Digital Camera

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30 is an 8 Megapixal giant with 12X zoom. This model weighs 23.8 oz. It looks big and weighs more when compared to other mega zoom cameras. Design of the camera gives a sophisticated touch. However, people with smaller hands may not feel comfortable with its design especially when you have the shutter speed control that is placed bit too far from the easy reach of the thumb.

It has to be mentioned here that the user interface is not all that friendly, especially the icons for the submenus are not all that obvious. Before you can comfortably use the camera you need to spend good number of hours with the user manual.

This has a comprehensive and useful set of features. The features include distinct controls for sharpness, saturation and contrast. Like the SLR you also have manual exposure controls, adjustable white balance. You have the following options for your white balance – Flash, Cloudy, Halogen and Daylight. It has a good range of light sensitivity ISO options ISO 80, ISO 100, ISO 200, ISO 400 and ISO auto. It has other exciting features like customizable noise reduction feature. Added to it you have multiple AF modes that include three- area and single area high speed AF, normal speed single area AF and spot AF.

It has 14 preset or inbuilt scene modes suitable for both novice and experienced photographer. The scene modes include Food, Candle, Night portrait, Panning, Fireworks, Night scene, Sports mode, Scenery, Surf & snow, Party/indoor, Portrait mode. It also has soft skin mode for smooth skin tones and complexions and baby mode. All the modes are easily accessible and you can have your two frequently used modes accessible directly from the mode dial.

Minimum shutter speed is 60 second and maximum shutter speed is 1/2000 second. It has various exposure modes – manual, automatic, shutter priority and aperture priority modes.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30 has the follwing still image formats – Raw, TIFF and JPEG. To manage raw format you would need additional software that is not part of the bundled software.

Memory storage is bit limited with Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30 – you will have only 32 MB SD memory card.

Other features include 2 inch high resolution LCD and with easy angle adjustment rotating mounting. It has a built in microphone, popup flash with an effective flash range of 23 feet with the following features – Auto mode, Red-eye reduction, Slow synchro, Fill-in mode and Flash OFF mode.

Performnce is above average with a shot to shot time of less than 2 seconds without flash and with flash a fraction of second more. You might sporadically find problem with shutter lag especially when it is set to default AF. You have three continuous shooting modes and also high quality movie mode. It has another uncommon shooting feature – animation mode. This mode compiles the multiple images to short movie.

If you can master the exposure time you can get excellent images from Panasonic Lumix DMC – FZ30.

IT does not come with any carying case except for the lens cap, lens hood, lens adapter and hand strap.

Nikon coolpix S4

Nikon coolpix S4 comes in a compact pack with swivel lens. It is a 6 megapixel camera with a 10X zoon lens. Hallmark of Nikon in general and in particular S4 is its user friendliness. It has a 2.5 inch LCD. S4 is packed with a wide range of options but very thoughtfully organized making the settings very easy. Thought it has 10X zoom S4 keeps its dimensions within the range of compact models. S4 also invests on its telephoto capabilities. One of the extraordinary features of S4 is that you can select the focus zones – it can be auto focus, center or multipoint focusing zones. The lens can shoot pictures at the proximity of 1.6 inches with great clarity.

Other exciting features include 16 distinctive scene modes not including time-lapse shots mode and panorama and close-up modes. One of the strengths of S4 is that it dedicates 5 scene modes for night shots – Night Landscape, Dusk/Dawn, Fireworks show, Night Portrait and Sunset modes. Other regular modes include Auto, Portrait, Sports, Party/Indoors, Landscape, Beach/Snow, Museum, Back Light, Close-up and Panorama Assist modes.

One of the disadvantages of S4 is that it does not have manual controls for focusing or exposure control. But you can get almost everything from the preset scene modes. It just has exposure compensation such as white balance and color options such as blue, black and white, sepia and vivid. The matrix metering allows 5 f-stops and exposures range between 2 seconds and 1/1000 second.

One of the cool features of S4 is the Best Shot Selector feature – it saves only the best picture in terms of clarity, sharpness and best exposure out of the 10 pictures. Like other models S4 too has the regular inbuilt red eye neutralizing tool, high contrast and D-lighting features.

You would certainly need an additional memory card because S4 comes with just 13.5 MB internal memory. You would possibly exhaust this space with three to four shots if your settings are for high-resolution quality.

Flash coverage is not great either it covers just 10 feet.

Besides the above features Nikon coolpix S4 is just about average in terms of quality of pictures. It is awfully slow when you switch it on – it is not ready any sooner than 2.5 to 3 seconds, long enough to miss your favorite shots. What is still worse is shot to shot lag with 2.8 seconds delay time and 5.6 seconds for the flash to be ready. With low resolution settings you can take almost unlimited number of frames but with high resolution settings not more than 6 shots can S4 takes before its buffer is cleaned.

The 2.5 LCD produces decent enough displays outdoors though in direct sunlight it is not a winning model and it performed not too bad indoors. The problem would have been solved with the inclusion of view finder, it is a big mistake not to include it.

It terms of ergonomics Nikon coolpix S4 is not measuring up as expected the joystick is one classy example – it is easy to get into wrong settings with this joystick.

Nikon Coolpix P2

Nikon Coolpix P2 is a 5.1 megapixel digital camera in a very compact pack. Its appearance is to bland and does not match other contemporary models that are equally compact. May be Nikon did not invest in too much of thinking it the design of this compact model but on the features of the camera. It can print up to 16×20 inches without any problem – it has determined resolution up to the mentioned levels. It is equipped with Nikkor 3.5x optical zoom and 36 to 126mm lens. You can capture amazing images with the zoom limits of 14x. You can enjoy the photos while it is still in your camera as it comes with a high resolution 2.5 inch LCD display. The clear display helps you capture well balanced images. If your friends have been showing off with their new digital cameras – you can rebut them with your wi-fi enabled Nikon Coolpix P2. Remember it is not a feature of an optional accessory but built in power that makes your digital camera match with the latest technology. You have great advantages with this wi-fi feature – you do not really need additional storage device to transfer the photos. You can directly transfer it to your wi-fi compatible computer or you can directly print it through your wi-fi printer as you shoot the images. You have a great freedom of 30 meters on the wi-fi features. Depending on your level you will be able to use your Coolpix P2 in either cool auto mode or at a professional 16 different scene modes and 11 advanced modes. With each of these 11 advanced modes you have three extra settings that allow you to adjust color, value specific hues, and saturation levels based on the chosen scene mode. With Nikon Coolpix P2’s Face AF feature you can track the movement of the subject’s chosen focused part each frame. This feature always keeps your portraits always perfect. Face AF is a feature that is exclusive to Nikon Coolpix P2. Another exclusive features is D-Lighting which allows you to edit the images especially the dark images. It also comes with built-in Red-Eye Fix feature to avoid cat eyes of your subject. You don’t have to worry about recharging your battery for up to 200 shots. It comes with a 16mb built in storage. What you will miss in Coolpix P2 is an optical viewfinder. It has a large display which compromises the optical viewfinder. If you are only comfortable to shoot images with optical viewfinder and not used to shoot images with the LCD display then you will have tough time – then you would do well choosing a suitable model. Along with the pack you get a rechargeable battery, battery charger, PictureProject CD-ROM, USB cable and a strap. Though it has wi-fi enabled direct print or wireless image transfer to PC you are limited in terms of the number of pictures that you can take as it does not come with additional storage card.

Kodak EasyShare V550

The Kodak EasyShare V550 is a 5 megapixel affordable ultracompact camera with a 3x optical zoom. It is almost a clone of the earlier model V530 which is little cheaper than V550. Not only the appearance but also performance-wise there are not many difference between the two models. V550 comes with a viewfinder which is missing in V530. Another difference is that it has a larger LCD.

Kodak EasyShare V550 is a highly user friendly model. It is has a great ergonmic design. The arrangement pattern of controls and menus show great thinking involved behind the design. You can access all the features and controls from the cool touch zone on top. V550 scores great marks for style and class.

With a 5 megapixel sensor and a 3X zoom though not a professional level camera it is certainly a powerful personal and a hobby camera. It has a maximum f/stop range of f/2.8 to f/4.8. You have 20 interesting shooting modes not including the auto mode. You will be able to shoot in the following modes Auto, Portrait, Sport, Landscape, Close-up, Night portrait, Night landscape, Snow, Beach, Text, Fireworks, Flower, Manner/museum, Self-portrait, Party, Children, Backlight, Panning shot, Candlelight, Sunset, Custom.

One of the disadvantages of V550 is that it does not meet the requirements of the professionals and there is no manual mode. It has a 2.5 LCD and a viewfinder. The viewfinder is a great help if you are shooting in direct sunlight as LCDs make difficult direct light shooting.

Kodak EasyShare V550 allows you to shoot video clips too and the video clips will be stored as QuickTime MOV format. Your V550 can record at a speed of 30 frames per second with a resolution of 640×480. Though it claims TV quality video quality in reality as you would know as one of the economical ultracompact models you cannot expect too much for video quality. The quality is just below average if not grainy and poor under insufficient light. It can be jumpy too – the zoom feature under video mode can wake up a sleeping child – it is so noisy!!! What is amazing is that you will be able to shoot 80 full minutes of video with sound.

Though video shooting is not that great, you cannot complain too much about the still photo quality. It offers reasonable quality with good exposure limits. V550 scores 1,350 lines in resolution test. The flash for still photography has good coverage.

You can connect to your PC easily to your V550 through the Kodak dock that comes with the package – photo and video sharing is just one touch with V550. You will be able to even play photo slide show and enjoy video in your 2.5 LCD.

Even the general performance levels such as start up time and shot transitional time and almost nil shutter lag are things V550 can boast off.

The package comes with 32 MB memory, Lithium Ion battery and USB interface.

If you are looking for a budget ultracompact digital camera with average video capabilities then Kodak EasyShare V550 is an ideal choice.

Canon Optura 600

Canon Optura 600 is compact. Though compact it does not compromise on the long list of features that it comes with. It is tiny enough to be carried in your jacket pocket. It is found to be producing supreme quality video and amazing still shots with high clarity. It weighs little over a pound along with the battery. The wrist strap is designed to guide your hands to hold the device at 45 degrees which is the optimum angle for correct shooting. But In order to keep its size small the camcorder has failed badly on ergonomic placement of buttons. It needs tremendous practice before you can start handling the device with one hand with ease. It is difficult to handle physically.

Unlike other modern cameras Optura 600 does not load its functions to selectable menus – it serves a generous portion of 16 buttons though some of them misplaced. You will have a wide choice of settings available at your disposal – but you need to be a pro to handle all the features. If you are not one, then you might as well opt for the easy way out – Auto mode then you may as well forget many functional buttons. But if you can master them you will not regret the effort.

It comes with 2.5 inch LCD screen, 4.2 megapixel CCD, it has 3.5 megapixel video quality and 4 megapixel for snap shot quality. Zoom levels up to 10X, shooting modes possible in both 4:3 conventional mode or wide screen 16:9 mode.

As mentioned earlier it has great defects in terms of ease of using the device, on major issue is that you happen to shoot you memories on a tripod then you will be annoyed when you learn that to change the DV tapes you need to dismount the camera from the tripod because the loading door is at the bottom – you will wonder how Canon can afford to put so little thinking into its design.

Being a feature packed vertical wonder it has 11 exposure programs. You will be thrilled when you learn to use the portrait mode that blurs the background and focus the subject. The features also come with an extensive range of digital movie effects including the regular fades, skin tone softening, wipes sepia, etc. You also have slow shutter mode to produce high quality night shooting.

Canon Optura 600 can legitimately boast of its still picture capabilities. It has all the features and quality of a reasonably good digital camera. Other exciting features allow you to take panorama shots using stitch mode and you can shoot 360 degree shots. You can refine the picture quality with red-eye reduction. Self timer allows Optura 600 allows you to shoot both video and still shooting.

Optura 600 also comes with a built-in stereo microphone – but you have to be warned that you may not rely on this built in microphone if you are looking for high audio quality.

Thought Optura 600 though has minor flaws, it is smooth in its output.

Canon EOS 5D

Canon EOS 5D a Digital SLR camera for photojournalists. It has a sleek professional look. You can rely on the high quality output on the resolution of the camera. The images are simply superb and rich. It comes with dream full frame sensor. You have a large 2.5in color display. It is easy to use and comes with neat control panel – highly ergonomic design. If you think that it is expensive, then check out other models with same features for an SLR. Professional photographers would go for it without hesitation for what it has to offer.

It has color coded menu system that is user friendly. It has convenient command wheels that control all the features. You can retrieve your favorite settings fast and quick through programmable set button. It is a very thoughtful feature because if you have to get to your favorite settings manually with the maze of SLR features you would lose many precious moments.

It has interesting and attractive casing and easy to hold and extremely easy to use professional SLR. You will be able to handle all the features with ease right from the first time you pick it. It weighs 31.5 ounces including the battery. It comes with LCD and viewfinder but without the indicator for current ISO setting – it is a great drawback because the control dial for exposure modes rotates too smoothly without enough locking. It easily slips to aperture modes that you did not set making you wonder on the picture quality because you the unintended dial change. The flash trigger is not well placed making it terribly difficult to access. It is just frustration.

CMOS sensor controls Canon EOS 5D and it is compatible with all Canon lenses except the EF-S models. You have at least 4 major exposure modes. It also comes with a spot meter not found it earlier models. Other features include six presets, custom, auto and direct Kelvin temperature settings.

You can control the color and tone using the new feature Picture Styles with six options for color control and tone renderings. You have monochrome, neutral, portrait, faithful, landscape and standard modes and all these picture modes have four more controls for sharpness, color tone, saturation and contrast.

It is one of the fastest SLRs with no delays between the shots which is very crucial for professional quality cameras. Its starting time is less than half a second. It has great sensors – you will be able to use all the nine active sensors or you can assign any one of them to be the active sensor. You can avoid even the slightest movement by using the mirro-up mode with self-timer. The LCD is great too, it is vivid in any angle unlike other LCDs. However, it does not come with the protective cover that you would have liked as protection for the LCD.

The image quality is excellent for landscapes, portraits, architecture and still-life pictures – go for it if you are looking for 16×20 or bigger prints.

It is not top level professional SLR but can be rated as midlevel photojournalist camera.