megazooms

How do you like your compact megazooms? As small as possible and loaded with features or more affordable with a basic feature set and powered by AA-size batteries? Regardless of your answer, Canon now has a model to fill both needs.

The $349.99 SD4500 IS is the very compact, full-featured one, packing a 10x zoom lens in a Digital Elph body. Running the show is the same backside-illuminated CMOS sensor and Digic 4 combo found in the SD4000 IS, which means it should produce good low-light photos and have fast shooting performance. It also does high-speed movies for slow-motion … Read more

As I mentioned back at the end of June, camera manufacturers are beginning to announce models for the second half of 2010. Sony, Fujifilm, Panasonic, and Samsung have made their announcements, three of them doing so early Wednesday morning.

Sony and Panasonic are launching mostly high-end models as well as a couple updates to older, popular models. Samsung refreshed its flagship DualView cameras and introduced a 7x zoom ultracompact for $180. And Fujifilm announced replacements to three models that were barely six months old as well as a significant update to its groundbreaking F200EXR.

Here are links to all the … Read more

Panasonic's FZ35 with its measly 18x zoom was due for a refresh and, well, it looks like Panny thought breaking it into two models would be best.

The FZ100 is the top-of-the-line model:

24x f2.8-5.2 25-600mm-equivalent lens

14-megapixel high-speed MOS sensor

3-inch 460K-pixel rotating LCD and an electronic viewfinder

Built-in stereo mic

Port for an optional stereo microphone

Accessory shoe for an external flash

Mini-HDMI output

Burst shooting at 11 frames per second at full resolution for up to 15 shots

Full HD 1080p movie mode recording in AVCHD at 30 frames per second at up to … Read more

The FinePix F200EXR was Fujifilm's first camera to feature its Super EXR CCD sensor. Now a little more than a year old, the company is rolling out the follow-up--the F300EXR. It's a significant refresh, too, taking the camera's zoom from 5x to 15x and widening its lens from 28mm to 24mm (35mm equivalent), but keeping the body the same 0.9-inch thickness.

The F300EXR shares the same sensor and shooting features as the Z800EXR, also announced Wednesday. This includes a high-speed hybrid autofocus system using both Contrast AF and Phase Detection AF. The camera is able to … Read more

Like failed sitcoms canceled halfway through a season, Fujifilm is giving the ax to three of its cameras from the first half of 2010. Fujifilm is replacing the FinePix Z700EXR, S1800, and JX250 that it announced February 1 with the Z800EXR, S2800HD, and JX280, respectively. I didn't review the three outgoing models, so I can't say if there was anything necessarily wrong with them. It seems Fujifilm just wanted to retool the models with some new features.

For example, the Z800EXR has a new version of the company's 12-megapixel Super CCD EXR sensor that has a high-speed hybrid autofocus system. Using both Contrast AF and Phase Detection AF, the camera is able to measure the amount of light or contrast in the scene and pick the AF system that will focus the fastest. Also added is improved image stabilization so there's less need to use higher ISOs when using the 5x zoom lens or in low-light conditions. Now it can take panorama shots at 180, 240, or 360 degrees with a sweep of the camera. It retains the prior versions full-metal body and 460K-pixel, 3.5-inch touch screen, too. The FinePix Z800EXR will be available in late August 2010 at a retail price of $229.95, which is really cheap.… Read more

It's completely reasonable to think an update to something will be better than its predecessor--or at least its equal, but for less money. The Kodak EasyShare Z981 isn't either of these things. The refresh of 2009's Z980, it was released at CES 2010, but was never really announced. And after testing it, it's understandable why.

The Z981 comes across like a last-minute effort to enable the company to keep a model in the full-size megazoom category. For example, basic features such as the ability to turn off digital zoom and Quickview--the instant playback of shots after … Read more

The number of compact and ultracompact digital cameras available from major manufacturers is overwhelming--and it's about to get worse. Before summer's out, most of the companies will have announced a new batch of point-and-shoot models in an attempt to woo you into upgrading or at least penciling them into your holiday shopping budget. Judging by the reader e-mails I receive, none of the current crop seem to have all of the features you desire, so maybe some new options are exactly what's needed.

My fear, though, is it'll just be more of the same, with too … Read more

There's a good chance you're unaware of Fujifilm's FinePix JZ500 and JZ300. When the company announced its 2010 cameras, there were so many launched at once that these two were quickly overshadowed by other more technologically interesting models. However, after testing these two out, there's a good chance that the company will sell a lot of these thanks to their very good price-to-feature ratio.

Both models feature a 28mm-equivalent wide-angle lens with a 10x zoom and a 2.7-inch LCD packed into a body that's easy to slip in a pants pocket or small bag. … Read more

Fujifilm tosses in a boatload of this-year's-buzz technologies into its new FinePix HS10. The upside of this is that it includes a 10-megapixel backside-illuminated (BSI) sensor, which promises an improvement in low-light photographs; manual zoom ring on the lens; a seven-frame, full-resolution 10fps burst mode; 3-inch tilting LCD (albeit at the common but low resolution of 230,000 pixels); and 1080p HD movie capture with stereo sound. It also has a full set of manual and semimanual exposure modes, and supports simultaneous raw+JPEG capture. On the downside, Fujifilm's first out of the gate to announce a 30x … Read more