Best All Long Zoom Digital Camera

Imaging Resource Picks section. They're well known for their exhaustive testing of digital cameras. They investigate various aspects of each digital camera to help you pick the best one for your needs. But they know that sometimes you just want someone with experience to tell you which digital camera to buy. To serve that need, they've revamped their Picks to get straight to the point, listing your top digital camera choices by category.


Best All Long Zoom Digital Camera

Canon PowerShot S5 IS
8.0 megapixels, 12.00x zoom
$323.30




One of the best long zoom digital cameras on the market converts instantly to a digital camcorder The 8-megapixel Canon PowerShot S5 IS digital camera is a moderate update to its very popular predecessor, the Canon S3 IS. The Canon S5 IS maintains many of the S3's strong points, including an image-stabilized 12x optical zoom lens (36mm-432mm/35mm equivalent), a wide range of sophisticated features and a solid, digital-SLR-like design. The Canon S5 IS is slightly larger and heavier than the S3, and has been upgraded to include a high resolution, articulated 2.5-inch LCD, a hot shoe for adding an external flash, Face Detection, and a maximum ISO of 1,600. The Canon S5 IS can also serve as a camcorder with a single press of the Movie button. Technically a hybrid digital camera, the Canon S5 IS is capable of recording a movie of up to 4GB in size. There's still no RAW mode and the camera no longer features High Speed continuous shooting mode or an Intervalometer; but the more important questions revolve around the Canon S5's performance and image quality.


Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18
8.1 megapixels, 18.00x zoom
$320.73





It's the Leica optics that push this long zoom digital camera to the top of the heap With its fine Leica lens, the Panasonic FZ18 digital camera really shines in the long zoom category, delivering amazing corner sharpness across its 28-504mm zoom range. Though the Panasonic FZ18 feels a little too light at first, you quickly come to appreciate its small, lightweight form for all the zoom value it offers in such a small package. We were disappointed in the high ISO performance, especially in tungsten lighting, but for daylight shooting the Panasonic FZ18 is the long zoom you want to have along. The Panasonic FZ18's optical image stabilization helps make up for the loss of high ISO quality, and face detect autofocus will help ensure you're locked onto the right target


Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3
7.2 megapixels, 10.00x zoom
$227.57




A wide angle, stabilized long zoom lens makes the TZ3 shine With beauty from almost all angles, the most beautiful quality of the Panasonic TZ3 is the quality of its lens, and thus its images. We found the TZ3's controls to be a little less impressive, at least in terms of their look and feel; the good news is that they serve quite well, and the camera's menu and interface are easy to read and use in most lighting conditions. The Panasonic TZ3's optical image stabilization is handy to have, especially with its 10x zoom. Our favorite part of the TZ3's zoom, though, is its 28mm wide angle setting, essential for indoor, vacation, or landscape photography. The Panasonic TZ3's low barrel distortion lets you capture buildings and skylines without the significant bending of straight lines that we're used to seeing from most wide angle digital cameras. The Panasonic DMC-TZ3 is an impressive little long zoom digital camera

Best All Around Camera

Imaging-Resource Picks section. They're well known for their exhaustive testing of digital cameras. They investigate various aspects of each digital camera to help you pick the best one for your needs. But they know that sometimes you just want someone with experience to tell you which digital camera to buy. To serve that need, they've revamped their Picks to get straight to the point, listing your top digital camera choices by category.


Best All Around Camera


Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX2
10.2 megapixels, 4.00x zoom
$388.11




A widescreen digicam with broad appeal. The Panasonic Lumix LX2, like its predecessor the LX1, is clearly inspired by the surging popularity of widescreen (16:9) televisions. Employing a unique set of "triple-wide" features, the Lumix LX2 combines a 28mm wide-angle Leica lens, a 16:9 wide CCD, and a 16:9 wide LCD. If you're the type who likes to count pixels, the DMC-LX2 has a 10 megapixel CCD that uses the full resolution of the sensor when shooting at 16:9. The Panasonic LX2 now has a 2.8-inch LCD that lets you see the entire wide-angle shot on the screen without letterboxing. (The LX1 had a 2.5-inch display which letterboxed 16:9 shots.) Other improvements include Panasonic's new LSI Venus Engine III image processor which is designed to lower noise at higher ISOs, and a new Intelligent ISO Control (I.I.C.) system which detects subject movement and automatically adjusts ISO and shutter speed to suit the lighting conditions. Even without these changes, there a lot to talk about with the Lumix LX2 including many impressive manual options and Panasonic's tried-and-true MEGA O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer)



Canon PowerShot SD870 IS Digital ELPH
8.0 megapixels, 3.80x zoom
$290.18



With its 28mm lens, the Canon SD870 IS would be a dream camera even without all its other impressive features For those who love photography, it's the Canon SD870 IS in particular that stands out among Canon's current digital ELPH pocket cameras. Sure, the Canon SD870 has a big 3-inch LCD screen, optical image stabilization, face detection, and high ISO; all the current "must-have" features are there. But the Canon SD870 IS is most appealing for its 28 - 105mm lens. Finding any digital camera with a wide angle view of the world is rare no matter what size camera you choose, but finding one that you can slip into your pocket: now that's a rare gem. Though the Canon SD870 IS exhibits a little more distortion than normal at wide angle than the 35mm lenses on most pocket digital cameras, it's more surprising how little corner softening there is. It seems to be pushed out to where it affects only the far corners, with the rest of the Canon SD870's image relatively sharp. To sweeten the deal the Canon SD870 IS's 8-megapixel sensor serves up images that print well at 11x14 inches from ISO 80 to 400; and even the ISO 1,600 images make a good 4x6. You'll find more of what you want from a digital camera in the Canon SD870 IS, a great pocket digital camera for people who know the value of a wide-angle lens, and don't mind a 3-inch LCD and image stabilization thrown into the mix.


Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H3
8.0 megapixels, 10.00x zoom
$271.51





Packed with features, the Sony H3 has a fast shutter, a long zoom, and turns out great 13x19-inch prints Sony has developed a knack for packing a lot of high-end value in the entry-level model of each of their digital camera lines. In the long-zoom H-Series, the Sony H3 continues that trend with a 10x optical zoom, Advanced Sports mode, a Bionz processor, face detection technology, High ISO, Super SteadyShot, in-camera editing, and HD output signal. Gone is the electronic viewfinder found on the other H-series digital cameras, and the Sony H3's LCD has shrunk from 3.0 to 2.5 inches. That, along with a move to lithium-ion power from AA power, makes the Sony Cyber-shot H3 a much smaller camera. The real appeal of the Sony H3, though, is its image output quality: ISO 100 shots look great at 13x19, and even ISO 400 shots look good at 11x14. A good candidate as the enthusiast's second camera, the Sony H3's fast shutter, 10x zoom, and image stabilization make it a great digital camera for anyone looking for a little more quality in a small, long zoom package.

Cons:

Tends towards overexposure, narrow f-stop range.

Conclusion:

Pentax has given their Optio M50 a few nifty abilities, but the image-quality isn't as spectacular, and the camera is hampered by consistently shallow depth-of-field. Gadget-lovers may love the M50's innovative features, but those who just want to take pictures could easily find a more dependable camera.

SCOREBOARD:

Design 2.7/5
Display & Interface 2.6/5
Features 3.6/5
- Shooting 3.6/5
- Formats 3/5
Image quality 3/5
- Sensor 3.5/5
- Lens 3/5
- Aperture and Shutter 1.5/5
- Exposure control 3.8/5
- Flash 3/5
Transfer & Storage 3.7/5
Accessories 2.5/5
Value 2.6/5

-infosync

Fujifilm’s FinePix Z100fd

Fujifilm has slimmed down its FinePix camera even more—now it's just 19.8 mm thick—but the redesigned FinePix Z100fd still manages to cram 8 megapixels of imaging goodness into its slim form factor.

Fujifilm’s FinePix Z100fd is stylish, has a cool on/off mechanism, and packs a collection of innovative features, but if you tend to change settings often, its interface just might make you tear your hair out. Unfortunately, the soft and chromatically inaccurate image-quality fails to make up for the camera’s aggravating interface, so for most users there are better point-and-shoots to be found. Release: February 2008

Pros: Engaging design, optical image-stabilization, interesting shooting-aides.

Cons: Troublesome interface, no manual-mode, soft image-quality, consistently high color-temperature.

Interface and software - Mediocre

At first glance the Z100fd's interface seems intuitive enough: using a typical wheel-controlled GUI, a user can quickly scroll through the camera's modes, settings, and system settings. The camera also has shortcuts for face-detection, image stabilization, macro, flash, and timed-shutter toggling.

Alas, for some baffling reason the camera dumps you completely out of the menu after each selection. Therefore, if you want to set the ISO to 400 and then change the white-balance mode, you have to push the menu button, select the appropriate sub-menu, select the ISO-sensitivity setting, and then select the desired ISO rating. The camera then exits the menu altogether, so to set the white-balance (which is literally one step away from the ISO setting), you have to repeat the entire process. This increases the amount of button-pushing and wheel-wrangling by 2 to 10 times over what it should be, a frustration compounded by the fact that there's no conceivable reason as to why the camera behaves this way. Those who setup their cameras once, keep them on automatic, and never change settings again shouldn't be terribly affected by this, but the vast majority of users who change settings more frequently might soon be chucking the Z100fd against a nearby wall.

Fujifilm's software fared a little better. It includes an easy to use mechanism for automatically downloading software to a host computer, it has built-in connectivity to their online repository, which is similar to Flickr, and it has both editing functionality and automated printing (for both local and online printers). Unfortunately, this software too has a niggling annoyance that seriously cripples its usefulness: to wit, it continually refreshes its ‘focus' (i.e., brings its window to the foreground) while performing any operation, thus effectively taking your computer hostage while transferring images. It's not so annoying, but seems to lack polish. --infosync


Manufacturer Description

Despite being only 19.8 millimeters thick, the 8-megapixel FinePix Z100fd is packed with state-of-the-art technologies and features. These include a mid-range Fujinon 5x optical zoom lens--the equivalent of a 36mm-180mm camera--a high-resolution 2.7-inch LCD with a reinforced glass coating for scratch-free durability, and sensitivity settings of up to ISO 1600 that allow natural images that retain the atmosphere of evening events taken without the use of a flash.

Fuji FinePix Z100fd features and highlights
Designed for the most style-conscious user, the FinePix Z100fd sports a totally redesigned metal body that is guaranteed to turn heads wherever you take it. From its unique 'diagonal slide' lens cover and illuminated 'Z' logo to its eye-catching color combinations, the FinePix Z100fd sets a new standard in sophistication.


Product Description

The high resolution of the sleekly designed FinePix Z100fd 8-Megapixel Digital Camera lets you crop and enlarge faces and parts of scenes, while still enjoying smooth tones and images. The amazing power of 5x optical zoom lets you use a wide angle to capture the entire scene or take great close-ups from far away. Innovative Face Detection instantly identifies faces in the scene and automatically adjusts focus and exposure to ensure beautiful people pictures. The FinePix Z100fd features a red-eye removal function that automatically detects and corrects unsightly red-eye reflections that often spoil flash photos of people. High sensitivity lets you use a fast shutter to freeze the action in sharp bright detail, while built-in CCD shift image stabilization automatically compensates for camera shake. Take vivid, clear and bright photos indoors, at night, or when shooting fast moving subjects. ISO1600 high sensitivity and versatile functions make it easy to capture more scenes with exceptional results. By automatically setting the ideal balance of flash output and sensitivity, Intelligent Flash captures both the subject and the background with natural brightness and in beautiful detail. Composing and viewing photos and slideshows on the spacious 2.7" LCD is a real pleasure. With a 230K-pixel canvas, it is easy to see photo detail and read the intuitive GUI menus. Lens focal length - f=5.9mm - 29.5mm, Equivalent to 36-180mm on a 35mm camera 1/2.5 CCD sensor File format - JPEG (EXIF Ver 2.2) IrSimple for Wireless Communication Shooting modes - Natural Light, Natural Light & with Flash, Portrait, Landscape, Sport, Night, Fireworks, Sunset, Snow, Beach, Underwater, Museum, Party, Flower, Text, and Auction Shutter Speed - 4 second to 1/1000 second Self-timer - 10 seconds and 2 seconds delay Dimensions - Width 3.6 x Height 2.2 x Depth 0.8 (92.0x55.7x19.8mm) Weight - 4.9 ounces (138 grams)