-take the picture, if necessary using the manual flash.

On the whole this is a great beginner's camera as a result, and the software is also heavy on user friendliness; installation is painless and downloading your images onto the PC is a breeze. There are also more complex facets to the software, such as a panoramic stitch program which lets you build up landscape shots from multiple photos.

A macro mode is incorporated into the Ixus i library, allowing for close-ups with considerable clarity, and there are also built-in photo filters such as "sepia" or "vivid" (which emphasises contrast and colour saturation). You can shoot in resolutions of up to 2,272 x 1,704 pixels and three levels of compression are available, so you can balance quality with the number of images you can fit onto the camera's 32MB memory card.

We were impressed with the quality of the pictures, too. Using the higher resolutions we obtained some very smart-looking snaps, although there was the occasional jagged edge to be seen. The zoom feature falls apart a little at the higher levels in terms of pixellation, so we stuck mainly to the medium territory for good results. Another minor moan is that the LCD is a little awkward to view in bright light, but that's to be expected with all cameras of this type.

Nikon - Coolpix 5400 review

2007-11-03T06:04:00.000-07:00

Looking very much like its predecessor, the well-liked Coolpix 5000, the new 5.1-megapixel Coolpix 5400 from Nikon features an improved 4x Nikkor zoom lens and other updated refinements.

Like the earlier model, the Coolpix 5400 is a compact (108 x 73 x 69mm), well made camera, built from a combination of high grade plastic and magnesium alloy. It feels sturdy enough (at 380g) to cope with whatever life throws at it.

The F2.8 - F4.6, 4x zoom lens is new and features a focal range of 5.8 - 24mm (equivalent to a 28 - 116mm lens on a 35mm camera). Despite an increase in zoom range over the Coolpix 5000's lens, the focal range of the new lens is less than the older camera's, (which was 7.1 - 21.4mm). This is due to the different CCD arrays used by the cameras; the Coolpix 5000 used an 8.8 x 6.6mm unit, while the Coolpix 5400 uses a newer, smaller, 7.2 x 5.3mm sensor.

Retained from the Coolpix 5000 is the rotating LCD, and although it's been reduced in size from 1.8-inches to 1.5-inches, its resolution has increased from 110,000 pixels up to 134,000 pixels.

Nikon has improved the ergonomics of the Coolpix 5400 to make it easy to use, even though it has a huge range of options. The light sensor has been moved to the upper part of the camera between the flash and optical viewfinder, so it's no longer possible to block it with your hand.

The control layout will offer no problems to the professional SLR camera user, although those who are used to more trendy, compact cameras may find the layout a tad cluttered. Nikon has given the Coolpix 5400 an four-way controller that navigates through the menu settings, record, playback and setup modes.

It has an 'OK' button in the centre to confirm adjustments. The mode dial offers a bewildering range of options, including a Scene mode that provides access to sixteen preset settings for shooting in common and challenging lighting conditions.

One disappointing aspect of the Coolpix 5400 is still the lack of an AF illuminator, something that many of its rivals have. Nor does it have RAW picture data mode; this is promised as a firmware upgrade by Nikon but not until some time in the first quarter of 2004. Also missing is the status LCD of the Coolpix 5000.

In contrast to the overall build quality of the camera, the door covering the Type II CompactFlash slot (which also handles IBM Microdrives) feels very flimsy. Nikon supplies what it calls a 'starter' memory card with the camera, and as this card is a mere 16MB, the name is very apt; in reality, 64MB is a good starting point and 128MB is a must for serious users.

At the base of the camera, the door covering the battery compartment is much better made. The camera is powered by a 680mAh, rechargeable, Lithium-Ion battery.

And the image quality? It's very good. Just as there's 'no substitute for cubic inches', so there's no substitute for pixels, and five million of them make for highly detailed photos, helped by the camera's good colour balancing firmware and low noise CCD array.

Minolta - DiMage Z1 review

2007-11-03T06:03:00.000-07:00

Standing out from the crowd on looks alone, the Minolta DiMage Z1 is a 3.2-megapixel camera with a 10x optical zoom, and should please both point-and-shoot and more advanced users with its mix of automatic and manual operation.

Compact for a long zoom camera - measuring 110 x 78 x 80mm - the DiMage Z1's looks are dominated by the huge lens barrel, but it still manages to look quite stylish in its charcoal black and silver plastic body. It's also lighter than it looks; even with batteries and an SD card it only weighs 424g.

Unusually, the DiMage Z1 has only a single 1.5-inch LCD display, but this is ingeniously used for both eye level and real panel displays. It achieves this by simply blocking or releasing the internal mirror / shutter depending on which mode is chosen, using Minolta's Switch Finder.

The DiMage Z1 is built around a very impressive lens. The 10x lens has a focal range of 5.8 to 58mm, equivalent to a 38-380mm lens on a 35mm camera, giving a range from good telephoto to moderately wide angle. Combined with the 4x digital zoom it offers an incredible 40x zoom.

Depending on the zoom setting, the aperture range is from f/2.8 to f/3.5. There are two macro settings; the standard offers ranges from 10 to 120cm, while the Super Macro setting can get you as close as 4cm to your target image.

To reduce the possibilities of camera shake, which will be highlighted by the use of such a powerful lens, Minolta has used advanced programming; depending on which exposure programme is used, this controls the aperture and maximises shutter speed.

It's not only the lens that's powerful on the DiMage Z1. The flash system is pretty impressive too. The flash unit pops up from the top of the camera and can illuminate a target up to 20 feet away, and re-cycles in seven seconds. Settings for the unit include Auto, Auto with Red eye reduction, slow shutter sync and Fill Flash. There's also a dedicated hot shoe connector which accepts other Minolta flash units.

Controls for the DiMage Z1 are straightforward; the main Mode dial is on the top of the hand grip and controls all the usual functions. The back of the camera has a record/playback mode switch, a four-way switch which navigates through the menu selections, and 'select last image' and menu on/off buttons.

The DiMage Z1 uses SD (SecureDigital) memory cards - Minolta supplies a 16MB card with the camera - and can also accept MMC (MultiMedia Card) cards. Also supplied are four AA single-use batteries; these will get you up and running but it's better to use a set of re-chargeable NiMH ones to keep you going. You also get an AV cable and a USB cable in the box.

Trust - 1210K Powerc@m Optical Zoom review

2007-11-03T06:01:00.000-07:00

Slowly but surely, Trust's range of digital cameras is playing host to a flirtatious relationship between value and quality. Truth be told, value has been at the altar for some time, simply awaiting the arrival of more quality before the two meet up and wedlock ensues. Don't ask where these analogies come from. They're a puzzle to us, too.

Still, the fact remains that if you had a bit of money to spend on a digital camera, Trust probably wouldn't be at the top of your list. But the company's new 1210K Powerc@m Optical Zoom deserves to be noticed. While not without flaws, it's a unit that finds the firm addressing some of the problems that have been highlighted in previous releases, putting together a package that rightly earns praise for its value.

A sturdier unit than we've come to expect from Trust, one of the big selling points this time is a 3x optical zoom. Sure, the company still tries - as do many others - to exaggerate the zoom potential by factoring in the far less effective digital method, but that doesn't detract from the quality of the optical side of things.

The 4-megapixel supported resolution would lead you to think that there are some fine quality prints to be had from the camera. It'd be true too; while professionals and dedicated amateurs will look for more, as a quality unit for the less demanding user, the 1210K Powerc@m Optical Zoom really does tick a lot of the right boxes.

The built-in LCD is sufficiently clear and workable, the user interface is easy to get around and - thank goodness - the camera doesn't eat batteries too greedily. You even get a pair of Duracells to get you started, although rechargeables will be more sensible in the long run. Thought has gone into the flash, which has a red-eye reduction setting, and a decent selection of Ulead software is provided.

The camera's not without its faults, though. For instance, it's hard to get a non-blurry image out of the unit when full zoom is employed. This points to imperfections with the autofocus and the lack of any mechanism to counter camera shake. Our guess would be that the latter must shoulder the brunt of the blame. Trust does try to make amends with the inclusion of a small tripod, but it's not really enough.

Furthermore, the camera does lack advanced features, which may trouble some people, and the trumpeted video mode really isn't much compensation. Plus the 15MB of built-in memory won't get you very far. All these are admittedly niggles of varying importance, but with Trust charging over £200 for the 1210K Powerc@m Optical Zoom, it's moved this camera against some strong-branded competition.

And yet the 1210K Powerc@m Optical Zoom is ultimately a good package. It's easy to use. It produces good, if not spectacular pictures. And it finds Trust slowly but surely earning itself an improved reputation in the digital photography arena.

Olympus - Camedia C-350 Zoom review

2007-11-03T05:59:00.000-07:00

The Camedia C-350 Zoom is grouped at the Olympus Web site with other cameras under a heading of 'easy', where the alternative groupings are 'creative', 'stylish' and 'high end'. This, as much as anything else, indicates that Olympus sees the C-350 Zoom as a beginner's camera. Still, at £250 it is not a pocket-money gadget, so it is important to know that you are getting value for money.

The camera's photography specifications are reasonably strong. It manages 3.3 million pixels, which is enough for standard sized prints and fair quality A4 prints. You can choose between four image qualities, the lowest of which is 640 x 480 pixels.

There is a 3x optical zoom, with digital zoom taking this up a further 3.3x. Optical zoom is the one to concentrate on as you lose image quality with digital zoom. The move between optical and digital is seamless, so you might not know when you shift from one type of zoom to the other. The answer to this issue is to disable digital zoom, which is easy to do from the camera settings menu.

The camera is equipped with a flash, and can capture movies as well as stills. It also supports sequential shooting - that is taking a series of pictures in rapid succession. You can grab up to 11 images at 1.5 frames per second using this mode. There is a macro mode for close-ups, too, and a self-timer.

Olympus provides a rechargeable NiMH cell comprising two AA batteries in a single container. You can use standard AA batteries too, which means it is possible to keep spares on hand for use as and when required.

Included in the box is a 16MB xD-Picture Card, which will store a maximum of 165 images. Bear in mind, though, that if you want prints from this camera you'll be using it at its highest quality, in which case the 16MB card will accommodate just 6 images. Where video is concerned it will manage up to 48 seconds at the highest quality on offer (320 x 240 pixels), and 211 seconds at the other, lower quality (160 x 120 pixels).

The xD-Picture Card is a small format memory card, not widely used at the moment, but you can get a 128MB card for around £40. This should be large enough for most purposes. Getting images into your computer will require either a reader or the provided USB cable.

Olympus seems to have taken pains to make the C-350 Zoom as easy to use as possible, and kept buttons to a minimum. There is no power button, for example; instead power is switched on by sliding the lens cover away from the lens, and off by reversing that procedure.

The LCD monitor, which can be switched off to save battery power, is, as usual, your route to all on-camera settings and controls, and its feature are accessed by just five buttons. We barely needed the manual at all to get to grips with it, and newcomers to digital photography should not find it too intimidating. The only other buttons on the casing are the shutter button and a rocker which invokes the zoom mode.

Pentax - Optio 450 review

2007-11-03T05:58:00.000-07:00

With a 4-megapixel resolution, the Optio 450 should meet most general hobbyists' needs. A4 prints can be output at very usable quality from a camera of this specification, and anything requiring lower resolutions, from standard-sized snaps to Web imaging, is also possible.

What's important with a camera like this are things like build quality and ease of use - the features which will give it a long life. Certainly the build quality impresses. Its aluminium casing means that the camera is robust. This makes for a weighty package, though, and at 250g you will notice it in your pocket.

Along with the usual digital camera facilities like self-timer, macro mode, auto flash, video and movie shooting, comes a range of on-device filters such as sepia and black and white. There's also a 5x optical zoom which is supplemented by a further 4x digital zoom.

A progress bar on the LCD shows when you switch from one type of zoom to the other so you can avoid using the digital zoom, which can degrade image quality (you can also permanently disable digital zoom if you prefer). Interestingly there is a 3D stereoscopic shooting mode, and Pentax provides a rather rough and ready stereoscope to help you view images in 3D.

The LCD is relatively small at just 1.8 diagonal inches. Don't let this concern you unless you anticipate visual problems seeing information at this size, as it is perfectly clear and crisp. Smaller LCDs save on battery power, after all, and maximizing battery life is crucial for real world usage. In this case power is supplied by a rechargeable cell, and you can't use disposables as an alternative, so you may want to invest in a spare cell.

There are many options and choices which can be made when using this camera, and Pentax has rather gone to town with buttons and switches. There's a directional cursor and select button for working with LCD displayed menus, supplemented by three quick select buttons which have multiple functions.

Then there's a further rotating selector which sits around the shutter button. Once you grasp the operation of all these tools, everything's fine, but the learning curve may be a little steep, especially if you are new to digital photography.

The camera comes with a 16MB SD memory card. This won't be enough if you want to consistently work at high resolution and you will almost certainly need to invest in a higher capacity card. And a carry case, for that matter, as there isn't one in the box.

Canon - IXUS 500 review

2007-11-03T05:56:00.000-07:00

There is little doubt that Canon is a market leader when it comes to digital cameras, and the IXUS range is right at the top of company's popularity tables.

Digital cameras get 'refreshed' at regular periods, and since the IXUS range started in 1996 and the first digital model appeared in 2000 there have been no fewer than 30 additions and new models, including this latest one; the IXUS 500.

Anyone who has seen an IXUS 400 or 430 won't be surprised by the hardware design of the 500. The size and shape are the same and the all-metal body that both gives the camera a stylish look and provides plenty of protection remains a key feature.

Also unchanged from those earlier models is the positioning of the various buttons and wheels. There is one new button over and above those on the IXUS 400 (which we had for comparison). This is designed for use with Canon's Print Share, used for direct printing of images stored on the camera without the need for a computer. The camera is PictBridge-compliant, making it compatible with the increasing number of printers from all manufacturers which support this standard.

Be warned that if you want a large LCD on your camera you should look elsewhere as that on the IXUS 500 is a mere 1.5 diagonal inches. We found it adequate, but others may disagree.

The IXUS 500 captures images at a range of resolutions up to 2,592 x 1,944 pixels, which is enough to print at larger than A4 size. Images at this size take up a lot of space, but Canon provides a 32MB Compact Flash card to get you started. You'll almost certainly want to buy a higher capacity card if you intend to use the maximum resolution on a regular basis.

Movies can be captured too, with sound, and there is a 3x optical zoom which can be extended to a little over 12x if you add in the less effective digital option. Generally you're better off sticking with the optical zoom, since digital interpolation can be done using image software anyway.

One of the great plus points of the IXUS 500 is the ease with which you can make and change settings, altering things like the shutter speed and white balance without having to make more than a couple of key presses.

This is great if you want to squeeze more than point-and-shoot functionality out of your camera. We aren't so sure about the Movie Print mode, though; this prints a set of thumbnail frames from a captured movie onto a single sheet of paper.

As with other IXUS models, Canon provides membership of the Canon Image Gateway, which gives you 100MB of online picture storage and tools for personalising the start-up image and sound effects on your camera. You also get a good range of software, a USB cable and an AV lead for connection to a TV.

Sony - Cybershot DSC-U40 review

2007-11-03T05:54:00.001-07:00

If you've ever cursed yourself for not having a camera with you because you gave up lugging the heavy things around, then Sony's 2-megapixel Cybershot DSC-U40 could be the camera for you. Measuring just 83 x 39 x 26mm and weighing 114g, with the all-metal DSC-U40 it's more a case of losing it in your pocket than finding a pocket big enough.

The stylish Cybershot DSC-U40 comes in three colours; blue, graphite and silver. Like its older sibling, the DSC-U10, it has a sliding door covering the lens. Sliding the door sideways activates the camera in under a second, so none of those dodgy moments in the pub will ever be lost again. To turn the camera off again simply slide the door back over the lens.

To connect to your PC it uses an USB interface. There is no optical viewfinder but the 2.5cm LCD panel is sharp and clear and as a power saving feature the back lighting can be turned off with the screen remaining viewable.

With no optical or digital zoom, the DSC-U40 is easy to use, and without zoom there's hardly any shutter lag, especially if used in the Fast Action mode. The lens itself has a focal length of 5mm (equivalent to 33mm for a 35mm lens) and an f2.8 aperture. For focusing there is a four-step manual preset as well as auto, with a minimum focus distance of 0.1m.

Picture quality is very good considering the size of the camera, but to get the best out of it does need a steady hand and decent lighting conditions. The flash has four modes; Auto, Forced On, Forced Off and Red Eye Reduction and an effective range from 0.5 to 1.8m.

The exposure control has two main settings - auto and scene selection, the latter comprising five settings; Soft Snap, Illumination Snap, Twilight, Active Outdoor and Vivid Nature. There is also a 10 second self-timer.

The camera uses either MemoryStick Duo or MemoryStick Pro Duo flash cards for storing shots, with a 128MB MemoryStick Duo holding up to 245 shots in '2M' mode (1,632 pixels by 1,224 pixels) or 1,316 in VGA mode (640 pixels by 480 pixels).

In movie mode the DSC-U40 can capture videos in MPEG1 format (but without sound), and although there's not much space (approx. 11 minutes at 320 x 240 pixels using a 128MB MemoryStick Duo) it's still a useful feature to have.

Bundled with the camera are two AAA rechargeable Ni-MH batteries, a battery charger, USB cable, a carry strap, a rather tiny 8MB MemoryStick Duo card and a Duo adapter.

Trust - 950 Powerc@m Zoom review

2007-11-03T05:51:00.000-07:00

Trust's 950 Powerc@m Zoom is slightly smaller than many other 3-megapixel cameras, with dimensions of 93 x 56 x 39mm and a weight of 135g, and the rest of its specification is conventional too.

It has 16MB of internal memory, and under a cover on the right there are two AA batteries and an SD card slot. If you have any familiarity with digital cameras it would only take a minute or two to become entirely familiar with the rotary control, five-way joystick and two control buttons.

As you would expect from a budget camera, the body is plastic rather than metal, while the only obvious sign of cost-cutting is the fixed optical zoom, although you do get 4x digital zoom, so the 950 Powerc@m Zoom has the equivalent of a 37mm lens.

Trust has taken the trouble to include four pieces of Arcsoft software (PhotoBase 3, PhotoImpression 3, VideoImpression and FunHouse) and it also has had the neat idea of offering its customers a password-protected Web page to host your photos, so you can avoid e-mailing pictures to your friends over a limp 56Kbps connection. It has even included a very small tripod in the box.

So far, so good, but there's a nasty sting in the tail, which is that this camera takes very poor photos. For starters the flash is incredibly bright and washes out any picture when you use it, but on the other hand pictures taken without the flash look far too dark, even if the ambient lighting is good, so portraits taken indoors are either too dark or the subjects look terribly sallow and unhealthy.

A still life should be an easy test that dwells on colour reproduction, but even a simple flower arrangement appears to be beyond this camera. If you can sort out the lighting levels - and an exterior shot in sunlight is your best bet here - then you will manage to take a reasonable photo, but it is unlikely to look much good.

Despite a resolution of 2,048 x 1,536 the pictures are grainy, and you can forget about using the digital zoom as it throws away what little picture information the camera has captured. For that matter you can also forget about the macro control as it is incapable of taking a sharp, clear close-up picture.

Mercury - CyberPix S-450V review

2007-11-03T05:50:00.000-07:00

Our initial impressions of the Mercury CyberPix S-450V digital camera weren't very favourable, as the image resolution was on the lowest setting of a choice of 1,024 x 768, 2,048 x 1,536 and 2,560 x 1,920 pixels. Although increasing the resolution bumped up the file size from a typical 160KB to just over 1MB, the improvement was well worth having.

The other problem was that the self-timer was turned on, so there was a seven second delay between pressing the shutter and taking a photo. In fairness to Mercury, one of the many icons on the LCD display alerts you to this fact, once you recognise that the icon is a little stopwatch, and then it's a single button press to cancel the timer.

After we'd changed those settings our opinion improved somewhat, but nothing can change the fact that this is an incredibly plain camera. Essentially it is a small grey box with a lens housing on the front (no optical zoom, just digital). With a four-way navigation pad and three buttons on the back, plus a rotary control on the top, it is simple to come to terms with this camera, although our initial experiences should warn you against complacency.

Mercury could improve the on-screen help as most of the icons and settings simply aren't clear enough, partly because they are quite small. That's almost inevitable with an LCD that measures 30 x 22mm, but then the camera itself is quite small at 97 x 63 x 28mm, which means that users need all the assistance that Mercury can offer.

The CyberPix S-450V runs on four AAA batteries and has an SD card slot in the battery compartment, although the 16MB of internal memory should be more than adequate for taking quick snapshots.

We weren't entirely impressed by the controls as they require a fairly deliberate press, and that is particularly true of the shutter button. Once you press it there is a small delay of a second or so, then the flash goes off and after that the status light flashes red and green while the camera sorts itself out, then after five seconds or so it's ready to take another picture.

We had mixed feelings about the quality of the pictures that we took with the CyberPix S-450V. They were generally quite good, but we have seen as good - or better - from a quality 2-megapixel camera. The flash on the Mercury is far too bright to use indoors, and colours tend to be either too dark or rather washed out depending on light levels. Close up shots using macro mode were surprisingly effective and sharp, though.

You'd have no problems using the CyberPix S-450V to take happy snaps at home or in the office, but it's not the sort of camera that you would want to use when taking pictures at memorable occasions such as weddings or kids' sports days. Mind you, at less than £70 it seems harsh to expect too much.

Canon - PowerShot A75 review

2007-11-03T05:48:00.001-07:00

Canon's PowerShot range never seems to us to be quite as appealing as the Ixus range, yet Canon is committed to it, having updated the old A70 with this newer model, the A75.

The first thing of note, if you've ever used an Ixus, is that this PowerShot A75 is large and heavy. Both facts come in part from this camera's reliance on AA cells - four of them - to provide the power the camera needs. AAs are not the most power-conserving choice nor are they the least expensive. If we were going to stick with this camera we'd invest in a set of rechargeables immediately.

The 3.2 megapixels on offer are enough for the general 'happy snapper', and Canon has gone overboard in providing ease of use features. There are no fewer than 13 built-in shooting modes, selected by rotating a wheel on the upper edge of the casing. Modes include portrait (of a person), landscape, night scene, fast shutter speed, and postcard print mode (preset so you can get a postcard-sized print).

One of the 13 shooting modes, the one called 'special scene', offers further choices called 'fireworks', 'foliage', 'beach', 'snow', 'underwater' and 'indoor', designed for taking pictures in these particular situations (there is an optional case that's waterproof up to 40 metres, which you'll need before attempting underwater photography!).

You can configure custom settings too, but between them Canon expects the pre-sets should mean most eventualities can be handled by the first-time user without requiring a lot of manual-reading. The bundled 32MB CF card should also help the first-time user along.

The 3x optical zoom is augmented by a further 3x digital zoom. We tend to ignore digital zoom and disable it immediately in any camera we use as it reduces image quality, but the optical setting is perfectly on a par with the competition.

Image sizes range from 2,048 x 1,536 pixels (good for A4 prints) down to 640 x 480 (good for e-mail attachments), with various in-between resolutions and compression ratios. At the highest resolution and highest quality you'll get in the region of 18 images onto the supplied Compact Flash card.

As is usual it is possible to capture video and add sound to it, and the usual flash and self-timer are here and easy to set up. More interestingly, perhaps, the PowerShot A75 includes Canon's DGIC processor, among whose treats is the ability to rotate an image so that it is the right way up when played back on the built-in LCD. There's also support for Direct Printing which (as you can probably guess) allows printing direct from the camera or automatic transfer of images to a PC.

Canon provides an array of desktop software to help you manipulate and store images, including ArcSoft's PhotoImpression 5 for managing, editing and printing photos, and the same company's VideoImpression 2. It is a pity about the lack of a printed introduction to this software, particularly in view of the suitability of the camera itself to digital imaging newcomers.

Casio - Exilim EX-Z4 review

2007-11-03T05:40:00.000-07:00

In many respects the Casio Exilim EX-Z4 is an evolution of compact cameras such as the Canon IXUS. For one thing it's tiny, with the same profile as the IXUS but 4mm slimmer, and for another it has a lovely big 2-inch TFT screen.

Casio has used an Li-Ion battery that is smaller than the Compact Flash storage card used by Canon, and instead uses an SD card. Or rather, it has an SD slot but you don't get an SD card with the Exilim EX-Z4, although you do get 10MB of internal memory.

That may sound generous, but if you set this 4-megapixel camera to the fine setting, you'll only squeeze four photos into the memory, and on the regular setting you'll manage six photos. This is little short of pathetic as there isn't much point in buying a 4-megapixel camera if you use it to take low-resolution photos.

Anyway, you'll need to budget £30 or so for an SD card to make use of this camera, and although that's not a great deal of money, the Exilim EX-Z4 isn't a cheap camera in the first place.

The overall impression of the Exilim EX-Z4 is that it looks absolutely lovely. This impression is probably assisted by the fact that our review model was in the limited edition red (blue is also available), rather than the ordinary silver colour, as the choice of colour worked very well indeed. It contrasts with the aluminium controls and the chromed buttons and really raises this camera above the herd.

This tiny camera doesn't have space for a regular USB connector and instead has a small connector on the bottom of the camera. The picture transfer and battery charging functions are carried out using the supplied docking unit, as shown in the photo, which is a neat solution if you're at home using your own PC, but it could prove to be a pain if you're out and about as you are unlikely to be able to dock the Casio with another PC.

The big display is a real help when you are changing settings and framing your shots, and you have enough space to leave the histogram showing light levels on your screen and still see what you're shooting at.

Unfortunately the Casio is a competent camera, rather than a good camera. As with so many digital cameras the flash is too bright at close range, but that's a minor annoyance. The real issue is that every picture was fairly clear but lacked the sharpness that we expect at this price point from a 4-megapixel camera. The Exilim EX-Z4 is a lovely little camera but you can get better results elsewhere.

HP - Photosmart 945 review

2007-11-03T05:39:00.001-07:00

The HP Photosmart 945 is the biggest, bulkiest and heaviest camera in this group by a wide margin. In fact at first glance you may not even realise that it is a digital camera as it is styled to look like a regular 35mm film camera. The 'film canister' actually houses four AA alkaline batteries, and doubles up as a comfortable grip that is good for steadying the camera.

Besides its looks, the HP Photosmart 945 stands out in this group as the only 5-megapixel model and it also has a massive 8x optical zoom, compared to the 3x figure of the other models. The result is that the HP takes pictures that can be up to 3MB in size at an enormous resolution of 2,608 x 1,952 pixels, compared to a typical 'fine' resolution of 2,272 x 1,704 with a 4-megapixel model.

The optical zoom can pull the subject right up to the foreground from an enormous distance, but the downside is that when you turn the HP on there's a fair amount of whirring as the lens extends and sorts itself out.

You also have to remember to remove the lens cover and if you want to use the flash then you have to flip the unit up. None of that is hard work but you have to remember to do it, and in that respect too the HP Photosmart 945 is more like a traditional film camera than a compact digital camera.

HP has made it easy to use this fully featured camera by fitting a 2-inch LCD screen which has helpful notes on the menus so you should have no need to refer to the manual if you have any prior experience of digital cameras, although you may have some trouble figuring out which button turns the LCD on in the first place.

There's an unusual feature in, of all places, the viewfinder. A sensor shuts off the display when you put the camera to your eye to save battery power, and in the viewfinder it looks as though you are looking through the lens, however it is actually a magnified portion of the displayed photo. We were happy to stick to using the screen in the regular way although you have to take more care to avoid camera shake that way.

Although the pictures that we took using macro weren't particularly impressive, the rest of the interior and exterior shots were very good and when we used the zoom it was no surprise that the HP Photosmart 945 was in a league of its own in this group. Clearly the HP Photosmart 945 isn't much use to you if you want a slim camera that you can drop into your jacket pocket, but other than that it's superb.

Kyocera - SL300R review

2007-11-03T05:37:00.000-07:00

Without doubt the Kyocera Finecam SL300R is the most unusual digital camera we have ever seen. Well, there are one or two novelty designs on the market so perhaps we should qualify that comment by saying that the SL300R is the most unusual fully featured digital camera on the market.

It is made in two parts that are joined together by a pivot. When it's closed, the two parts form a slab that is the same size as a regular camera but only 15mm thick. Hold the right hand side steady and rotate the left side forward through ninety degrees and suddenly it looks more like a camera.

Press the power button and in an instant it's on and ready for action, and then you notice that the lens is in a housing that is 62.5mm deep, which is far deeper than any other compact camera thanks to the unusual design. As a result the lens doesn't have to move outside the camera body when it first extends.

That's a good aspect of the unusual design but on the other hand there is no viewfinder, no support for direct printing and no tripod mount, and the camera itself is a little awkward to hold. You end up holding it with your fingertips, and that doesn't help you to steady it properly when you're framing your shot. If you choose, you can rotate the lens section of the camera backwards to take self-portraits while you look at the screen.

Despite its slender design the SL300R has regular controls as well as a USB port and power connection on the camera body, so you charge the battery and transfer photos in the usual way.

The Kyocera is only a 3-megapixel model and although we shot our test photos at the fine setting of 2,048 x 1,536 pixels, we were surprised that all the photos came out with a file size around the 750KB mark, which is rather smaller than we expected.

Certainly our test photos were unimpressive. The pictures we took with the flash were horrendously washed out and were far too bright, and close-up macro shots were blurred and next to useless. Portraits and exterior shots taken without flash were more acceptable and came out somewhat better than happy snaps, but they were nowhere near as good as we want from a camera with this price.

You would have to accept that you're paying a premium of at least £100 for the unusual design and slim form factor, and although some may think that's fair, we're not convinced.

Olympus - Mju410 Digital review

2007-11-03T05:35:00.000-07:00

We had mixed initial impressions of the Olympus Mju410. For starters we couldn't even decide what to call it, as the packaging and manuals refer to the µ [mju:] 410 Digital, which is a ridiculous mouthful. Presumably that would be the Micron 410 Digital, but let's just call it the 410 and be done with it.

Then we looked through the contents of the box and were aghast by the number of 'getting started' guides and manuals. In total there are fourteen of the things thanks to the multilingual nature of this modern world, yet we were unable to find an explanation for the tiny remote control that was included in the package.

After we had plugged in the battery and inserted the tiny 32MB xD card we were ready to rock. For starters we had to figure out that remote control, and in the depths of the self-timer menu we found an option with a strange icon that looks like a bolt of lightening.

Yes, that's the option to enable the remote control. You stand in front of the camera, click the button and two seconds later the 410 takes a photo. This is an ingenious idea, but we have to wonder just how many camera owners will use this facility, particularly as the manual doesn't spell it out.

The 410 is a beautifully constructed piece of hardware with a metal casing that feels very solid, yet it weighs a reasonable 195g and is only slightly larger than the Canon IXUS. On top of the 410 body there's a label that proclaims it is 'all-weather' and the various covers over the battery and xD card compartments, and the power connector all have rubber seals to keep rain and sand at bay.

As the lens retracts behind a sliding cover you can be confident that the 410 is as likely to withstand rough treatment as most other cameras on the market, but it's not weatherproof and the manual warns that you should not wash the camera in water. This is sound advice, but it's tragic that the end-user may need this sort of advice on an electronic device that costs well over £200.

Most of the controls on this camera have dual functions so it can take a few seconds to figure out how to navigate the menus and settings, however the options listed on the 1.5-inch screen are very clear and help you to sort out your settings quite quickly.

The feature list of this camera is quite mainstream with 4-megapixels and support for PictBridge, and of course Olympus has a solid reputation in the world of cameras, so we were looking forward to seeing how the TruePic Turbo image processor would perform.

It came as quite a surprise that the 410 produced rather poor photos, and close up shots in particular were out of focus. Although longer-range photos came out reasonably well they weren't particularly good.

Picture quality was helped when we stopped using the Auto setting and changed to the appropriate profile (Portrait, Exterior and so on) but the photos that we took indoors were rather grainy and lacked definition.

The best photos we produced were taken outdoors using the flash, but overall we were rather disappointed by this camera.

Panasonic - DMC-FX5 review

2007-11-03T05:33:00.000-07:00

We would hate to suggest that the looks and styling of a digital camera would be a major influence on your buying decision. When you're spending £300 you should be able to expect something fairly impressive for your money, but the Panasonic DMC-FX5 looks rather dull and understated.

It's a quality piece of kit that has an unusual machined finish on the front so the casing is very finely ridged, with the result that the camera changes colour very slightly as you move it around in the light. It's a little odd, and it certainly has no bearing on the performance of the DMC-FX5, but it summed up our experiences with the Panasonic. Initially we were unimpressed, but as we used the camera more its qualities started to shine through.

This is a conventional compact digital camera that is a similar size and shape to the Canon, Casio and Olympus models, with a Li-Ion battery and SD card under one cover, and the transfer and power ports under a second cover. The screen is the usual 1.5-inch item that we have become accustomed to, and when you flip the power switch the lens extends. The first time this happens there is an annoying and unnecessary beeping noise, but you can easily disable it in the set-up menu.

As we said, it's a very conventional camera, and although the build quality is exemplary it seems rather over-priced, right up to the point where you start to take photos. The first photos taken using the Normal Picture mode were rather average, and seemed to confirm that the DMC-FX5 is a rather uninspiring camera.

As we investigated the rotary dial with its nine positions, we started to see what the camera was capable of. After that we had a good look through the menus, which are neatly laid out and easy to use, and we were also impressed by the quality of the controls.

It became clear that there are two ways to fix the focus of the camera, either by pressing a dual function button on the back of the camera, or by lightly pressing the shutter button before you take your shot. Once we worked that out the quality of our pictures improved greatly, and we started to revel in this camera. Close-up shots were amazingly sharp and detailed, and fixing the focus meant that the camera wasn't confused by shiny or translucent surfaces, which is a failing of many cameras that we have used.

It's a little annoying that it is possible to take really good photos with the DMC-FX5 so long as you take your time, but if you act in haste the results can be very pedestrian. We suspect that most digital camera owners want a camera that they can point and click, allowing the electronics and lens to do all the hard work for them. We sympathise with this view, so while we were impressed by the DMC-FX5 we doubt that it is ideally suited to the man in the street.

Ricoh - Caplio GX review

2007-11-03T05:31:00.000-07:00

Ricoh is not one of the best-known digital camera makers, but it has released several effective and novel models and now has a considerable range, from fun compact cameras to high resolution semi-pro tools. The Caplio GX is towards the upper end of the range and sports a 5.1-megapixel CCD and 16MB of internal memory.

The black-cased camera is about the same size as a 35mm compact, light to hold and with a 46mm LCD screen set into its back. The 9-element, 28-85mm, wide-angle lens is accompanied by a 12x zoom (3x optical and 4x digital). With the high resolution of the CCD, this level of digital zoom is usable and provides good magnification. The camera's macro mode enables focusing down to an impressive 1cm.

Controls are easy to use, with a diamond of five buttons on its back and a supplementary finger wheel to speed option selection through the clear and well-designed menu display. For the more adventurous photographer, you can opt for manual exposure and aperture priority modes, and there's a flash hot-shoe on top, to supplement the camera's built-in flash.

One of the Caplio GX's main claims for attention is its quick response through what the manual calls Continuous Modes. When you switch to these, you're offered three different sub-modes for taking multiple pictures within a short period of time.

In continuous mode you can take up to nine discreet shots - depending on the selected resolution - which are captured sequentially for as long as you press the shutter release. In stream mode, one press of the shutter release takes 16 consecutive shots at intervals of 1/5 of a second and saves them as a single image.

Finally, in memory-reversal mode, when you release the shutter button shots are recorded from the previous three seconds of capture. All three methods work well and make the camera particularly useful for capturing sports events and other live-action.

There are a couple of less helpful features, too, though. For a start, there's no rechargeable battery and charger included, so you're reliant on changing a pair of alkaline AA cells every so often. There's no mains power supply, either, though an adapter is available as an optional extra. This has to be inserted into the camera's battery compartment, in place of its normal batteries - not a very neat solution.

Finally, since the Caplio GX comes with a meagre 16MB of internal memory, rather than a memory card, you have to use a USB cable to connect it to your PC or a direct-print printer. These days, with all the card readers built into desktop and notebook PCs, swapping a memory card is usually more convenient. An SD card slot is included, if you want to boost capacity beyond 16MB (which you will).

HP - Photosmart R707 review

2007-11-03T05:28:00.000-07:00

In the crowded digital photography market, the still camera that stands out from the herd will have to combine stylish looks, good picture quality and a host of technical wizardry with a reasonable retail price.

Hewlett Packard has always had an eye for quality and with the Photosmart R707 the company is hoping to hit most of the targets above. For a start the brushed steel exterior is both classy and solid to the touch, yet the unit weighs a mere 180g without the battery.

The Photosmart R707 is not just a thing of beauty. It also has an impressive 5.1-megapixel resolution and offers 24x total zoom (3x optical and 8x digital). At its lowest resolution (VGA and 'two star' compression) you can fit 180 images on the 32MB internal memory and there's an additional SD card slot. There are ten shooting modes ranging from action, landscape and sunset to beach and snow, panorama and aperture priority.

Talking of panorama, one of a series of HP Real Life Technologies features built into this camera is the world's first in-camera panorama preview. Instead of having to guess where the parameters of your last shot were, you're now provided with a ghost image of your last photo, thus enabling you to line up the subsequent section exactly. Like most moments of genius, you wonder why no-one has thought of such an easy solution before.

If that's got you interested, there are two more programmes that will have you excited. The first tackles the photographer's perpetual enemy - red-eye. In the past you had to transfer the images to a computer and then get to work with PhotoShop or Paint Shop Pro to mask out those devil eyes. Now red-eye removal can happen at source, in the camera, with a preview mode to make sure the wrong red source is not being corrected.

If you're relatively new to photography and don't know why some photos haven't emerged at their best, then there's HP Image Advice to analyse your images for 50 possible problems and then to suggest ways of improving your technique.

It doesn't stop there, as another element of the package is HP Adaptive Lighting, which is a lighting contrast correction facility that will virtually eliminate those 'dark foreground, light background' type shots that you notably get on ski-slopes and beaches. If that wasn't enough, how about Adaptive Demosaic (which fills in missing colours), Preferred Photographic Reproduction (for optimising images for printing) and a Noise Filter to cut down on that bumpy, grainy look on faces and landscapes?

Once your photos are taken, you transfer them to a PC or Mac with the relevant cables. Normally you would then decide where you want to allocate them - to folders, albums, e-mail, Web site, etc., which can be a lengthy task. To short-cut this, HP includes its Instant Share technology which allows you to pre-determine where each image should go before it's transferred to the computer. Then it's simply a case of plugging it in. You do have to spend time initially programming the menu but it's definitely worth it in the long term.

The standard package comes with a rechargeable Li-Ion battery, computer and print cables, HP Image Zone software, wrist strap, manual and AC adapter, but it's also worth thinking about buying an additional fast charger or the impressive R-series dock. The dock recharges both your current battery and the spare, downloads photos on to the computer, prints them or shares them by e-mail, and connects to your TV to present your photos as a slide show using the remote control.

Canon - Digital IXUS 40 review

2007-11-03T05:26:00.000-07:00

Before we go anywhere with this review let's be quite clear that this reviewer is a big fan of Canon's digital cameras, and a long term user of the IXUS series, currently being an IXUS 500 owner. This new IXUS 40 offers 4.0-megapixels and looks a treat with its polished metal casing. Plus it is extremely pocket-friendly and packed with features.

It's the size that really amazes, on two fronts. First, the camera is tiny, measuring 86.0mm x 53.0mm x 20.7mm; no trouble to pop it into the smallest of pockets. But second, the LCD is vast, measure two diagonal inches. It dominates the back of the casing, offering an excellent view of images both when being framed and during playback.

To the right of the screen sits a bank of buttons offering quick access to all the key features such as timer, macro mode, flash settings and Canon's direct printing system which allows you to access compatible printers without first downloading images to a computer.

The shutter button on the top of the casing includes access to the zoom features, so that as usual for Canon's cameras it is easy to zoom into images both before you take them and when they are safely stored on a card.

So much for ease of use and design, but what about features? The zoom offers 3x optical and 3.6x digital. The latter can be turned off so you don't accidentally lose image quality by using it.

When it comes to taking photos in unusual lighting conditions you can of course change the settings yourself, but there are some presets, whose names indicate the kinds of environments in which they might be used: underwater, indoor, kids & pets, night snapshot, portrait and digital macro. And an auto mode will make a best guess at conditions if you turn that on. Plus you can give images a sepia effect or shoot in black and white.

Canon's panorama helper, Stitch Assist, is a lot easier to use with the larger LCD of this camera than the 1.4-inch one of the IXUS 500, and the PhotoStitch desktop software provided helps pull panoramas together. Also provide on the desktop software front are image editing utilities.

As always, you can customise the sounds made by this camera - Canon offers three libraries on board and there are more for download. You also get access to Canon's Image Gateway, offering 100MB of online photo storage.

Images are saved to SD cards and the camera comes with a 16MB card to get you started. The size of this card is one of two gripes: it will accommodate around 6 images at the highest quality the camera can deliver, or 6 seconds of movie footage. You are really going to need another card straight away, and Canon should provide something larger. Also, Canon should provide a protective case rather than expecting you to buy one as an extra.

Ricoh - Caplio R1 review

2007-11-03T05:24:00.000-07:00

We recently reviewed the Ricoh Caplio GX camera, a 5.1-megapixel device, roughly the size of a compact 35mm conventional camera. Ricoh's new R1 goes a lot smaller, about 10mm wider than a credit card and only 25mm thick. Its all-metal case gives it a luxury feel and positive responses from all controls make it good to handle.

The finger grip on the right-hand side doubles as a sliding power switch and six buttons plus a jog dial on the back control access to the camera through a clear and well-designed menu system. The R1's bright LCD monitor shows up even in strong daylight, though colours sometimes look more bleached out in the LCD than your final images appear.

Taking pictures with everything set to automatic is no problem, but you can also override the white balance manually, compensate up and down two stops on exposure and set the film sensitivity to ISO 64, 100, 200, 400 or 800. These functions are available via the new Adjust button - press it to cycle through them - as well as via traditional menu functions.

The R1 has a 4.8x Ricoh optical zoom lens, which can take you in close to delicate subjects, but if that's not enough, you can use the macro facility to take you as close as 10mm. You'll need a tripod for this kind of work, though. 3.6x digital zoom is also provided, giving a composite zoom of over 17x.

Somewhat oddly for a 4-megapixel camera, Ricoh only supplies 12MB of internal memory and no memory card. This means that at the camera's highest resolution of 2,304 by 1,728, you get just 12 pictures in Normal mode, six if you use the lower compression Fine mode. If you can make do with a lower resolution this rises to 29 shots, but then why buy a 4-megapixel camera? You really need to budget extra for an SD/MM card of around 32MB to give you a decent picture capacity.

As with the Caplio GX, there's no rechargeable battery or charger included, so you're reliant on changing a pair of alkaline AA cells every 200 shots or so. You can buy a Li-ion battery pack and charger as optional extras and their omission looks like a price-cutting exercise on Ricoh's part. The mains power supply, another optional extra, has to be inserted into the camera's battery compartment in place of its normal batteries, which is a fiddly solution.

Finally, since the Caplio R1 comes with only its internal memory, rather than a memory card, you have to use a USB cable to connect to your PC or to a Pict-Bridge printer for computer-free printing. Basic photo management software is included with the camera.

Epson - L-500V review

2007-11-03T05:23:00.000-07:00

The first thing that strikes you about this compact digital camera is how slim and elegant it feels and how clearly laid out are the controls. Although the black casing would suggest a masculine character, testing in the field clearly showed that both the style and user-friendly appearance especially appealed to women.

But neither sex can fail to be impressed by the 2.5-inch Photo Fine viewer, which Epson claims is the world's highest definition consumer display on the market with 256 pixels per inch. There's no denying the almost surreal clarity and sharpness of the preview images and the high quality of the colour rendition and brightness, which is what you'd expect from a 5-megapixel resolution camera.

There's a choice of 3x optical zoom and 4x digital zoom and a range of information can be displayed (or hidden) on the LCD. You can see details of battery, resolution, exposure, ISO speed, white balance, photos taken, Macro, etc. There are five scene modes (normal, landscape, portrait, night view and night portrait), three quality settings and five flash settings (including slow synchro).

Video can also be captured as the movie mode offers VGA resolution at 30 frames per second and the built-in microphone gives reasonable sound reproduction. In addition, there's a separate outdoor mode which alternates between high brightness and high contrast to help in adverse lighting conditions.

There are two extra visual treats that might tip the balance if you're choosing between similar models. The first is the continuous photography mode that will allow you to take three rapid shots at maximum speed - especially good for those action moments you want to capture, or grabbing a celebrity as they flash past!

The second is the Print Image Framer (PIF) mode which links some preset frames to your picture, both in preview and when you're about to copy or print off the final result. Four types come with the camera but others can be created or imported using the Print Image Framer Tool and PIF Designer software that comes in the box.

Other bundled software includes Epson Photo!4 (to store, review and arrange your photos), QuickTime to play your videos back, and Epson PhotoQuicker to help print your works of art through the computer. If, on the other hand, you don't want to spend time transferring your material to the PC or Mac, then there's one more surprise in store.

Using a technique called Direct Print Order Format, a simple button on the back of the camera will enable you to fix a print order for your pictures (including multiple images on one page) and then bypass the computer and send them directly to the printer via a USB connection. This can only happen, though, via selected Epson Stylus Photo printers - more are expected to be added to the list.

FujiFilm - FinePix F440 review

2007-11-03T05:21:00.000-07:00

Slim, stylish and lightweight, FujiFilm's FinePix F440 is a 4-megapixel camera and, while it has a couple of features that set it apart from the opposition, it uses a standard CCD sensor rather than the SuperCCD that FujiFilm has used in a good number of its other cameras. Measuring just 74.5 x 6.3 x 21.3mm and weighing a mere 150g, the all-metal FinePix F440 could be easily lost in your coat pocket and it has a better build quality than some of the FujiFilm range.

What is particularly interesting is its 3.4x optical zoom lens, which has a focal length of 6.3 to 21.6mm (equivalent to a 38 - 130mm lens on a 35mm camera). There's also a huge (for this size of camera) 2-inch, 154,000-pixel LCD display, which unfortunately becomes almost unusable in low light conditions. The shutter speed ranges from 2 to 1/2000 seconds with aperture stops between F2.8 and F7.4. It takes the FinePix F440 around two seconds to warm up and extend the lens before you can start using it.

The camera comes with a good number of pre-set modes. To aid you in your picture taking there are four scene modes; portrait, landscape, sports and night scene. There is also a good selection of white balance settings; Fine, Shade, Fluorescent light (Daylight), Fluorescent light (Warm White), Fluorescent light (Cool White) and Incandescent light to help get the best depth of colour for your photos.

The built-in flash also has a number of different settings; auto, red-eye reduction, forced flash and suppressed flash in auto mode. If you want to set it up manually there are just two choices; slow synchro and red-eye reduction plus slow synchro. The flash itself has a range of between 0.6 and 3.6m if used in wide angle mode, and in telephoto mode between 0.6 and 2m. The FinePix F440 doesn't support external flash units.

All the controls are well positioned on the back of the camera, but if you have large fingers you may find the four-way controller switch a bit fiddly. The menu is basic but well designed and easy to use, but remember to switch the camera into manual mode otherwise many of the menu options will not be available to you. Once properly set up, the quality of the photos is as good as you'd expect from a camera of this resolution, with solid colours, consistent light balance and good focus.

A lithium-ion battery is included, but this only allows around 150 photos to be taken before you have to recharge it. It takes around two hours to recharge, in or out of the supplied camera dock. FujiFilm bundles an xD picture card with the FinePix F440 and while it is nice to have, it is a mere 16MB in capacity. You really need 128MB as a starting point.

Fujifilm - FinePix S5500 Zoom review

2007-11-01T11:07:00.001-07:00

Mention the phrase 'digital camera' and too often the immediate image that comes to mind is of a lightweight, flat, rectangular piece of hardware that carries an uncanny resemblance to those throwaway instant cameras picked up at airport terminals.

Yet if you're serious about your photography and want all the advantages of the digital revolution allied to the kind of control and creativity associated with traditional film SLRs, then the S5500 Zoom will come as a welcome breath of fresh air.

Following on from the success of its predecessor, the S5000 Zoom, Fujifilm has retained the black SLR design, complete with a firm grip and adapter ring. The 10x optical zoom is also retained and you can use either the electronic viewfinder or the 1.5-inch LCD screen to compose your shots.

An extra megapixel has been added (now making a total of 4) for much greater definition and the resulting quality of both indoor and exterior photos is impressive. A macro mode will allow you to achieve good close-up results from a range of 10cm and a built-in self-timer allows you up to ten seconds to position yourself in the frame.

If you feel confident enough you can manually set up both aperture (f2.8 - f9) and shutter speed (three seconds to 1/1000 of a second) to your liking, or opt for fully automatic. Similarly, there are five scene modes (Portrait, Landscape, Sports and Night Scene as well as the inevitable Auto) and five flash settings, including red-eye reduction, forced flash and slow synchro.

Additional refinements mean the white balance (seven modes), ISO settings (four modes) and metering can be varied for optimum conditions and photos can be saved both as JPEGs and as RAW files. The S5500 Zoom is also DPOF friendly for printing just the frames that you want to keep, in the order you want them.

If you're worried during action events about capturing the right moment, you can now rest easy thanks to the continuous shooting mode that comes as standard. Even better, there's a new movie capture facility (at 640 x 480 resolution) at 30 frames per second, complete with sound through the attached microphone. How much you can record depends on the size of the xD-Picture Card you want to splash out on - it comes with a paltry 16MB card but you can go up to 512MB.

Power is supplied by four AA batteries, so it's in your interest to invest in some rechargeable batteries if you're intending to be out filming regularly. PictBridge software comes on the enclosed CD. You can print out your pictures either bypassing or via a PC (a USB cable is supplied) and an A/V OUT socket even lets you display your photos on a TV. You can further crop your images using the zoom editing on the display menu.

Olympus - C-70 Zoom review

2007-11-01T11:05:00.000-07:00

In the crowded digital camera market, the products that are likely to get the edge are the ones aiming at superior quality of image allied to flexibility for the serious camera enthusiast and as many 'extras' as you can cram under the hood.

The C-70 Zoom goes squarely for photo superiority with 7.1 megapixels of quality image. The 5x optical zoom is complemented by a 6x digital zoom and the results can be viewed either through the optical viewfinder or the 2-inch colour TFT LCD screen. The lens leaps out in record time when you switch on, so you know this is a camera that means business.

Olympus uses its TruePic TURBO image processor to boost contrast and colours and to significantly increase processing speed. There are also two Macro modes, including Super Macro which will get you as close as 2cm away from your target. Images can be stored in either TIFF, JPEG or RAW file formats and can then be transferred to computer (or printer) via a USB port or viewed on TV through an AV out.

The controls on the back of the camera are easy to access and navigate. Within thumb range at the top are the Metering/Auto Focus mode, the Self Timer/Remote Control and the Flash mode (which includes red-eye reduction).

The main mode dial features Programme auto exposure (i.e. the main shooting mode), Aperture priority (ranging from f2.8 to f8.0), Shutter priority (with speeds up to 1/2000 sec) and Manual exposure. Experienced photographers will greatly appreciate the My Mode addition which will enable you to store any of the PSAM settings in any of four memory banks. White balance and auto-bracketing are also adjustable.

If that's too much like hard work for you, the SCENE option will offer you presets for Sport, Landscape, Portrait and Night shooting. If you also feel the urge to capture a special moment on moving pictures, you can film around 20 seconds of movies with sound at 15 and 30fps, at resolutions of 640 x 480 and 320 x 240.

The only control on the main mode dial that is largely redundant is the Play function, as all its features (viewing, rotating, zooming, etc) are duplicated on a separate Quick View button beside the LCD display.

Surprisingly, the one area where the C-70 Zoom is disappointing is in the basic design and layout. Although there's a comfortable rubber hand grip on the right side of the camera, the lens is positioned so far over to the left side that it's difficult to find a clear grasp. The pop-up flash button is unusually stiff to operate, it wasn't wise to put the power-on switch so close to the shutter button and for some strange reason the tripod socket in the base is off-centre and overlapping the battery compartment.

Canon - Digital IXUS 700 review

2007-11-01T11:03:00.000-07:00

The Digital IXUS 700 offers a whopping 7.1 megapixels; that's a resolution of 3,072 x 2,304 pixels. If you belong to the 'more is better' brigade, you'll be slavering at this thought, but take note that images at this resolution can be memory hungry. Our test photos taken at this top resolution and the highest quality the camera could manage (it offers three compression settings) produced images between 3.3MB and 5MB in size.

What that means is that you'll need plenty of storage. Canon provides a 32MB SD card, and frankly that's not good enough. We got just seven images onto it. You can drop down increments of both images size and quality to 640 x 480, and at the lowest image quality you can get around 265 images onto the same card, but really, what's the point of buying a 7-megapixel camera to shoot at such low quality? So we have to say come on, Canon, ship larger SD cards please.

That's one of our two gripes with what is a very good camera. The other gripe is that optical zooming still manages just 3x. Although you can squeeze 12x zoom out of the Digital IXUS 700, you resort to digital once you breach the 3x limit. How we long for more optical zooming on a digital compact camera. Digital zooming is available when shooting movies as well as stills, and movies come in at various resolutions up to 640 x 480, their length limited by the amount of memory on your card.

There are plenty of options, and we really like the fact that you can vary the shutter speed - in this case letting it run for as long as 15 seconds (don't try this without a solid stand for the camera!). A new feature, MyColors, automatically adjusts the colours in an image so you can compensate for lighting conditions or play around with images to get different ambiance. It's great fun, and you can even get the camera to automatically save a non colour-adjusted version of your image too.

Ease of use is high on Canon's agenda, and tapping the round selector button variously provides quick access to features like the flash, self timer and macro mode, while routes into the other options are usually intuitive. The camera is smaller and lighter than the previous flagship model, the Digital IXUS 500, and has a more stylish, less square look too. Having a 2.0-inch LCD for framing and viewing shots is simply stupendous in comparison to the smaller offerings we are used to.

FujiFilm - FinePix F10 review

2007-11-01T11:02:00.000-07:00

With so many digital cameras on the market, you'd think that finding the right balance between fairly standard, slim, point-'n-click models that are designed principally for the amateur, and the chunkier, higher spec machines geared to the professional photographer should be relatively easy, as long as you have someone to guide you through the maze.

It's even better, then, when you come across a camera where the principal concerns for the amateur have been seriously examined and a few extra features thrown in that are only normally available for the pro. Such is the case with FujiFilm's FinePix F10.

For a start it comes in a sturdy silver metal housing that feels comfortingly solid yet will fit easily in a handbag or jacket. A slight niggle is that it doesn't come with a carrying case so you'll have to buy that separately (there is an optional underwater case that would be ideal for filming fish on holidays). The controls are clearly labelled, easy to use and it takes a mere second after switch-on for the camera to be ready for action.

There's a large 2.5-inch LCD display which can be brightened in darker conditions, but some photographers will bewail the fact that there isn't an additional optical viewfinder. The camera features an F2.8 - 5.0, 3x optical zoom lens with a focal range of 8 - 24mm (which is equivalent to 36 - 108mm) and a powerful flash that ranges from 0.6 - 6.5m at wide angle and has six modes including red-eye reduction, forced, suppressed (good for indoors) and slow synchro (for night shooting where you want to highlight both the foreground and background).

There are two essential elements that make this camera stick out from the crowd. The first is that it is a 6.3-megapixel Super CCD HR camera with FujiFilm's new Real Photo Technology, designed to produce the best quality images at the lowest light settings. The result is a far greater range of ISO (sensitivity) settings, ranging from 80 - 1600, with an auto setting that tends to defer to 800. So now you can often dispose of the flash entirely and still produce remarkably detailed quality images in low light conditions.

The Scene Positions menu offers this Natural Light setting as well as the more usual Portrait, Landscape, Sport and Night modes. The lagging time between exposures has also been considerably tightened so you don't have that irritating gap between pressing the shutter and waiting for the click. There's even a high-speed shooting mode that reduces the focusing time and you can capture up to 40 frames in continuous shooting mode.

It's therefore a shame that the standard XD Card that comes in the box is a measly 16MB when you should be looking for around 512MB, especially as there's also a video mode available.

Which brings us neatly to the F10's other huge selling point - the battery life. FujiFilm claims that the rechargeable lithium-ion battery (which peculiarly needs three leads to recharge) will allow you to take 500 photos before you need to think about it again. Judging by early user reports this seems to be fairly accurate. If so, and at this reasonable price range, the FinePix F10 could be an essential holiday accessory.

Casio - Exilim Card EX-S500 review

2007-11-01T11:01:00.001-07:00

The Exilim Card EX-S500 is one of those digital cameras designed to look good in the hand. It is very thin indeed (its dimensions are 90 x 59 x 16.1mm) and should slip easily into any pocket, where its 115g of weight will hardly be noticed. When you first switch it on, and the lens pops out, it looks ridiculously proportioned in relation to the main body of the camera. Our review model was a rather nice grey colour but there are also white- and red-bodied alternatives.

The raw headline specifications are pretty encouraging: 5 megapixels, 3 x optical zoom (plus 4x digital providing a maximum 12x zoom), MPEG-4 video capture and voice recording. Still images can be shot at resolutions of 2560 x 1920, 2560 x 1712 (3:2 ratio), 2304 x 1728, 2048 x 1536, 1600 x 1200 and 640 x 480 pixels, while video is captured at 640 x 480 (High Quality), 640 x 480 (Normal) and 320 x 240 pixels. You can keep on shooting video until your storage space is full. Interestingly, you can take a still image at the same time as you are shooting a video.

There 8MB of built-in memory and a slot for an SD card. You will need to buy one of these pretty quickly if you want to be able to take anything like a serious number of pictures when out and about as Casio doesn't bundle a card with the camera. The 2.2-inch LCD screen on the back makes framing shots very easy and it's great for sharing newly taken images or movies with others.

Using the camera is easy. While much of the back is occupied by the screen, Casio has still found room for a four-way navigation and selection button, an extra pair of buttons for making menu choices, and five more well labelled buttons.

But for all its stylish looks, good general features and ease of use, one of the most attractive features is the 'Bestshot' system. The camera has 33 pre-configured settings for shooting different types of images. One of the buttons on the back of the camera is dedicated to calling up the selection, with sample images that help describe the function of each setting on offer in a 4 x 3 grid on the huge screen.

The labels indicate best use for these settings; things like scenery, portrait with scenery, candlelight portrait, soft flowing water, splashing water, and so on. You can also add your own settings to the library. This makes the Exilim Card EX-S500 one of the best of the current crop of point-and-shoot cameras.

You get a charge cradle which can be used to dock with a PC and send AV data out to a TV (the slim camera casing really doesn't have room for AV or USB connectors). Carrying this might be a bind at times, but a PC card reader is just as good for transferring data to a computer.

Pentax - Optio SVi review

2007-11-01T10:56:00.000-07:00

5-megapixel cameras seem to be everywhere nowadays, and Pentax has recently expanded its already strong family at this specification to include two new models, the Optio S5z and the Optio SVi.

The headline feature of our review choice, the Optio SVi, is probably its 5x optical zoom. While not unique, this amount of optical zoom means you can safely disable the 4x digital zoom (which we'd always advise anyway as digital zooming reduces image quality).

There are twelve pre-configured shooting modes for different types of shot. The range includes largely familiar settings for landscape, sport, portrait, sunset, autumn colours and so on and includes a panorama assist mode. More unusual is the 3D mode nestled among the twelve.

Choose this and the LCD splits into two sections and helps you take a pair of shots from slightly different angles. Pentax sells a simple 3D viewer as an add-on, but it is easy enough to make one - and the assembly diagram in the manual should give you enough clues about where to start.

You can apply filters like a 21-step sepia grading after shooting, overwriting the original image or saving a second tweaked version. You also have the opportunity to fiddle with things like the shutter speed and aperture setting using a relatively straightforward combination of menu buttons and the four-way control pad.

Shutter speeds range between 1/1000 to 4 seconds and aperture stops from F2.8 to F8. When it comes to shooting close-ups you can choose the macro mode which will cope with subjects between 12 and 70cm from the lens, or super macro which caters for those 3 to 14cm from the lens. You can also adjust the focus manually using the four-way controller. If you know what you are doing this combination of capabilities will be very useful.

The Optio SVi comes with a charging cradle that has a separate slot for battery charging. This means you can buy a spare and charge it separately from the camera, but the bad news is that you have to carry the cradle around or buy an optional charge cable that uses a proprietary connector at the camera end.

In terms of construction the Optio SVi feels a little less weighty than some cameras in the hand despite its aluminium bodywork, and the shutter button in particular had a bit of a tacky feel. But Pentax has done well to provide quick and easy access to many of the settings, with no fewer than four buttons, a zoom rocker, four-way controller and mode dial wheel ranged on the back of the casing. One of the four buttons takes you immediately to photo viewing mode, the other three to features like the flash, macro mode, self-timer and aperture and shutter speed settings.

Two further buttons embedded in the bottom of the LCD's black surround provide access to the camera's full set of options and settings respectively.

Genius - G-Shot DV 610 review

2007-10-31T12:35:00.000-07:00

So, you want a digital camera and an MP3 player, but you'd rather not carry two bits of kit around with you. There are several options that offer 'all in one' solutions to this dilemma. One route is to carry a phone with a camera and music player, while another is to look at devices like the G-Shot DV 610 which offer these things and a range of other extras on top.

The G-Shot DV 610, in fact, claims to offer six features; digital stills and video camera (that's two), MP3 player, Web-cam, digital voice recorder and the ability to be used as a mass storage device. All in a package measuring 100 x 70 x 30mm.

Aside from the device itself, you get a range of extras; a belt-clip-style carrying case, a lanyard for wearing the thing around your neck, a tripod for when using the G-Shot DV 610 as a Web-cam, a stereo headset, a USB cable for PC connections and AV cables for sending movies to a TV.

You also get two printed manuals and a CD with device drivers and various bits of image manipulation software for PCs (Mac users just get the drivers). The box contents are topped off by a mains power cable for charging the Lithium-Ion battery that powers the G-Shot DV 610.

There is 16MB of built-in memory but only 4MB of this is available for storage. There's also an SD card slot that supports cards up to 512MB in size. If you have a card in the slot, everything you save is automatically sent there, which is handy as it saves you having to make settings changes.

Moving between the various features is achieved using a combination of buttons and a navigation wheel on two edges of the G-Shot DV 610, with the flip-out, 2-inch LCD screen that you use for framing video and stills being used to show options. The screen swivels nicely to give a wide range of viewing angles and ways of holding the hardware.

Using the device for mass storage worked well enough, as did the Web-cam feature, though the driver provided is only for PCs and you'll need your own video-calling software. The voice recording also worked without a hitch.

Where digital video and stills were concerned, taking shots and videos was easy enough and there are switches and buttons on the camera for macro, landscape and portrait stills and for using the up-to-8x digital zoom.

There's a flash and self-timer, a small range of white balance settings, some effects (normal, black and white, sepia), and a few other settings to fiddle with. There's also a funny 'two in one' shooting mode that lets you take two snaps for opposite halves of a single image. It's rather fun.

Images can be shot at resolutions of 2976 x 2232, 2048 x 1536 and 1024 x 768 pixels, the higher resolution achieved by software interpolation. Video is captured at 640 x 480 and 320 x 240 pixels, both at 30 frames per second. Image quality was surprisingly good, certainly fine for sharing images by e-mail or using on a Web site.

Finally, we copied some MP3s from a hard drive onto an SD card and played them back. Quality through the supplied headphones was reasonable but not wonderful, while the volume level was quite good. The headphone connector is 2.5mm which means that to use a higher quality set you'll need a converter.

Olympus - mju DIGITAL 600 review

2007-10-31T12:34:00.000-07:00

Digital cameras are so widespread these days that it can be tough to differentiate between those on offer. This is very apparent if you have between £200 and £300 to spend, as the market is awash with options.

Olympus has just added to your worries in this respect with its mju / µ (pronounced 'mew') DIGITAL 600, which, as you might gather from the latter part of the name, offers you a healthy six megapixels of image snapping capability.

For those of you fed up with silver digital cameras, you may be pleased to know that the mju DIGITAL 600 comes in (navy) blue and (ruby) red as well as (Arctic) silver. However, you are probably going to want to chose your camera on the basis of more than just its colour...

The first thing of note about the mju DIGITAL 600 in terms of operation is its massive LCD screen. The specifications rate it at measuring 6.4cm across the diagonal, though in fact the viewing area is closer to 6cm. This is still a whole lot more than we are used to in a digital camera, and it makes framing shots a dream.

There are two elements of bad news though: the LCD takes up almost all of the space on the back of the camera, leaving no room for an optical viewfinder, and the control buttons have a relatively small area in which to live, so they do feel a little squished. If you have large fingers you may find them a little difficult to manage.

Many of the extras are fairly standard. There is a 3x optical zoom, with 5x digital to supplement it if you don't mind sacrificing image quality. There are macro and super macro shooting modes, the latter allowing you to shoot at as little as 7cm from your subject. And you can control things like white balance and ISO settings with just a couple of button presses.

For those who prefer presets, there are 23 scene shooting modes. Choosing these is really simple. There's a button dedicated to choosing the mode; press this then scroll. A short description of each mode helps you make a selection.

The offerings include sport, behind glass, documents, beach and snow, and reducing blur. Some of the modes are oddly named - e.g. the still life mode is called 'cuisine', while others are designed for very specific purposes, e.g. auction mode, which, says the description, 'captures three pictures sequentially at different exposures in the appropriate size for e-auction.' Ebayers go wild.

Along with all this is BrightCapture technology, designed to improve the quality of images shot in low light conditions. It also fiddles with the brightness of the LCD so you can frame your shots easily. There is more than one shooting mode that uses this; available light portrait, indoors and night scene. The latter, as an example of how these modes work, slows the shutter speed down to allow more light into the lens. If you shoot indoors with the flash and get the dreaded red-eye, try the red-eye fixing option which helps remove 'demon-eyes'.

The mju DIGITAL 600 has 8MB of internal memory and supports xD picture cards. You'll need to invest quickly as you don't get any supplied with the camera and you can only store two images at the highest quality on that 8MB.

Fujifilm - FinePix Z1 review

2007-10-31T12:32:00.000-07:00

We've seen a few digital cameras that are smaller and lighter than the Fujifilm FinePix Z1, but they have tended to be credit card-sized things that are gimmicks. By contrast the FinePix Z1 is a real 5.1-megapixel camera that weighs a mere 146g ready to shoot and measures 90 x 55 x 19mm both open and closed.

Although the Fujifilm has 3x optical zoom, a lens doesn't come rushing out when you turn it on, which presumably means that it must operate inside the body with a mirror to reflect light through 90 degrees.

This clever packaging results in a camera that is all aluminium on the front (once the sliding lens cover is closed) while the back is dominated by the two and half inch LCD screen, which is large by any standards but on this camera looks positively huge.

The control buttons are small aluminium items that look good, work well and are completely appropriate on this camera; however the tiny size has led to some design decisions that we're not too happy about.

As a minor gripe there's no tripod mount on the base of the Z1, but we were more distressed by Fujifilm's decision to use a dock to charge the battery and to transfer photos. As a result the camera casing is very neat as it isn't covered with ports and little rubber plugs to keep the weather out, but it means you are obliged to carry the dock and cables with you when you go on holiday or if you are taking so many photos that you will fill the xD memory card.

As Fujifilm only supplies a 16MB card we can take it as read that you'll be buying a larger card sooner rather than later. You would have expected the 2,592 x 1,944 maximum resolution to result in JPEG file sizes of anything up to 6MB, however all of our test photos were in the range of 1.2 - 1.3MB.

This suggests that there is some extreme compression taking place inside the FinePix Z1 and it brings us to the Achilles heel of this camera, which is that it doesn't take particularly good photos.

Outdoors shots are pleasant enough, but there's little of the detail that you'd expect from a 5-megapixel camera and the 3x optical zoom doesn't draw the subject in sufficiently to make up for that lack. Colour reproduction is pleasant and inoffensive, but unimpressive, with none of that "Wow" factor that you get from really good photos.

Indoors it was much the same story and our test portraits lacked sharpness even when they were taken from two metres away. Macro shots of some coins on a plate were absolutely breathtaking, so the camera certainly has its capabilities, but they won't be of much use to the mainstream user.

A firmware upgrade addressing the image compression issue might help, and it's always possible that we had a duff review camera, as some of Fujifilm's sample images on its Web site look fairly good (and larger than 1.3MB). But despite checking and re-checking the image settings, we were unable to produce high quality photos from our review unit. We suggest you try this one in a shop before you buy.

Ricoh - Caplio GR Digital review

2007-10-31T12:31:00.000-07:00

If you take your digital photography seriously, but don't want to have to carry around a bulky SLR, your main choice is a high quality, 35mm compact equivalent. This semi-pro market is where Ricoh is aiming its Caplio GR Digital. It's a slim and fairly lightweight compact, which looks conventional enough but packs a number of convincing extras.

The most obvious of these is the large LCD display. We haven't seen many compact cameras with 63mm LCDs. The size makes it much easier to frame subjects, but also provides enough room for function icons around its edge and an optional histogram display showing colour balance.

The disadvantage of the big screen is that there's apparently no room for an optical viewfinder in the case, so you have to use the LCD. In fact, a viewfinder is an optional extra, and slides into the flash hotshoe on top of the GR Digital. There's no focus-lock indicator, though, so with it fitted, you have to rely on a beep to tell you you're focused.

The standard F2.4 lens system has six elements in five groups and produces exceptionally sharp images for a camera of its size. With 8-megapixel files, even compressed JPEGs are going to be big, but that's the price you pay for this level of detail. An uncompressed RAW frame is close to 25MB.

As well as a fully-automatic mode, where you just point and shoot, you can select manual, program, program shift AE and Aperture Priority modes. These cater for people who want more control over exposure and focus. The camera can focus from 30cm down to 1.5cm in macro mode and it uses a nine-point auto-focus to try to ensure sharp shots.

The viewfinder isn't the only optional extra; you can fit a hood and adapter to the front of the camera and a 0.75x wide-angle converter. Removing the ring cover and fitting these accessories can be fiddly and you have to have somewhere to store the little powder-bag they come in.

A Lithium-Ion battery pack, good for around 250 shots, is provided in the box with a charger, but the internal memory, a mere 26MB, isn't enough for an 8-megapixel camera. It gives you just 14 shots at the camera's default resolution of 3,264 x 2,448 pixels and only one if you shoot in RAW format. Would it really have bust the budget to have built in 64MB?

Sony - DSC-S90 review

2007-10-31T12:30:00.000-07:00

It's tricky to decide whether the Sony DSC-S90 is a budget digital camera or a mid-range model. The specification is relatively lowly with a 4.1-megapixel sensor that results in photos with a maximum resolution of 2,304 x 1,768 pixels. It also has a 3x optical zoom and 6x digital zoom.

There's nothing too exciting there, although the 2.5-inch LCD display is nice and big, and it's worth mentioning that you can get the DSC-S80 for £20 less which gets you exactly the same camera with a smaller 2-inch screen.

Sony has installed 32MB of internal memory so it's not strictly necessary to plug a Memory Stick into the media slot, but realistically most of us want the ability to shoot more than 16 pictures in one session so you'd best budget for some more storage.

The DSC-S90 is powered by a pair of AA Ni-MH batteries, for which Sony supplies a charger, which adds a fair amount of weight and also a certain amount of bulk. The camera isn't exactly heavy at 262g ready to shoot but many compact digital cameras are in the 150-200g range, and in many respects the Sony resembles a compact film camera rather than a slinky digital camera. If we had to pick one word to describe its look and feel it would be 'chubby' or, perhaps, 'comfortable'.

We found it quite easy to come to terms with the DSC-S90 as the controls are logical and well located and the on-screen display shows you which of the dozen settings you have chosen on the rotary selector, but it wasn't all plain sailing.

The flash has a fixed strength, which is quite usual, but the flash is too bright so you often have to decide to take a picture that is too dark if you don't want the subject of your portrait to end up squinting. Staying with the flash, we expected to find that the red-eye option would be controlled by the flash button but instead you have to dive in to the set-up menu to turn it on and off which seems unnecessarily complicated.

Our final annoyance is the proprietary USB port that Sony has chosen to use. It's not a big deal but for goodness' sake don't lose or damage the Sony cable or you'll be in deep trouble.

Considering our complaints about the flash it didn't come as a big surprise to find that portraits taken indoors were closer to happy snaps than fine photography and in this respect the DSC-S90 is a budget camera. Close-up shots taken with Macro were lovely and clear, but the best pictures were taken outdoors, and we were happy both with the sharpness of the pictures and also with the colour reproduction, which gave a very authentic feel to the photos.

HP - Photosmart 422 review

2007-10-31T12:28:00.000-07:00

There are two main ways to print digital photos directly from a camera: pull out its memory card and plug it into a printer or connect the two together with a PictBridge cable. Both of these techniques can be fiddly, particularly for somebody new to digital photography. For this type of photographer the Photosmart 422 could be ideal.

HP's new camera and printer bundle incorporates a printer dock, an idea pioneered by Kodak, where you simply plug the camera into the top of the printer to print your photos. A connector on the printer couples with a socket on the underside of the camera and the two devices then act as one. In the case of the Photosmart 422, the printer uses the LCD display on the back of the camera to display your shots, so you can select what to print.

The short, fat M415 camera has a good specification, with a 5-megapixel sensor, 3x optical and 6x digital zoom, 16MB of internal memory and an SD/MM card slot for adding more. As supplied, it can take eight shots at its default resolution, so you'll probably need to invest in a memory card early on. The 38mm LCD display on its back is a little small to see any detail, but is usable.

The printer takes 15 x 10cm (6 x 4-inch) photo paper, up to 20 sheets at a time, and produces good quality prints from its single tri-colour cartridge. Ironically, prints are better using a PC connection than directly from the camera, where we saw some banding and noise. The camera includes innovations like red-eye removal and adaptive lighting technology, which improves detail in darker or shadowed areas of a photo.

Running costs come out at around 22p per colour print. If you prefer black and white photos, you can fit a tri-grey cartridge instead. For some reason best known to HP, it quotes its tri-grey cartridge as producing less than half the prints of its high capacity colour cartridge, even though the tri-grey cartridge has greater capacity. It therefore costs around 30p for a black and white print.

Printing is quite quick, coming in between one and three quarter minutes (from a PC) and two minutes (from the camera). You simply plug the camera, backwards, into the dock on top of the printer and use its display to show your images, as you navigate through them using the ring of control buttons on the printer body.

Kodak - EasyShare P880 review

2007-10-31T12:27:00.000-07:00

The price of digital SLR cameras (dSLRs) continues to fall, but Kodak reckons there's still a niche for a semi-pro compact. The EasyShare P880 can be used as a point-and-shoot camera or switched to semi-auto or manual modes.

A Schneider-Kreuznach Variogon zoom lens offers a 24mm wide-angle, quite a bit wider than you normally see in this class of camera. The 5.8x optical zoom and manual focus adjustments are controlled using rings around the lens column, which are easier to use than a wide-angle / telephoto toggle.

There are lots of different exposure modes in the EasyShare P880, so you can choose everything from full auto, through aperture and shutter priorities, to full manual control, with AE bracketing thrown in, too.

For the first time, Kodak has decided to include RAW support within the camera, so if you want to develop your post-processing skills you can do so here. You'll need an SD or MMC card memory to supplement the 32MB of internal storage, as RAW images from its 8-megapixel sensor take nearly 14MB each.

In use the EasyShare P880 produced generally well-balanced images, though there was some fringing. Shot-to-shot times are below average, too, particularly if you shoot in RAW or TIFF. True, this is an 8-megapixel sensor, but convenience of use is still important.

Ergonomically, the EasyShare P880 isn't great. The right-hand grip is too close to the lens barrel for most people's fingers and there's no convenient space to rest your right-hand thumb. There's a total of 15 buttons dotted around the back and top panels, as well as a mode selector dial, a four-way jog-dial and a three-way power switch; photo, off, replay.

While most of these single-function buttons, like the one to switch between the electronic viewfinder and the large, 65mm LCD display, are welcome, they do make the learning curve steeper. Balanced against this, the wide range of controls gives you plenty of scope for setting the EasyShare P880 up exactly as you want it. It has a Program button, too, to which you can assign a set of user parameters.

The EasyShare part of the camera's name shows it's compatible with Kodak's printer port plus series 3, a thermal dye printer which can produce 15 x 10cm (6 x 4-inch) prints directly from the camera. The adapter plate is supplied with the camera and, when clipped onto the top of the printer, enables you to plug the EasyShare P880 in directly and use its monitor screen to select and perform simple edits on your images, before printing them.

Acer - CU-6530 camera review

2007-10-31T12:26:00.000-07:00

Acer is probably not the first company you'd think of when choosing a new digital camera, but it has a range of a dozen models and recently introduced the CU-6530, an ultra-compact camera coming in at well under £200. It's a 6-megapixel device with 3x optical and 4.4x digital zoom and a 63mm LCD screen.

The full metal case of this little camera gives it a good, solid feel, but it's still light and compact enough to fit easily into a pocket, even in its supplied suede-like belt-pouch. Its small size can make it a little awkward to grip and some of the buttons on the back surface are not that easy to use. The three selectors for menu, image delete and icon display are better operated with a thumbnail than a whole digit.

The large display screen gives a good bright picture, even outside, and has enough room for the icons ranged around its edges not to obscure the subject of a shot. You can see at a glance the settings of everyday parameters like exposure, image quality, flash mode and battery level.

The configuration menu system works well, offering useful settings such as 18 scene modes. These range from portrait and natural green to more exotic scenes like candlelight, fireworks, splash water and pets.

Picture quality, in a variety of conditions, proved to be well up to that from cameras at and beyond its price. Although there was some colour swing from purple to blue, by and large the images were well captured, with good levels of detail even in low-light environments.

Image noise is not a major problem with this camera and flash performance, while not up to that of bigger (and more expensive) models, is not at all bad for an ultra-compact. The infra-red auto-focus beam appears more red than infra, so you can see it reflect off walls, but does produce well-focussed images.

The CU-6530 connects to a PC through a supplied dock, which recharges the Lithium-ion battery as well as providing a USB connection to a computer or a PictBridge connection to a printer. The power supply for this dock is rather clumsy, requiring a two to three pin adapter, again included in the box.

Acer supplies a 64MB card with the CU-6530, enough for around 20 shots at normal resolution, though it's not a particularly quick card. This can be important if you're taking several shots in quick succession.

Canon - PowerShot A540 review

2007-10-31T12:24:00.000-07:00

The PowerShot A540 is a 6-megapixel camera with a quick Digic II image processor, a new, more sensitive CCD sensor, a large 2.5-inch screen and 4x optical zoom.

It's pretty much the same size as the outgoing PowerShot A520 and takes the same two AA-sized batteries. These don't last a very long time, so you'll certainly want to invest in a few sets of rechargeables. Canon does quote a higher batter life than the older PowerShot A520, but everything is relative.

Perhaps contributing to the poor battery life, the 2.5-inch screen brings the PowerShot 'A' range up to date. The PowerShot A540 actually has a lower resolution screen than the outgoing A520, and the extra size makes it very easy to see the individual pixels on the screen. Having said this, the 2.5-inch screen is more easily viewed at a greater distance than a smaller screen, and in our opinion is worth having.

Buttons on the camera follow the usual layout for Canon PowerShot models, and we found the menus quite easy to navigate. Advanced options are there without being obstructive to the customer who wants to just point and shoot, but there are also plenty of options to please those who want to experiment.

A large dial on the top of the camera switches between recording modes, with fully automatic mode complemented by program, aperture priority, shutter speed priority, full manual mode, and a set of preset modes for portrait, landscape, night, and then a mode called 'SCN', which offers further presets for underwater and so on. For underwater photography, a plastic enclosure is available as an option.

The last mode is for video. This camera, like many these days, can function quite well as a video device. For some, it could replace the home video camera. The resolution can be set to 320 x 240 pixels, 640 x 480 or a compact mode for e-mail, and it can handle 30 frames per second or 60 frames per second for fast action, although the latter can only be used in 320 x 240 pixel mode. Video is saved as an MPG file, and the supplied driver CD includes the codec, which is known as 'Motion JPEG'.

Another function we found to be useful is the continuous shoot mode. If not using the flash, the camera sports a capture rate of about 2.3 frames per second, continuously taking pictures until the card fills up. This is a great way to ensure that a good shot is captured and avoid later disappointment when reviewing the pictures.

A switch on the back of the camera toggles between capture and playback modes. Pictures and video are all listed together, with video footage simply marked with a camera icon. Holding down navigation buttons can increase the speed of playback, and using the zoom button and other buttons modifies the behaviour of the playback in too many different ways to describe here.

Picture quality is good using default modes. However, care is needed with the new 800 ISO mode, as it seems to cause photos of even well-lit subjects to appear very grainy. Using fully automatic mode or a low ISO number, images were clear and focusing was quick and accurate, although focusing takes longer in lower light conditions. There was also little evidence of purple fringing between very bright and very dark areas, which was good to see (or rather, to not see).

There is a built-in flash for low light conditions, which does a reasonable job, although it's neither very powerful nor very quick to recharge. Canon does offer an optional add-on flash unit for this camera, which attaches to the side.

It's easy to fill a memory card, with both continuous shoot mode and video functionality. We found that we needed to empty the 512MB card we were using quite frequently (Canon only supplies a useless 16MB card with the camera). The card is located in the battery compartment, which makes removal a bit of a pain and requires the camera to be powered off. It would be better if the card were located on the side of the camera, as with other PowerShot models.

The supplied software is minimal, but you'll probably need to install it anyway, if only to get the Motion JPEG video codec that the camera uses to encode video files. As you might expect from a printer manufacturer, the software is partly geared towards home printing, although there is also a passable photo organisation package called ZoomBrowser EX.

Canon - Digital IXUS 60 review

2007-10-31T12:22:00.000-07:00

Canon's compact digital IXUS range has a reputation for stylishness allied to a host of included features that will appeal both to amateurs - who just want to point and shoot - and to those who would like to have more control over their photo preparation. It comes as little surprise, then, that Canon has now released two more models (this one and the IXUS 65) that continue in the same tradition.

Stylistically there's little to choose between the earlier IXUS 55 and the 60. Once again it comes in a sleek, all-silver casing, is about the size and shape of a cigarette packet and weighs a laughable 145g. The main change is the increase in the pixel rate, from 5.0-megapixels to 6.0MP, whilst retaining the 3x optical zoom lens (f/2.8 - f/4.9). The image processor remains the DIGIC II which enables fast, responsive camera performance, while iSAPS technology analyses each scene and optimises key camera settings, or so it's claimed.

The 2.5-inch LCD monitor gives 100 percent coverage (although a fairly redundant viewfinder is also included) and the brightness level can be adjusted through 15 levels. The AF system is the by-now standard nine-point AiAF with three exposure metering modes (Evaluative, Centre-weighted average, Spot) that add that extra bit of refinement for those who prefer to operate manually. There are now seven ISO settings including the new High ISO Auto as well as ISO 800 which works best with low shutter speeds (they range from 15 to 1/1,500 sec).

Choice is very much at the heart of this little beauty, as the easy-to-access Menu, Display and Function Set control buttons on the back provide multiple options for almost any type of lighting and speed conditions you're likely to come up against (it also provides support in 23 languages!).

For instance, there are 16 shooting modes that range from Night Snapshot, Stitch Assist and Movie to Foliage, Snow, Kids & Pets and Fireworks. You can even film underwater if you buy an additional case, or focus on a specific colour using Color Accent and Color Swap.

The effects menu likewise offers a range between Vivid, Neutral and Sepia or Black & White, Positive Film and Lighter or Darker Skin Tone. In addition to seven white balance settings and an A/V output (for both PAL and NTSC), there's one novelty amongst the image sizes - the introduction of widescreen stills (2,816 x 1,584) which can be played comfortably on your new HD 16 x 9 television!

Using the zoom ring outside the shutter button you can also have up to 10x playback zoom on each photo, to search for any details that don't meet your high standards before you decide to save or print.

The Canon IXUX 60 uses SD memory cards (one quite pointlessly small 16MB card is supplied with the pack) and a USB 2.0 connection lead is provided to copy off your images to a computer. Canon's software naturally manages this transition for you and PictBridge too is supported.

Ricoh - Caplio RR660 review

2007-10-31T12:20:00.000-07:00

Not much bigger than a credit card, though obviously a lot thicker, Ricoh's new compact camera offers a lot in its small case. For a start it has a 6-megapixel sensor, so it can take detailed images and zoom in on them digitally by up to four times. Add to this a 3x optical zoom and you have a useful little camera.

It has no viewfinder, but the 60mm LCD monitor is big enough to frame even complex shots clearly and the screen is bright enough to use in summer sunlight. The screen does take up quite a bit of the camera's back panel, though, so controls are rather squeezed in down the right-hand side.

There's a zoom toggle switch taking you from wide-angle to telephoto - using both those terms loosely - with three small buttons below, then a four-way jog dial and finally a little 'OK' button right at the bottom. The buttons are better operated with a thumbnail than the pad of a thumb, unless your hands are very small.

On top of the camera is the shutter release and a circular thumbwheel which selects its six capture modes. The on-off button is sensibly centred in the middle of this wheel, so it's hard to press accidentally. The capture modes are all standard fare and consist of auto, program, portrait, landscape, sport and night. Additionally, though, there are two triple-shot modes, which increase the flexibility of the Caplio RR660's picture taking.

Burst mode takes three shots in quick succession and, although it's not fast enough to capture high-speed sporting action, it could be useful at parties and other live events. Auto bracket mode, as the name suggests, takes the same shot three times, bracketing the exposure within a set range.

Under a flap on the bottom of the camera are sockets for a pair of AA batteries - there's no rechargeable option - and an SD card slot for cards of up to 1GB. The latter is just as well, since 16MB of internal memory is hopeless for a 6-megapixel camera. Set the RR660 to fine quality mode and you get just three shots.

Picture quality is good, with sharp definition and little noise until you get down to very low light conditions. The auto-focus works well and the camera is small enough to slide easily into a pocket in its slip case, so you can carry it with you nearly as easily as a camera-phone. You get much better pictures with the Ricoh, of course.

HP - Photosmart R927 review

2007-10-31T12:18:00.000-07:00

If ever there were a case of somebody soldiering on in the face of scant recognition, it's HP and its cameras. While well regarded for printers, scanners, PCs, servers, in fact most areas of IT, its cameras are hardly ever mentioned alongside the Nikons and Canons of this world, or even the Olympuses and Fujifilms. Some of HP's cameras deserve better, certainly alongside the latter two names.

The Photosmart R927 is a compact digital camera with an 8.2-megapixel sensor and a 76mm (3-inch) LCD monitor. These two specs alone should make it worth a look, but it also comes with two Lithium-Ion rechargeable batteries and a purpose-made dock/recharger.

There are fewer controls on the Photosmart 927 than on many cameras in the same market, with a set of four along the top edge plus power, shutter release and video start/stop. On the back there's a toggle for wide-angle to zoom and a menu button with a four-way ring around it for navigation.

One of the delights of using the Photosmart R927 is its logical interface. With a series of main categories along the top of the screen, each one breaks down in a vertical menu down the left-hand side. With the large LCD screen there's space for help text, too, so the camera can explain how to do things and what effect each option will have.

There's a set of slightly gimmicky in-camera effects, such as watercolour, retro and kaleidoscope. If you have a good, full-body portrait, you can even apply the slimming filter, which squeezes the centre of the image and expands the edges. The effects on this reviewer were stunning, if a little disconcerting.

Of more general use are in-camera red-eye removal and adaptive lighting. HP pioneered adaptive lighting, which brings up the detail in shadows when there's a high contrast between light and dark areas, and it makes a worthwhile difference to many shots. It's a bit like an automated gamma adjustment, applied dynamically over an image.

In use the camera takes sharp, well-adjusted photos in automatic mode, but you can select manual and aperture or shutter priorities, too. There are 13 other pre-set modes, ranging from snow to night portrait to beach, and you can take panoramas left to right or right to left and have the camera stitch them together. It's disappointing only to have a 3x optical zoom, but HP has tried to compensate with the 8x digital zoom afforded by its large sensor.

Acer - CE-6430 review

2007-10-31T12:15:00.000-07:00

If you're on a comparatively limited budget but would like to be able to take detailed photos with comparatively minimal effort, then the Acer CE-6430 is worth considering.

In keeping with the current vogue, it's sleek and compact and designed in stylish silver with a front panel grip to help you keep a steady hand with those action shots. It's lightweight at just 130g and easily slips into a purse or pocket; a fetching soft camera case is provided.

The biggest plus point is the 6.36-megapixel CCD sensor which ensures you get the sharpness and quality you're after. The image can be amplified using the 3x optical or 4x digital zoom, and viewed on the 2.36-inch TFT colour LCD screen. For extreme close-ups there's a 5cm macro mode, while video can be captured at 30fps (but at a rather disappointing 320 x 240 resolution).

No memory cards are provided but SD cards up to 1GB can be installed. You're definitely going to need them because the paltry 8MB built-in memory will allow you just four high resolution photos (2,816 x 2,112 pixels) before you run out of space. Using the standard mode dial on the top of the camera you can either opt for automatic settings or specialise for Portrait, Landscape, Sports or Night shots.

In capture mode you can take single shots or bursts of three (the Auto Bracket version of this automatically changes the exposure within a set range between shots). Self-timer, exposure and white balance can also be manually modified, as can the flash, the focus, the image quality and the ISO sensitivity, which ranges from 64 to 200. The on-screen menus and icons are familiar and easy to manoeuvre through, and all in all there's much to recommend here.

However there are a few niggles, as one might expect for a 'budget' camera. The first is a common problem with video playback - you can see the video but not hear the audio unless it's plugged into a PC or TV monitor. Not much use if you've just captured a memorable parade or rollercoaster ride and can't check the sound on location.

Second, the accompanying software includes an old issue of Acrobat (6.0), a USB driver for Windows 98 and Windows 98SE and a Manual, but not the NTI Photo Suite advertised in the Manual - shorely shome mishtake? The added insult is that NTI Photo Suite is not Mac compatible so you'd have to use something like iPhoto instead if you're an Apple user.

Canon - PowerShot A630 review

2007-10-31T12:12:00.000-07:00

Canon's PowerShot range of compact digital cameras has been popular for many years and, as prices continue to drop, more and more features are built into each new model. The A630 has much the same size and shape as earlier PowerShot models, with a characteristic bulge on the right-hand side to grip, a viewfinder set in the middle and controls ranged on the top and down the back panel.

With this model, though, Canon has borrowed a trick from its more expensive SLR range by having a tilt and swivel LCD monitor screen fitted to the camera. This means you can use the screen instead of a viewfinder to frame a photo, but also that you can hold the camera above or below eye level, perhaps to shoot over a crowd, for example, still using the screen to line up your subject.

The A630 has a 4x zoom lens, but also a 4x digital zoom, giving 16x altogether. It can do this because it has a large, 8-megapixel CCD sensor, offering high resolution for a camera in this price bracket. You will need to add the cost of a higher capacity multimedia or SD card to the price of the camera, though, as the 16MB MM card supplied is only enough for seven shots at the camera's default resolution.

In our tests, pictures were well balanced for colour and the nine-point autofocus worked well in producing sharp shots, even in comparatively low lighting. The camera's ability to simulate a fast, ISO 800 film also helps with evening and interior photos. The range of the macro facility, which extends down to 1cm, also makes the camera very versatile.

The main controls come down to a set of five buttons and a four-way ring on the back panel, together with a small slide switch to move between record and playback modes and a thumbwheel on top to select between some of the A630's 21 different shooting modes. Aperture and shutter priorities, as well as a full manual mode, are supported.

The back panel buttons are a little cramped and some of the functions are oddly assigned. It seems peculiar, for example, to assign a single function button to turn the LCD on and off and yet use the up and down functions on the control ring to change flash mode and engage the macro system. There is one button devoted to printing via PictBridge, which also seems a waste.

Ricoh - Caplio R5 review

2007-10-31T12:10:00.000-07:00

Although not a very common name in the digital camera market, Ricoh does have a history of making cameras and currently has quite a wide range of consumer products in this category.

The Caplio R5 is its latest offering, with a step up in features over its predecessor, the R4. It's a 7.24-megapixel device with a massive 7.1x optical zoom (28 to 200mm equivalent on a 35mm camera). Considering the fairly small dimensions of the camera, such a large optical zoom is impressive, and Ricoh advertises it as the highest available in its class.

Powering up quickly, the camera feels quite responsive in operation although, as with other cameras, some lighting conditions and image optimisation operations can increase processing times and shutter 'lag', reducing the responsive feel slightly. Controls on the camera are well laid out and it's easy to get accustomed to using it.

The zoom sounds a little clunky in operation and it can be difficult to keep the camera steady at maximum zoom due to its small size, but Ricoh has developed an anti-vibration feature that moves the CCD in an opposite direction to counteract the movement. This is a feature that gave us mixed results and had a side effect of increased 'shutter lag' (delay in taking the photo), but at least it can be turned off.

A nice feature of the lens is its ability to zoom out to quite a wide angle, which is good for group shots and for photographing subjects close-up. For really close-up shots, the macro mode offers an impressive 1cm distance capability.

For reviewing and composing photos, the 2.5-inch screen offers a high definition of 230,000 pixels, which provides crisp images. While 2.5-inch screens are becoming the norm in this category, many are lower resolution than that provided in the Ricoh Caplio R5.

For quick navigation between photos, the screen doesn't display the maximum quality at first, but shows the best quality only after a short delay. However, a better method of navigating quickly is to utilise the zoom when playing back pictures, which changes the review mode. There is no optical viewfinder, so the screen is the only means of framing photos.

No doubt due to a design decision to keep the size of the camera to a minimum, the Caplio R5 uses a small rechargeable lithium-ion battery, which is claimed to be enough for up to 380 shots on a single charge.

Of course, using the flash and spending some time reviewing pictures on the screen reduces this capability, so if the intention is to use the camera on long holidays, we'd recommend either packing the charger or purchasing a second battery.

The Caplio features some internal memory, but this isn't much use for anything other than trying the camera out, due to the large file size of the resulting photos. For any normal use, a Secure Digital (SD) card is required.

The new CCD features a high sensitivity of 1600 ISO, and this should translate to better images when not using the flash, but we found little practical difference compared to a current Canon digital camera with 800 ISO sensitivity.

Generally, images taken with the Ricoh Caplio demonstrated accurate colour reproduction and detail, but we noticed some fringing on borders between whites and adjacent darker colours. We also noticed slightly clunky performance as we zoomed in on subjects. This is not surprising considering the 26mm thickness of the camera, but buyers should be aware that a high numerical specification doesn't necessarily translate to excellent quality images.

As with many cameras now, the R5 doubles up as a video camcorder, and this is a practical solution for occasional amateur movies. Video resolutions are up to a reasonable 640 x 480 pixels at up to 30 frames per second.

Canon - EOS 400D review

2007-10-31T12:09:00.000-07:00

An evolution of Canon's 300D and 350D digital SLRs, the EOS 400D is a digital SLR camera aimed at what you might call 'pro-sumers'. Professionals might occasionally be found with these and your average photography enthusiast might aspire to own one.

Two generations on from Canon's initial breakthrough into the world of consumer digital SLR cameras, the EOS 400D is outwardly what you might expect: bigger, better, faster.

With no fewer than 10.1 megapixels at its disposal (that equates to an image size of 3,888 x 2,592 pixels), the amount of detail is staggering. Files are nearly 30MB when uncompressed, which is easily sufficient for A4 or even A3 sized photographic prints. This resolution is up from 8.0 megapixels in the older 350D.

The only other change in the CCD sensor itself is that it now sports automatic self-cleaning. This is useful in a digital SLR, where lenses can be removed and expose the sensor to dust and other unwelcome matter, where they have a far greater effect than any dirt on the lens. This self-cleaning function is unobtrusive, fast and quiet, and it's impossible to know that it's even happening except for a status message on the LCD.

The LCD has been upgraded to a 2.5-inch screen and is a definite improvement in almost all respects on the 350D's 1.8-inch unit. The older model's monochrome LCD has been integrated into the main LCD here, which we think is much easier to read, and the new screen packs in almost twice as many pixels, so is much better for reviewing images after shooting.

Just above the screen at the rear are two sensors. One turns off the LCD as you put your eye to the viewfinder to cut out unwanted light, and the other is a rear-facing infra-red sensor, which is a welcome addition. The older 350D model only had a front-facing sensor, which has not been lost on the 400D. No infra-red remote comes with the camera, but they're not too much money and, combined with a tripod, make for much improved stability for shots with longer exposures.

The model we reviewed came with an 18-55mm lens, which is good for general purpose shots, lightweight, and easy to use, as well as adding very little to the price compared to the 'body only' option.

This isn't a lens with a very wide range, but it's OK for many shots, partly due to the 1.6x 'cropping factor' of the camera, which makes it behave more like an 80mm lens. This cropping factor is a consequence of the CCD sensor being smaller than a 35mm film frame, so the effective focal length of lenses is increased. And with 10 megapixels to play with, you can often afford to crop images to achieve the same effect as zooming in.

We also tested the camera with a 10-20mm wide-angle lens and an 18-200mm lens, just to give us some comparison to the basic lens provided (of course, one of the best things about SLR cameras is that the lenses can be changed). The supplied lens gave a good balance to the camera and wasn't in itself noisy, although the camera shutter could have been a little quieter. Any EF or EF/S lens will fit the camera, enabling the use of Sigma or other brand lenses.

The rate at which pictures can be taken is three frames per second, which hasn't changed from the 350D, although this rate is of course dependent on shutter speed and whether the flash is employed. The number of images that can be taken and buffered before they need to be written to the Compact Flash storage, though, has increased by nearly 100 percent to 27 images. This means that it's easier to capture a moment if the subject is moving around.

The build quality of the EOS 400D feels substantial, and no part feels flimsy despite the case being made of plastic. The ergonomics are good and slightly improved over the EOS 350D, although those with bigger hands or those preferring a weightier feel might like to get a battery grip, which can make the camera easier to hold as well as increasing battery life.

BenQ - DC C1000 review

2007-10-31T12:07:00.000-07:00

BenQ has its finger in a lot of pies, and one of them is digital cameras. It has recently stepped up the ladder in the Great Hunt For Megapixels, coming up with the DC C1000 which churns out ten of them.

The DC C1000 is not going to wow you if stylish hardware is your thing. Its black and silver, plastic and metal casing is not particularly pretty and overall the camera is chunky (89 x 60.5 x 32.7mm) and heavy (140g before you insert the two AA cells that power it). However, we do have to say in its favour that it feels solid in the hand and that its controls are nicely located, for right-handed users anyway.

But if you want all those pixels, a range of options that'll let you play about quite a bit and fairly easy to use controls - and if you aren't interested in splashing out a lot of cash - then this camera is going to attract your attention.

Be aware that pixels aren't everything, and it is annoying that the DC C1000 is stuck with just a 3x optical zoom facility. You can add another 4x with digital zoom but digital zoom is always best left alone as image quality degrades when you use it. Fortunately you can disable it completely on this camera.

We found two other annoyances during testing. The burst mode shoots four images in quick succession, but you don't get a shutter sound to tell you when these are being shot. We also found that indoors the camera is a bit of a let-down with its less-than-wonderful flash.

There are, though, quite a few goodies. There are plenty of 'scene modes': fireworks, sports, text, close-up, sunset, backlight, beach and snow, kids, night scene, landscape and portrait. In addition there are four settings which allow you different amounts of control to configure your own preferences, limiting you to fiddling with aperture, shutter, both of these, or all available settings.

You can resize images on the camera, too. Naturally enough you can only go downwards, and this feature might be handy if your memory cards start to get full and you have some shots you'd rather not delete. You can set your own image of choice for the startup screen too, which gives a little added fun.

The DC C1000 comes with some software to get you started on image management and editing, a carrying case, PC connection cable and a cable to connect the camera to a TV for those all-important family viewings of pictures and video shot during the day.

Pentax - Optio T20 review

2007-10-31T12:06:00.000-07:00

In 2003 Pentax wowed the compact digicam market with the release of the Optio S. It was small and sleek enough to fit into a pack of cards yet offered a 3x optical zoom thanks to its unique sliding lens design.

Over the next three years the design ethic that underlined that success marches on and we've seen a swathe of compact yet powerful models grace the shelves. The successor to the recent T10, the Optio T20 still offers this 3x optical zoom using the same sliding lens system, but has an upgraded CCD, higher maximum ISO and a few design tweaks.

It does look very similar to the T10, which is attractive enough, but the front seems a little busy: the silver bar, logos and lens cover can make things look a little cluttered. Pentax's use of a touch-screen display with these models means the control interface for the camera is mostly based around the screen, and there are just two separate buttons to switch modes and access the main menu.

A silver case finished with the black panels on the back does make the camera look a little dated in our opinion, but this is a minor and individual style point. The touch-screen is responsive and nice to use, buttons are large enough for greasy fingers to find their way around and a print-resistant coating means that marks don't dirty up the LCD. It'd be a shame if they did, as we liked the colourful, sharp screen and it's large enough to get a decent idea of the quality of your shots on the move.

The combination of the touch-screen and top-mounted swivel-zoom control means that it's pretty awkward to use the Optio T20 with one hand. You'll either end up accidentally pressing the touch-screen and opening the shot menu or run the risk of dropping the thing while you try to adjust the zoom. A back-mounted zoom control would have solved this problem. To be on the safe side, you'll find yourself putting down whatever you're carrying to have both hands free to take a shot.

There are 12 modes to play with, from landscape to activity and portrait shots, and for the most part these are well considered and make it easy to select an appropriate setting for your environment. Of course you can make manual adjustments or simply use an automatic setting, and handily you can add your three most commonly used functions to the main menu for easy access.

The upgraded 7-megapixel CCD brings it in line with today's high-end compacts, but we'd like to have seen a better improvement to the ISO rating. Many other companies are starting to realise that people are more likely, if anything, to use compact cameras in low light conditions, something that's not really reflected here. The Optio T20's performance does suffer a little in dark environments although it is reasonably forgiving in terms of camera shake, provided you make an effort to bolster it (or yourself) against something.

Other modes are impressive, though: macro mode is clean and crisp and the automatic setting does a decent job of adjusting aperture and shutter speed for your environment. An overlaid histogram display gives you the information you need to help fine tune settings to improve your photos, but if you're a beginner or in the market for a camera that offers decent 'point-and-shoot' results you won't be disappointed.

Anyone who's used Pentax's previous model, the Optio T10, will know that taking photos is just part of the functionality on offer. You're also given a range of features to manipulate your photos in playback mode. These include slideshow creation and filters to adjust image settings, combat red-eye and crop and rotate your photos.

There's also a drawing mode that'll allow you to write or draw on your images using the touch-screen as a canvas and the provided stylus as the brush. There's plenty of fun to be had with the Optio T20, then, making it more than just a well-performing digital camera. While many people might prefer to make these sorts of changes on a computer it's nice to have the option to correct or jazz up your photos on the move.

In addition to photography you'll also find a voice recorder (which you can use to add music or speech to specific photographs) and a video recorder, now pretty standard on these compact models.

Casio - Exilim EX-S770 review

2007-10-30T15:48:00.000-07:00

Casio is perhaps one of the first names you'd think of when looking for a compact digicam; its Exilim range has in the past achieved rave reviews for an effective combination of quality and usability.

The superbly compact EX-S770 has clear intentions of continuing this trend. It's one of the most stylish and slim models we've seen and, with a 7-megapixel CCD, it offers enough detail for most people. The sleek silver/grey exterior houses a wide range of control buttons, the sheer number of which appears a little daunting at first, but after spending a few minutes with the camera you discover that most are pretty well conceived.

Despite housing a wide range of features for tweaking and adjusting settings to build the right shot, Casio has done a good job of making the most important of these pretty accessible. A range of display modes on the LCD gives you a choice of a clean picture, histogram display or a vertical mini-menu. This offers quick access to flash and shooting modes, ISO sensitivity and auto white balance adjustment.

When you get used to the layout and operation of the controls it only takes a few presses to make adjustments for your environment that other cameras often bury amongst a flurry of sub-menus. It's very usable, then, and it looks great, so how about the photos?

First it's worth mentioning that the LCD display, while very large and very colourful, is more adept at previewing your photos than replacing the viewfinder. A fairly poor refresh rate makes it a little difficult to see how changes to settings like white balance and exposure are actually affecting the shot. This is particularly apparent when using the 3x optical (plus 4x digital) zoom, when the image starts to look a little grainy and you start to see artefacts and ghosting on screen.

The resultant photos are good for the most part. If you take the time to fine-tune settings for the lighting and environment you're in, you can improve things quite a bit, but the automatic setting has a decent pop at this for you. Macro shots were particularly impressive; very sharp with vibrant colours and fantastic detail.

Regular landscape and portrait shots require a little more care, as bright colours can appear slightly washed out and for ultra-sharp images you'll ideally need a tripod or have the camera resting on something solid. Night shots were reasonably good: ISO sensitivity reaches 800 which was fine for close-up shots but you'll start to lose detail if you're snapping distant objects in poor lighting.

This is more of a point-and-shoot solution then, like many modern compacts. There are plenty of settings to fine tune if you know your photography and in doing so you can achieve better results.

A few niggling issues, such as the fact that you're only provided with an electronic manual and you can't plug the camera into a PC without the docking stand, could have been avoided, but overall we were impressed by the usability, portability and quality of Casio's latest Exilim.

Fujifilm - FinePix S6500fd Zoom review

2007-10-30T15:47:00.001-07:00

By now most people should be at home with the 'New World' of digital cameras, especially the flat-fronted variety that require you to do little more than point and click, with instant playback. However, the move up to full digital SLRs might still appear too daunting and too expensive, with so many manual controls to organise in pursuit of the perfect photo.

In which case the so-called 'bridge' cameras like this one are ideal. They have all the look of a DSLR and many of the manual functions available, but also a comforting amount of the work can be handled automatically. In terms of picture quality you know you're going to be on to a winner as Fujifilm has employed its 6.3-megapixel Super CCD sensor and Real Photo Technology II, as well as a comparatively new feature which should improve your portrait pictures.

Before we look at that, let's review some of the statistics. The maximum resolution is 2,848 x 2,136 and the light sensitivity ranges from ISO100 to 3200 which means you can achieve exceptional results in poor lighting conditions without always having to use flash. Talking of which, the camera uses intelligent flash which can be adjusted to your circumstances and there's a 'Natural and Flash' mode which can take two rapid pictures, one with and one without flash, so you can compare and contrast the results.

You can preview your shot via the 2.5-inch LCD screen or the electronic viewfinder and the zoom lens is a Fujinon 10.7x (28-300mm equivalent) optical which is manually twisted. You also have a 2x digital zoom and a manual focus ring if you want to take more control of your image sharpness, plus macro and super macro options which can take you as close as 1cm to your subject.

Fujifilm is particularly proud that this model includes its new Face Detection technology which will recognize up to 10 faces in a frame and auto-expose and autofocus on them to the best setting in just 0.04 seconds. We tried it out on humans and dogs and, yes, it could tell the difference!

This is going to be a big boon as the vast majority of photo enthusiasts take more portrait pics than any other type, and now you don't have to fiddle about trying to focus in a hurry. Also the specialised Scene Position menu adds a further ten settings to the five on the top-mounted mode dial, including such exotica as Museum, Party, Fireworks and Text. It was noticeable, however, that the autofocus was struggling at the end of the zoom, something we've seen on other Fujifilm cameras with this length of lens.

With a 2GB memory card installed you can capture those fireworks or sporting occasions on video for up to 30 minutes at a resolution of 640 x 480 at 30fps. The only shame is that Fujifilm still insists on using the less popular xD-Picture Card format rather than, say, SD, which is much more widely available.

Having said that, the power comes from four AA alkaline batteries which is preferable to having a bulky battery pack attached, and the FinePix Viewer software provides a reliable means of organising and exporting your photos from the camera to the PC or printer via the USB 2 port, if you don't have the relevant memory card holder.

Canon - HV10 review

2007-10-30T15:23:00.000-07:00

Unless you live somewhere near Alpha Centauri, you'll be well aware that all televisions in the UK will soon cease to be analogue and are switching to digital and High Definition. The new technology has naturally revolutionised the camera industry at the same time, ranging from the humble domestic camcorder to professional broadcast equipment. Canon - although by no means the first to explore this area - has unsurprisingly leapt to the challenge and has now launched the HV10, the self-proclaimed 'world's smallest HDV1080i (High Definition Video) camcorder'.

It certainly looks and feels like a conventional MiniDV camcorder, apart from the width, which is slightly bulkier than usual (it measures 56 x 104 x 106mm and weighs 439g). The HV10 uses a 1/2.7-inch, 2.96-megapixel HD CMOS sensor, capturing full resolution 1920 x 1080 video. The panoramic native widescreen 1080i footage is stored on MiniDV tapes. Although its default setting is for 16:9 viewing, you can switch to Standard Definition recording easily should you feel the need to watch on a conventional 4:3 telly.

The built-in lens cover hides a powerful 10x optical zoom with Super Range Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) which detects vibrations across the frequency range, even the low band movements that HD is especially susceptible to. Because focusing mistakes are also exacerbated on HD, Canon has installed its new Instant AF system which helps auto-focusing at accelerated speeds, together with Focus Assist when focusing manually.

The image processor featured here is the DIGIC DV II which Canon first used in its professional HD camcorder, the XL H1, and it enables split path processing so that you can record high quality moving and still pictures at the same time. In fact the HV10 is essentially two cameras in one as it also functions as a 3.1-megapixel digital camera that incorporates PictBridge direct printing and built-in flash. The images are recorded on a miniSD memory card and you can even take 2-megapixel stills while simultaneously recording video footage.

In practice, the quality of the HD images and the automatic AF should guarantee the sales of this camcorder, but the main grumble here is that the surface is bristling with control buttons (including separate Menu, Function, Exposure and Focus options), many of which are set almost flush and therefore difficult to operate. The zoom slide is also tricky to work smoothly and is positioned too close to the snapshot and tape/memory card controls.

Also, for a camera that's so geared to the New Age of HD TV, why is there no HDMI out, as it's the standard connection method now? The other curious omission is the lack of any video editing materials; the accompanying software is only geared to organising and editing still photos (e.g. ZoomBrowser).

Creative - Live! Cam Optia review

2007-10-30T15:20:00.000-07:00

Creative has quite a range of Web-cams and this latest model, the Live! Cam Optia, has a little trick up its sleeve that should make even the most Web-cam-o-phobic of us give it a second glance. It is a Plug-n-Play Web-cam, the first from Creative.

This means there is no need to use a CD to install the camera. You just drop the 'other end' of the USB cable that is hardwired into the camera into any available slot on a PC running Windows XP with Service Pack 2 and you are good to go.

It certainly works, but if you want to use the whole slew of extras that Creative provides, then you will need to use the installation CD. This adds features like the ability to remotely monitor the camera, use it as a motion detector, capture stills and video, do time-lapse video and manage photos. And you get one overarching control center for this little lot as well as for tweaking the camera's settings and cutting straight into video calling.

The camera itself is a bit chunky, though if you like cool stuff then you'll probably find the clear plastic and white design - with a section that glows blue when you are doing video capture - appealing.

The glass lens gives clear, sharp images and it is well recessed so it should be pretty difficult to scratch. The lens section tilts through 270 vertical degrees so you can show video callers yourself or what you are looking at, and it also has 15 degrees of horizontal tilt which we found helped a bit when finding a good home for it on a cluttered desk.

The alternative to standing the camera on a desk is to use its spring-loaded clip mechanism to mount it on a monitor. This wasn't as successful as we'd have liked: the camera never felt particularly solid when sitting on top of any of the LCDs we tried it with.

We aren't keen on the hardwired nature of the USB cable, either. Like any device with hardwired cables or plugs, you are at the mercy of the cable itself and if that dies before the device it is attached to, you are in trouble for all the wrong reasons.

When you need to carry the camera you can do so in the drawstring bag that comes with it, which is large enough to accommodate both the camera itself and the hands-free stereo headset that Creative bundles, so that you can have video calls with voice without blaring the recipient's words out through your computer's speaker.

Canon - Digital IXUS 900Ti review

2007-10-30T15:18:00.000-07:00

Canon's Digital IXUS range has to be one of the most prolific of recent times, as it was only a blink ago that the IXUS 800 and 850 IS were released. Its latest offspring has opted for more of a leap of style over content.

You'll know as soon as you open the box that this is a deliberate fashion statement: a cool, stylish brushed titanium case in the now familiar Perpetual Curve design. As titanium is stronger but significantly lighter than steel, the grip feels reassuringly solid and reliable with easy access to the control buttons.

Whereas the 850 IS majored on its 3.8x wide-angle lens and optical image stabilizer, the 900Ti has thrown its weight behind a whopping 10-megapixel CCD sensor, which enables poster-size prints to be produced at high quality with insignificant loss of detail.

In addition to the 3x optical zoom there's a new Safety Zoom feature which expands to 12x for small images and a Digital Tele-Converter for extra telephoto reach.

As well as a viewfinder (largely redundant in Macro mode), viewing is via the 2.5-inch LCD screen using a 230,000 pixel display that has an anti-reflective coating. Canon includes an Image Inspection Tool which cannily allows a magnified section of your snapped image to appear alongside the full picture so you can check details are correct before you move on.

Like the 850 IS, the 900Ti's processor is the impressive DIGIC III which is both faster and offers improved image rendering over its predecessor. It's also taken on board the latest Face Detection AF/AE which utilizes the 9-Point AiAF to identify up to nine faces in a portrait and optimise focus and exposure accordingly.

The DIGIC III has improved Noise Reduction too, so you can shoot at ISO 1600 comfortably in low light and the shooting modes have been expanded to 18 to include ISO 3200 (strangely it's separated from the main ISO menu, though), Aquarium and Underwater (for which a special water-resistant case is an optional extra). Should you want to fire off a bit of movie footage, VGA videos can be made at 30fps as well as another innovation for the IXUS collection; pin-sharp XGA quality (1024 x 768) recording with sound at 15fps.

The control layout is instantly recognisable, with the Touch Wheel in the centre doing most of the work when shooting, the Menu button at the bottom concentrating on preparation and the shooting mode operations perched at the top. All the controls are easy to access and, once the photos are taken, they can then be catalogued using the built-in My Category automatic image tagging facility which categorizes them according to face detection and shooting mode used.

Instant printing is available through any PictBridge compatible printer and as well as SD and MMC memory cards, the IXUS now supports the new SDHC format for storage capacities of 2GB and above. Shame you still only get a 32MB card to start with.

Canon - PowerShot A550 review

2007-10-30T15:17:00.001-07:00

There's an old Canon PowerShot A20 sitting on the shelf here and it's interesting to compare it with Canon's spanking new PowerShot A550, the subject of this review. The physical design is similar, with viewfinders and LCD displays on the back to line up shots, shot mode wheels to select the type of exposure, toggle switches to control the optical zoom and even bulges to grip both cameras and hide their AA batteries.

Canon's obviously happy with its overall design, but over the years since the A20 came out it has continued to refine it. The A550 is smaller in every dimension, though it's still quite a stout camera. It has a 7.1-megapixel CCD (three and a half times the A20's) plus a 51mm LCD (nearly double the older camera's) and 4x optical zoom where the A20 could only manage 3x.

The comparisons really stop there, however. The A550's shot mode wheel includes specialist modes for night photos, fireworks and family and pets, among others. It can shoot video at up to 30fps until your memory card's full, and it can print your pictures to any PictBridge printer or directly to any of Canon's Selphy models.

In use, you can line up a shot using the viewfinder or the bright LCD monitor, which includes switchable composition grids overlaid on the screen. Common functions can be selected using a four-way function ring and by flicking through several menus on-screen. The controls have been revamped but are still rather cluttered, with some buttons having three different functions, depending on mode.

Leaving everything on automatic produces very respectable shots. The nine-point auto-focus works well, as does the camera's macro mode which will focus down to 50mm. If you need more control you can switch to manual to set your own exposure compensation, white balance and ISO speed. The optical zoom gives a good range and is backed up by a further 4x digital zoom. The camera's ability to shoot at up to 800 ISO means it's good in lower light conditions indoors, as well.

The supplied 16MB memory card is next to useless on a 7.1-megapixel camera. Do the maths; you're lucky to get three shots at the camera's native resolution. You can drop the resolution down, of course, but then why buy a high resolution camera? 128MB SD cards at retail prices are under £4, so it seems misguided of Canon to be so mean in this area.

Genius - G-Shot D1211 review

2007-10-30T15:15:00.000-07:00

Genius is a Taiwanese company that's starting to build a reputation for designing small, affordable, multifunction digital cameras (still and video) and its latest 5-megapixel G-Shot continues the tradition.

From the second you take it out of the box you realise just how feather-light it is (a mere 88g without batteries) and it's roughly the size of a credit card (88.5 x 59 x 28.5mm). Powered by two AAA batteries, you power it on by sliding back the stylish black lens cover and you're ready to point and click.

There's a storage capacity of 32MB internal memory and 2GB external (we used a 2GB SD for the review but it also supports MMC) which will allow you to capture a maximum of 3,094 images (at 5MP) or record up to 129 minutes of video. Everything is viewed through the 2.4-inch TFT LCD display on the back and there's a playback facility for both slide shows and video (there's a built-in microphone, but no speaker).

The control system is simplicity itself. Turn on, hit the Menu Mode button, use the two zoom buttons to scroll up and down through your choices and hit the large Set button to confirm. As this is a multifunction machine, you have five options: Digital Still Camera, Digital Video Camera, Web Cam, Game and Mass Storage Device.

The still camera has a fixed F3.0/8.0 lens with a Macro range of 17-19cm and with resolutions from 1,280 x 960 to an interpolated 4,048 x 3,040, plus a 4x digital zoom. High quality images up to the maximum resolution remain sharp even in 12-inch x 18 -inch prints. The video camera aspect produces AVI format movies at either 320 x 240 (30fps max) or 640 x 480 (23 fps max). Both stills and videos can be transferred to PC via the supplied USB 2.0 cable and then edited or catalogued using the included Presto VideoWorks and Presto Mr Photo software.

The same USB 2.0 lead will help turn your G-Shot into a Web Cam at a passable 320 x 240 (15fps max) or 640 x 480 (14fps max). However, if you just want to kill some time you can play one of the four supplied games (Boxboy, Tetris, Memory and Gobang), though beware of the fact that the batteries are quick to deplete.

Essentially this is a fun, quick-snap camera that you can slip in your handbag or pocket and bring out almost on impulse to catch that special moment.

Casio - Exilim EX-Z1050 review

2007-10-30T15:14:00.001-07:00

Last year Casio's portable yet powerful Exilim Zoom EX-Z1000 became the world's first 10.1-megapixel compact camera, putting professional quality photography in the hands of the everyday user. The EX-Z1050 takes this a step further by making comparable technology even more affordable, in a smaller form factor shell available in a range of colours.

Utilising a similar design and control layout to much of the current Exilim range, the majority of the device is taken up by the impressive 2.6-inch LCD display on the back, complemented by a small array of buttons that manage to offer total control without overwhelming you with choice. A traditional flick-switch handles the 3x optical (4x digital) zoom and, thanks to the innovative tool layout on screen, the directional pad is more than adept at handling the rest.

As is now the norm for the Exilim range, you're given instant access to all of the most important settings via the control bar on the right side of the display. Simply use the control pad to scroll down through focus, ISO, white balance, quality settings and more to carry out quick adjustments with ease, eliminating the need to browse through menus away from the viewfinder before you snap a photo.

You'll find even more settings through the photo menus for further fine-tuning, and through the playback menu you can build slideshows, print layouts, view a calendar of time-stamped photos and edit your snaps or perform quick corrections on the move. If you'd rather not get involved in the more technical aspects of photo control, a dedicated 'best shot' button takes you to a well structured thumbnail display of common environments, such as sports, parties, pets, underwater and more traditional portrait, landscape and night scenes.

This makes the EX-Z1050 great for beginners by offering a further degree of control, something that's one of the biggest strengths of the Exilim range. The structured menus and intuitive presets combine with some effective anti-shake technology making for an extremely forgiving camera that'll do a great job in a range of environments. We saw consistently sharp and vibrant results in a number of different settings, all of which are well represented on the colourful, sharp and responsive LCD display.

It's impressive enough that Casio has crammed this much performance into such a portable device, but the fact that the price is in line with many of today's mid-range compacts makes it even more of an achievement.

Bearing in mind the target market of such a camera, which we would expect to consist of a mix of talented beginners and enthusiastic amateurs, there's very little to criticise about the EX-Z1050. Minor points such as the lack of direct charging (you need to carry a separate adaptor box to plug the battery into) or a carry case in the box aren't enough to detract from the excellent combination of performance and usability, and this camera should appeal to a wide range of photographers.

Pentax - Optio A30 review

2007-10-30T15:12:00.000-07:00

If you're already a fan of Pentax's Optio range, you'll be pleased to learn that its third prodigy has now seen the light of day, and predictably it incorporates a lot of the latest technological improvements to feature in most modern compact digital cameras that want to be taken seriously.

It comes in a stylish, credit card-sized, black, aluminium casing and weighs a mere 4.6oz without battery and memory card installed. Using a maximum 10 effective megapixels with a 1/1.8-inch CCD, a wide light-sensitive area for superior tone reproduction and an SMC Pentax zoom lens with a 3x optical zoom, this is a high quality camera for both beginners and those who want a degree of manual control.

There's a new 2.5-inch LCD screen (with a resolution of 232,000 pixels) that has improved brightness, especially when shooting outdoors in strong sunlight. The 4-way controller is simplicity itself to operate and includes 11 Scene modes ranging from Flower, Kids, Surf & Snow to Food, Pets, Text and Frame Composite. A useful extra enhancement for first-time photographers is an explanatory text pop-up that appears over each Scene mode icon after 3 seconds.

The major selling point, though, is the emphasis on Shake Reduction. Calling on the new developments in its digital SLR cameras, Pentax has incorporated a high-accuracy gyro sensor and control algorithm into its compact SR mechanism which uses a shifting CCD system to stabilize images. A new Scene mode has been added - Digital SR - which automatically changes the camera's sensitivity according to the brightness of the subject. Although these images can accommodate a maximum ISO 3200, the detail is restricted to 5 megapixels.

There's even more to cheer about with the new Movie SR feature which creates much less blurry sequences. Video is captured at 30fps at sizes up to 640 x 480 pixels and, because it employs the DivX (MPEG-4 compliant) movie format, you can record for much longer and still end up with decent quality. Sound quality varies and it's worth mentioning that you can use the A30 as a separate voice recorder.

Amateur photographers who don't want everything on an auto setting can take comfort from the Shutter Priority, Manual (where you select both shutter speed and aperture) and Program AE (which keeps the auto exposure but allows you to choose other control options including White Balance) modes. Another welcome addition is the Face Recognition AF & AE which will detect and highlight the human faces in your photos.

The speed of operation has also been quickened and the overall detail and colour tones, brightness and contrast of the final images are well above average. Having an extra Super Macro setting means you can now get as close as 2.3 inches from your target and the rechargeable D-LI8 lithium ion battery allows for approximately 150 photos and 110 minutes of playback time.

Pentax - K100D review

2007-10-30T15:07:00.000-07:00

In the days when film was king, Pentax had a mighty reputation for its SLR cameras, including a much admired K-series (K2, KM, KX) which culminated in the legendary K1000 that stayed in production from 1976 to 1997. Now that we're firmly in the digital era, Pentax has abandoned the pretentious '*ist' prefix of its last digital releases and harked back to the golden age once more with the K100D.

There have naturally been some notable alterations from the '*ist' series, both in physical design and camera operation. The body is curvier, including an expanded hand grip area which provides more comfort and solidity. Even though there remains a stainless steel chassis covered by reinforced plastic, the K100D is still relatively lightweight for a DSLR (660g) and comes as a body only or with a DA 18-55 mm lens.

Another change is a move away from the Penta-prism viewfinder typically found in the DS2 to a Penta-mirror system, which further reduces the weight. Menus and captured images are viewed in the 2.5-inch LCD monitor on the back, with a healthy 210,000 pixels. A useful new function is the digital preview which displays a test shot in the monitor that's saved in the buffer rather than the memory card.

A second mini LCD display on the top of the camera provides rapid information on camera settings and exposures, but remains stubbornly and curiously without a backlight. There's been a further change in the flash arrangement: this is now a P-TTL style which means it can pop up either manually or electronically and operates without an additional AF support light. The auto-focus itself now has three versatile modes; the highly accurate 11-point SAFOX VIII AF system, manual selection or centre point only.

There are a couple of other significant enhancements on the controls. The Auto Pict mode cleverly incorporates four scene modes (Portrait, Landscape, Macro and Moving Object) and automatically chooses which seems most suitable to the photo you're taking. If it's not sure, then it will default to Normal mode. In addition, the Function button (Fn) offers you a four-way controller to handle White balance, Flash, ISO and Drive modes, as well as DPOF, Slideshow and Digital Filters when set to playback.

Even though this is only a 6.1-megapixel camera, the sharpness, clarity and colour authenticity of the images are outstanding thanks to a new image processing engine, and this is further improved by the arrival of a built-in Shake Reduction mechanism that uses sensitive motion detectors to stabilise the CCD sensor so you can have crisp results even with low shutter speeds.

The only noticeable irritation is the somewhat useless continuous shooting mode which can only manage a maximum of four JPEG frames, but otherwise this is an excellent entry-level DSLR for both relative beginners and more experienced enthusiasts.

Canon - DC230 review

2007-10-30T15:06:00.000-07:00

As we all know, technology stands still for no man (or woman) and just as the early analogue camcorders gave way to the digital revolution, now the supremacy of MiniDV has been seriously challenged by the rise of the DVD and hard disk drive formats that are geared towards ease of transfer.

The DC230 camera uses DVD storage and is designed for physical comfort and instant accessibility. It's compact, lightweight and slim and its smooth contours are intended to slide effortlessly into the palm of your hand.

The central controller is an intuitive joystick that is sandwiched between the video/photo switch and the power switch. In addition, just to the left of the viewfinder is a convenient Quick Start button which is an innovation for this season and guarantees you're up and running almost instantly. Part of the same assembly is the Function button which sets up the menus that the joystick will then scroll through.

Canon has taken its DIGIC DV II processor, with advanced noise reduction technology, from its High Definition range and transplanted it into the DC230. The DIGIC DV II uses split path processing that allows you to simultaneously capture video and stills via separate signals, resulting in optimal colour reproduction for both media.

High quality images are captured via the 1-megapixel CCD, recording direct to three-inch DVD (-R/-RW/-R DL) discs with a maximum of 60 minutes video on a single layer disc and up to 108 minutes on a DVD-R Dual Layer. Digital photos can reach a resolution of 1,152 x 864 pixels and are saved to MiniSD memory cards which are unique to Canon camcorders. So make sure you stock up with plenty before you go on holiday.

The DC230 is optimised for true 16:9 recording, so your default setting for movies is cinematic widescreen. Images can be previewed in widescreen too: the camcorder features a 2.7-inch, 16:9, 123,000-pixel LCD and a wide 0.27-inch EVF (Electronic Viewfinder). The only major grumble is about the decision to have the record command (as well as the playback controls) built into the base of the LCD screen. It's fiddly and awkward, takes your mind off the subject and should have been given a more conventional, useful position near the zoom controls.

Talking of the zoom, you're provided with a more powerful 35x optical zoom lens than in the previous series and you can further activate a whopping and highly over-optimistic 1,000x digital zoom. An Electronic Image Stabilizer (EIS) significantly reduces camera shake and Canon's Smooth Zoom feature enhances this process by selecting from one of three pre-set zoom speeds. You're also aided in keeping the picture on an even keel and focused on the specific areas you want by the incorporation of a level marker and a new grid marker.

Fujifilm - Finepix F40fd review

2007-10-30T15:04:00.000-07:00

Fujifilm's F-series is arguably the most successful line of compact cameras around, in no small part down to consistent performance and solid build quality across the range. The 8.3-megapixel F40fd is currently available at prices close to budget levels, but this certainly isn't reflected in its design. It sports a stylish black and silver casing and has a rather weighty feel about it, which we tend to like.

On firing the camera up for the first time, though, we were a little let down by the quality of the 2.5-inch LCD. While clear and sharp enough when viewing photos, we've seen better refresh rates in terms of using the screen as a viewfinder: it often takes a second for the focus and colour accuracy to kick in if you swing it around too quickly.

In terms of general operation, you'll find that Fujifilm takes a slightly different approach to environment presets over a lot of the other big name brands. Instead of a shortcut to a typical list or tiled selection, your options are defined by the mode wheel. Here you'll find the standard 'auto' setting, along with the video camera, camera stabilisation and natural light mode to remove unwanted effects of the flash. One particularly nice feature here is the 'Natural & Flash' mode, which takes two shots simultaneously, one with and one without flash, offering you an easy choice of the best picture.

When you use any of these modes you'll find that more advanced settings for fine-tuning or choosing more specific environments aren't available through the main menu. To get to these you'll either have to select manual shooting or one of two scene position presets - SP1 or SP2.

Choosing one of these allows you to pick a specific setting, such as beach, snow, underwater or night mode, and save it to this position for easy access next time you need it. We think this is a great way to narrow down an often daunting list of options to the most useful two and, in combination with the range of fine tuning available in manual mode, gives you an excellent degree of control over your photographs.

One final addition to the F40fd's arsenal is, as more knowledgeable digicam users will already have noted, the Face Detection technology signified by the 'fd' in the name. Easily accessible through a dedicated control, this optimises focus for any faces in shot.

Taking the F40 for a spin we were impressed on most fronts. If you'd rather have more control over the capable automatic mode you'll find noticeable improvement when selecting presets to cater for your environment. Photos were consistently vibrant and sharp, with rich colours and good contrast. Macro mode in particular did an excellent job of picking out the finest details of complex structures without drastic reduction of colour accuracy or depth of field.

Of particular note is the maximum 2,000 ISO, impressive for a camera of this type and offering the ability to produce noticeably better results in dimly lit environments as well as an extended range at night. You'll notice more noise at higher ISO levels, but comparatively the F40 performs well here, and even though a tripod is essential to get the best pictures at these levels, results were pretty good nonetheless.

The F40fd would be well suited to amateur photographers looking for a decent low-priced compact. The controls are well arranged and nice to use, it's easy to take good photos quickly if 'point-n-shoot' is your main concern, and yet it offers enough extra for more experienced photographers to feel at home.

Although some beginners may feel that it's initially not quite as user-friendly as some rivals in this price range, we'd happily bear that slightly steeper learning curve to take advantage of the benefits the latest in Fuji's F-series has to offer.