Best Middle Size 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 Middle Size Digital Camera


Canon PowerShot G9
12.1 megapixels, 6.00x zoom
$474.36



Canon updates a classic "enthusiast" model, delivers a real winner! Sometimes, you just don't have the space or patience to lug along your SLR and several lenses, but still want good image quality, and plenty of manual control and flexibility to let your creativity express itself. That's where a camera like the Canon G9 comes in. The Canon G9 is the latest in one of the most famous product lines in the digicam industry, stretching all the way back to the original G1 first introduced in the Fall of 2000. The most recent G7 model drifted from its enthusiast-oriented roots a little bit, dropping RAW file capability, but that's been restored in the new G9. Old G-series fans will miss the original swivel-screen, but the big, bright 3" LCD on the G9 may console them a little. What most impressed us about the Canon PowerShot G9 though, was its image quality: Great color with loads of resolution. Like many high-megapixel cameras these days, it suffers a little from image noise at low ISO settings, but its important to keep in perspective just how fine-grained that noise will be at any reasonable print size. We found that even ISO 400 & 800 shots made surprisingly decent-looking 8x10 inch prints. Talk about detail: Who'd have imagined being able to make great-looking 16x20 prints from a "pocket" digital camera even a few years ago?


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 A720 IS
8.0 megapixels, 6.00x zoom
$197.06



A capable all-around digital camera with high-end features at a great price Canon seems to offer a digital camera for every kind of customer, and the Canon A720 IS was made for those who want all the performance at a low price. With an 8-megapixel sensor, a 6x zoom, optical image stabilization, face detection, high ISO, and both a 2.5-inch LCD and an optical viewfinder, the Canon A720 IS has just about everything. Minor compromises are the low-resolution LCD and a slow flash-recharge cycle. The Canon A720's excellence is in the lens: While it's a 6x zoom, it is impressively sharp in the corners, and chromatic aberration is kept relatively low. As a result low ISO images from the Canon A720 print well at 13x19 inches, and even ISO 1,600 shots are usable at 4x6. Good shot-to-shot times and good shutter lag numbers mean that the Canon A720 will be a good no-nonsense digital camera for kids and pets, one that will double as a good video camera with 640x480 recording at 30fps.