Reviews

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.

[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 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.

On test, the DX7590 produced photographs with slightly elevated contrast and saturation, although colour fidelity was generally high. Pictures had excellent edge-to-edge sharpness but sharpening artefacts were common. Low light shots were clean but noisy at ISO 400 and 800. Response times were average.

The first dedicated 3D digital camera that can record 720p HD video with stereo audio.Fujifilm’s FinePix Real 3D W3 is a second-generation model that adds the ability to shoot 3D video with 720p High Definition quality and stereo soundtracks to the basic functions provided by the FinePix Real 3D W1, which we reviewed in December 2009. Aside from some improvements to the 3D monitor and a few adjustments to the body design, nothing else has changed much in the interim – except the price tag, which is $300 lower than the W1’s was on release.

Fujifilm’s first digicam to offer 3D image capture and viewing.Fujifilm takes a new direction with its FinePix Real 3D W1, the company’s first consumer-level digicam capable of recording 3D still pictures and video clips. Relying on the ability of people to perceive depth by viewing objects along two separate planes of sight, it uses two lenses to direct the imaging light to two CCD chips. The resulting data is processed to create a picture that appears three-dimensional when displayed on a suitable screen.

Although somewhat pricey for a 5-megapixel camera with no optical viewfinder, Casio’s EX-P505 is small and sleek, with a nicely-designed and well-built alloy body and large vari-angle monitor. Ideal for photographers who want a lightweight and versatile digicam, its 5x zoom lens isn’t particularly fast, with six aperture settings, ranging from f3.3 to f7.4, depending on the focal length setting. However, the 5-megapixel sensor captures 2560 x 1920 pixel JPEG images that range in size from 2.1 MB at ‘Fine’ quality to 1.7 MB at ‘Normal’ and 1.3 MB at the ‘Economy’ setting and users can record MPEG-4 motion video clips with stereo audio at 30fps VGA resolution.

Fujifilm’s second ‘widescreen’ F-series camera, the F810 Zoom sports a new 6.3-megapixel Super CCD HR sensor which can deliver interpolated pictures with 4048 x 3040 pixels. The widescreen function appears to work by cropping the top and bottom of the frame. The F810 offers P, A, S and M shooting modes and RAW capture but many settings (widescreen, digital zoom, burst mode and ISO 800) are disabled when RAW is selected, and the conversion software is primitive and slow.

A versatile digicam with a 12x optical zoom lens, easy and advanced shooting modes and 720p HD video recording with stereo sound. The PowerShot SX130 IS replaces the PowerShot SX120 IS, providing the expected wide range of shooting modes, a stabilised zoom lens and support for AA batteries in an affordable body. The sensor is slightly larger in the SX130 IS and its resolution is increased to 12.1 megapixels. The zoom range is also extended from 10x to 12x, mainly at the wide-angle end and covers focal lengths equivalent to 28-336mm in 35mm format.