Advanced Compact Cameras

An attractive looking slimline digicam with some features to appeal to tech-savvy snapshooters.Fujifilm’s slim, smart-looking FinePix Z10fd has been designed to appeal to 18-35 year olds. Its ‘aero’ curved body is available in red, orange, olive green, Prussian blue and black to co-ordinate with the latest fashions and it sports a 7.2-megapixel imager and 3x optical zoom lens. There are plenty of features and functions to engage potential buyers in this take-anywhere camera. But, above all, it’s easy to use with only four selectable shooting modes: movie, manual, auto and natural light and with flash – and the camera displays a text message that tells you what each setting does.

An affordable snapshooters’ digicam that includes face detection AF and high ISO shooting modes.Fujifilm’s FinePix F40fd is the top model in the F series of digicams and one of the first to support both SD and xD memory cards. Featuring an 8-megapixel image sensor, it benefits from the sixth generation of the company’s Super CCD HR technology and offers ISO settings up to 2000 in two shooting modes: Picture Stabilisation and Natural Light. The ‘fd’ tag refers to the “Face Detection” focus and exposure control, which first appeared on the FinePix S6500fd.

A solidly-built, high-resolution DSLR camera with an above-average feature set and some innovative and useful functions.Samsung continues to re-badge Pentax DSLR cameras with its latest GX10 model, this time selecting the excellent Pentax K10D as its base. The strategy has helped both companies to spread the distribution of the camera as the Samsung model will sell well in countries where its brand is more familiar and the Pentax, likewise. Some subtle differences can be found in the menu displays but just about every feature that made the K10D so good is duplicated in the GX10. That’s not a bad thing – and it’s helped Samsung to produce its best DSLR camera yet.

A well-built slimline camera with a 7x optical zoom lens, novel user interface and plenty of user-adjustable controls.Superficially, Samsung’s new NV7 OPS resembles the recently-reviewed ultra-slim NV10 model but sports a longer, 7x optical zoom lens and lower-resolution (7.2-megapixel) sensor. Its black metal body has the same ‘quality’ feel as the 10-megapixel NV10 but the lens (which is also made by Schneider-Kreuznach) does not tuck into the camera body but projects forwards about 36 mm. An attractive zip-up camera case is supplied with the camera but the plastic lens cap (also supplied) detracts from the overall quality of the package.

Test shots were colour accurate with moderate saturation and contrast. Noise was negligible at ISO 100 and remained quite low up to ISO 400, becoming noticeable only at ISO 1600. Close-up capabilities were impressive and flash coverage was adequate. The white balance control handled fluorescent lighting adequately but did poorly with incandescent lights.

Among digicams with extended-range lenses, Konica Minolta’s 4-megapixel DiMAGE Z3 is something of a ‘curate’s egg’; good in parts. Stand-out features include the 12x optical zoom lens, the excellent CCD-shift image stabilisation and the CxProcess II image processing. The camera’s odd-looking body, which is more stylish than the earlier Z1 and Z2 models and is available in silver or black, is reasonably compact and comfortable to hold. It’s also keenly priced for its features and performance.

High resolution plus a 6x optical zoom lens in an affordable camera with plenty of adjustable controls.The A710 IS heads Canon’s A-series range, which is easy enough for novices to use yet offers a full suite of manual controls plus DiG!C II processing. It’s the first A-series model with image stabilisation, which complements the 6x optical zoom lens. The lens packs into the camera body when power is off and accepts a variety of accessories, which are fitted by removing a surrounding attachment ring.