Reviews

Available in ‘Noble Wine’, ‘Indigo Blue’ or ‘Milk Silver’ colours, Samsung’s Digimax V700 is a step up from the standard point-and-shoot digicam, with some additional features that will attract more experienced photographers. The lightweight aluminium body feels solid and comfortable – although we have some concerns about the durability of the tether for the DC-in AV-out port cover. However, the battery/card compartment closes securely and the tripod socket is well positioned and the button controls, though small, are logically positioned. The viewfinder eyepiece is, unfortunately, rather small and not diopter adjustable.

Ricoh’s Caplio R2 is an upgrade to the R1 with a 5-megapixel CCD sensor but the same 4.8x zoom lens, which is equivalent to 28-135mm in 35mm format, and the same ‘pendulum’ lens retracting mechanism. The physical dimensions and controls of both models are similar, although the R2 lacks an optical viewfinder and its 2.5-inch LCD monitor takes up most of the rear panel.

A point-and-shoot digital camera with a built-in printer that uses ZINK printing technology.We seldom review point-and-shoot digicams unless they include features that are novel or potentially interesting in some way. The recently-released Polaroid Two camera qualified by being the first digicam we’ve seen with a built-in printer. Ten-sheet packs of 76 x 49 mm ZINK Photo Paper are loaded into the camera body, dropping into a tray behind the lift-up LCD monitor and users can decide which shots to print after they are taken.

A compact, high-zoom digicam with CCD-shift image stabilisation and some handy auto image correction functions.The latest of Nikon’s ‘twist-and-shoot’ cameras, the Coolpix S10 has a 6-megapixel imager and a 10x optical zoom lens. Nikon’s swivelling cameras were among the more versatile models in their digicam range but that has changed with the S10, which has been designed with point-and-shoot photographers in mind. There’s no thread on the lens barrel for filters and other add-ons, the maximum aperture is relatively small at f/3.5 and controls are somewhat restricted for a long-zoom camera.

With its smart black body, long lens and pop-up flash, Kyocera’s Finecam M410 looks like a serious camera. Its plastic body is comfortable to use and the pop-up flash is nicely integrated. The 10x optical zoom lens is fast and test shots were sharp, but no image stabilisation is provided. The mode dial covers full auto, drive, scene, ‘Ext.’, movie and set-up. Four scene modes are provided and ‘Ext.’ allows users to access white balance pre-sets and open an ‘M’ menu containing a wide range of adjustments. The EVF is diopter-adjustable and a live histogram display is provided.

[ia] Selling for $200 more than the Z700, Kodak’s EasyShare Z740 sports a 10x optical zoom lens (unfortunately without stabilisation), a 5-megapixel sensor and a slightly larger (1.8-inch) LCD monitor. The optical viewfinder is replaced by an electronic one with a reasonably high eyepoint – but no diopter adjustment.

A keenly-priced long-zoom digicam with a simple menu system.Claiming point-and-shoot simplicity plus plenty of user-adjustable controls, Kodak’s 7.1-megapixel EasyShare Z710 is clearly targeted at family snapshooters who want a low-priced, high-resolution, long-zoom camera. It boasts large, all-glass 10x optical zoom lens but there’s no image stabilisation so getting sharp shots at full zoom can be challenging.

A keenly-priced ultra-compact high-resolution digicam for point-and-shoot photographers.Packing more than 12 million photosites onto an imager chip with an area of 7.6 x 5.2 mm places huge demands on a camera’s image processor to extract even adequate quality. Kodak’s EasyShare Z1275 isn’t the first 12-megapixel digicam with a tiny sensor – and it probably won’t be the last, since consumers continue to be seduced by high megapixel counts. With an RRP of $399, the Z1275 is priced to appeal to cost-conscious buyers but its price reflects its comparatively low level of functionality.