Mark

The EX-Z50 is the cheaper of Casio’s new 5-megapixel Exilim models. It’s also slightly smaller and lighter and has a smaller LCD display but, otherwise the only differences between it and the EX-Z55 are slightly lower power efficiency and a different control layout. With so little between these two models, it’s difficult to see why you might choose the Z50 over the $50 dearer Z55, although the Z50 is slightly lighter. The viewfinder is tiny and poorly positioned – but it’s better than having none at all. The rear panel sports two handy Direct On buttons, which start the camera in either capture or playback mode. Users can customise the left/right keys on the four-way controller to access functions like the recording mode, EV shift, white balance, ISO or self-timer – but it’s easy to change settings inadvertently.

Ultra-high resolution presents technical challenges to a prestige point-and-shoot camera with some interesting and useful functions. We can’t understand why Casio put a 10-megapixel imager into its new slimline digicam, the EX-Z1000. By our calculations, each photosite on this chip has an area of just under two microns square. This will challenge the on-board image processor and is likely to produce a narrower dynamic range and more image noise than lower-resolution models. By comparison, the photosites on Sony’s DSC-R1 or Nikon’s D200 models are much larger at just over 6.8 microns square.

[ia] Rounded contours and a larger, 7.1 megapixel sensor characterise Canon’s new Digital Ixus 700. Featuring the latest DiG!C II image processor, it sports a generous control suite for a point-and-shoot camera. The rear panel mode dial has settings for playback, auto, manual, scene and movie capture. In auto, the only functions you can change are resolution and quality – plus settings accessed via the arrow buttons. Manual lets you set exposure compensation, white balance, ISO and photo effects. The scene mode calls up nine scene mode and the movie clips can be recorded at VGA or QVGA resolution with frame rates of 30 or 15 fps or QQVGA clips at 15 fps. A special ‘Fast Frame Rate’ setting records QVGA clips at 60 fps.

Canon’s Digital Ixus IIs is a minor update to the successful Ixus II but sports a slick ‘Silver White Finish’ to its stainless-steel body and a new Print/Share button and direct printing enablement. It’s a pity Canon didn’t put a 4-megapixel sensor in this model when they added the Print/Share button since, small size and attractive design notwithstanding, $549 for a 3.2-megapixel, 2x optical zoom camera is a big ask in the current marketplace!