Reviews

[ia] Although Kodak was the first manufacturer to announce a Wi-Fi-enabled compact digicam, the race to bring cameras to the local market was essentially tied with Nikon, which introduced two Coolpix cameras at the same time. Both launches come at a time when more households are installing Wi-Fi home networks and the majority of notebook PCs are Wi-Fi enabled, so the release of cameras that can use these facilities is timely.

Apart from its 5-megapixel CCD, darker body colour and additional scene modes (backlit, children, flower and fireworks), Kodak’s LS753 resembles the earlier 4-megapixel LS743 model. Its smart metal body has a 1.8-inch hybrid LCD and an optical viewfinder with 80% field of view coverage. Its Schneider-Kreuznach C-Variogon 2.8x zoom lens can focus to 5cm and shutter speeds extend from 16 to 1/1400 seconds.

A slimline digicam with some handy functions for novice photographers and four pre-loaded video games.Fujifilm’s 5.1-megapixel FinePix V10 has a slimline metal body with a large LCD and plastic DV-in and A/V and USB port covers. No viewfinder is provided but a rule-of-thirds grid can be displayed to aid shot composition. Controls are split between the “F” button, which lies on the top panel and handles resolution, ISO and colour modes and four small buttons below the LCD. The four-way controller is replaced by an up/down lever and two arrow pads, which are fiddly to use.

The first camera with a transparent ceramic lens, Casio’s Exilim EX-S100 is one of the slimmest and most compact digicams we’ve seen. Weighing less than 120 grams with its slender lithium-ion battery loaded in its smart stainless steel body, the S100 is a beautifully constructed unit for anyone who wants an ultra-portable camera.Some of the control buttons are very small, but;the controls are well designed and include functions that make the camera easy to use, such as Direct On buttons for capture and playback, 23 Best Shot settings, Icon Help and Business Shot.

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.

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!

[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.