Review Nikon’s endeavour to rein in Canon’s success in the compacts market has seen the Coolpix P7000 released as a direct competitor to the Canon PowerShot G12. By introducing the P300, Nikon’s first pocket-sized advanced compact, the company seems keen to cast a shadow over the Canon PowerShot S95.
Small wonder: Nikon’s Coolpix P300
Aimed at serious enthusiasts, the Nikon P300 showcases attractive features with its 12.2Mp, back-illuminated CMOS image sensor married to Nikon’s Expeed C2 image processor. This combination delivers a sensitivity up to ISO 3200, along with an impressive 8fps continuous shooting at full resolution, plus 1080p HD video recording.
The jewel in the crown is the fast f/1.8-f/4.9, 24-100mm (35mm equivalent), high refractive index zoom lens with optical stabilisation. It offers decent wide-angle shooting and useful, rather than spectacular, telephoto magnification. At at 920k dots, the 3in LCD screen – albeit the same size screen as the Canon PowerShot S95 – has almost twice the resolution, delivering very good viewing angles from this crisp, bright display. Read the rest of this entry »
Review Some digital cameras cry out to be touched. They’re sleek, they’re stylish and it’s hard resist the temptation to pick them up. Canon’s range of Ixus cameras falls into this category, and the Digital Ixus 200 IS takes this step a further by being the first Ixus to offer a touchscreen interface.
Touching gesture: Canon’s Ixus 200 IS
At £329, this is no entry-level Camera, but nor is it designed for the enthusiast who wants lots of manual control. But if you’re hunting for a Camera that looks cool and would nicely complement your iPhone, then the Ixus 200 IS has clearly been designed with you in mind.
Available in four colours – gold, silver, blue and purple – the Ixus 200 IS includes a 3in, 16:9 touchscreen. Yet Canon has opted for a TFT display composed of just 230,000 dots, which is a tad disappointing on a Camera costing this much.
The image sensor is also a bit of a letdown, comprising of a 1/2.3-inch CCD chip with 12.1Mp (effective). Cramming so many pixels onto a CCD of this size has noise implications and we suspect that a 10Mp performance (or even less) would be fine for most purchasers of the Ixus 200 IS. Read the rest of this entry »
Review The S90 marks the re-introduction of Canon’s acclaimed PowerShot S series. Aimed at the serious amateur or professional photographer, it combines full manual capability with the simple design of a point-and-shoot, all in a pocket size Camera with near-DSLR performance. Unsurprisingly, it comes with the hefty price tag of £449.
Canon’s Powershot S90 marks the return of the S-series
To justify its price the S90 comes with an array of professional features packed into its small and stylish case. The 10Mp sensor also features on its bigger brother, the G11 and utilises Canon’s latest DIGIC 4 processor with its Dual Anti-Noise System that allows low light shooting without increased noise. Perhaps more surprising is that currently, the PowerShot S90 is the smallest compact Camera to shoot in Raw format. With no optical viewfinder the S90 relies on a 3in LCD display comprised of 461,000 dots. Read the rest of this entry »
Review It doesn’t seem five minutes since we looked at the CX1 – well, back in April actually – so it’s quite surprise to find that Ricoh has already launched its successor, the CX2. Again, this is a super-zoom compact seemingly aimed at the enthusiast or the DSLR user who occasionally wants to pack something simpler and smaller. That said, there are a few surprising omissions for a top-end compact.
Ricoh’s CX2 offers a more powerful zoom and some image processing tweaks
At first glance, there’s little difference between the CX1 and CX2 – both have the same box-shaped metal body with relatively few buttons and a 3in LCD screen composed of 920,000 dots. The most obvious design change has been the addition of a textured hand grip on the right hand side of the CX2’s body.
The cameras are also a similar size and weight, with the CX2 measuring 102 x 58 x 29mm and weighing around 200g with battery and card. Although the CX2 is highly portable, you will need deep pockets to carry it around comfortably. Both models use SD/SDHC cards and include 88MB of internal memory.
Even below the skin both cameras have some similar features including a 1/2.3in CMOS sensor with 9.20Mp and Smooth Imaging Engine IV image processor. So, is the CX2 simply a case of the same chocolates in a slightly different box? No, but that said, if you were one of those who rushed out and purchased the CX1 a few months ago, you shouldn’t feel too bad about missing out on the CX2. Read the rest of this entry »
Review The Finepix F200EXR is the replacement for the Finepix F100fd, which we looked at last January. Although there are a number of similarities between the two cameras – they have the same sized image sensor, optical zoom and Camera body – there are some differences too, not least the Finepix F200EXR’s new EXR image sensor.
Fujifilm’s Finepix F200EXR features an upgraded sensor and advanced processing tricks
This being an F-series Camera, the Finepix F200EXR is what Fuji calls an “advanced compact,” and is thus aimed at the user who wants to do more than just point-and-shoot. It has a 1/1.6-inch Super CCD HR CCD with 12Mp, a 5x optical zoom lens in the form of an f=6.4-32.0mm, F3.3-5.1 Fujion lens, equivalent to a 28-140mm lens on a 35mm Camera. The standard ISO range of 100-3200 can be increased up to ISO 12800, with the shutter speed range of ¼-1/1500sec, extendable to 8-1/1500 sec in some modes.
This Camera supports xD, SD, and SDHC cards, has 48MB of internal memory and comes with a lithium-ion battery. In a throwback to the days of film, you can select several film simulation types, including Fuji’s standard Provia and vivid Velvia. The battery has a CIPA rating of 230 shots per battery charge, which is disappointing; we’d expect the figure to be closer to 300 shots for a Camera of this type. Read the rest of this entry »
