Ricoh CX2 Review On-Line!

We've just published our review of the new Ricoh CX2 - an update to the CX1 - it features a new 10.7x optical zoom lens (28 - 300mm), 5fps shooting, 9 megapixel CMOS sensor, 3.0" 920k pixel screen, VGA 30fps video, 1cm macro mode, anti-shake sensor, level guage, dynamic range mode, and ISO1600. The Ricoh CX2 is available for £279

"The CX2 also has an impressive high resolution 3.0" 920k pixel screen, and provides an excellent user interface that is easy to use, and operates in much the same way as the more expensive Ricoh GR Digital III. The camera also adds new features (such as miniature scene mode), and features a lot of useful features for the photographer, such as electronic "spirit level", 1:1 aspect ratio photos, a 28mm wide angle 10.7x optical zoom lens."

Read our Ricoh CX2 Review
View our Ricoh CX2 Sample Photo Gallery

Read more Ricoh CX2 Reviews: Photography BLOG, Trusted Reviews, Buy N Shoot, DPExpert, Pocket-Lint

Sony Cybershot W220 Review On-Line!

We've just published our review of the new Sony Cybershot W220 - a compact 12 megapixel digital camera with a 4x optical zoom lens starting at 30mm zooming to 120mm, a 2.7" screen, with optical image stabilisation, it's available in Silver, Black, and Blue for £119.

Read our Sony Cybershot W220 Review
View our Sony Cybershot W220 Sample Photo Gallery

Read more Sony Cybershot W220 Reviews: Cameras.co.uk, Digital Photography School, Imaging Resource

Panasonic Lumix FS7 Review Online!

We've just published our review of the new Panasonic Lumix FS7 - a compact 10 megapixel digital camera with a 4x optical zoom lens with optical image stabilisation, 2.7" screen and 360 shot lithium ion battery. The camera is available in black, silver, and pink for £115:

Read our Panasonic Lumix FS7 Review
View our Panasonic Lumix FS7 Sample Photo Gallery

Read more Panasonic Lumix FS7 Reviews: Cameras.co.uk, Trusted Reviews

Nikon Coolpix P90 Ultra Zoom Review Online!

We have reviewed the new Nikon Coolpix P90 - an ultra zoom camera with a 26mm wide angle 24x optical zoom lens, 12 megapixel sensor, 3" swivel screen, sensor shift VR, and manual mode. The Nikon Coolpix P90 is available for £284, here's what Nikon have to say about the camera:

"Outstanding 12.1 megapixel camera with super-zoom. The NIKKOR 24x zoom lens with 26 mm wide-angle capability lets you capture impressive wide-angle and super-telephoto shots, and you can focus from infinity to as close as 1cm in Macro mode. Advanced exposure modes offer greater control over your photography and you can enhance the vibrancy of images taken under difficult conditions with the powerful Quick Retouch function. The large 3-inch vari-angle LCD monitor can be tilted through 90 degrees upward and 45 degrees downward to allow for easy viewing from the hip or from above. The COOLPIX P90 – unbeatable compositional freedom. This camera is available in black." - Nikon UK.

Read our Review of the Nikon Coolpix P90.
View our Nikon Coolpix P90 Sample Photo Gallery.
Click for our preview of the Nikon P90 at Focus.

The Camera: a visual tour. (Pics taken with the Olympus E-500)

Zoom extended - Pop-up flash and manual release button.

DSLR styling - dwarfs the Pentax 35mm camera.

Wide angle lens - speaker on the side.

Mode dial, zoom control, shutter release, on/off, and USB / AV out.

Specifications / Features:

* Sensor: 12 million pixel CCD Sensor
* Lens: Wide angle 24x NIKKOR zoom lens ED VR, f2.8 - f5, Equivalent to 26 - 624mm
* Screen: 3.0-inch Tilt LCD screen, 230,000 pixels
* Face detection: Yes - 12 faces
* Colour options: Normal, Softer, Vivid, More vivid, Portrait, Custom (Contrast, Sharpening, Saturation), Black and White (with Contrast options, Sharpening, Filter, and ability to save both colour and black and white images)
* Additions modes / features: Quick Retouch, D-lighting, Blink Detection, Smile mode
* Video Recording: VGA, 30fps Video with Sound
* Continuous Shooting: up to 45 continuous shots at 15 fps at 3mp
* HD Output : No
* Red-Eye Reduction: Yes
* Macro: 1cm Macro mode
* ISO : ISO 64, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200 (3mp), 6400 (3mp)
* IS (Image Stabilisation): Yes - Sensor-shift, High ISO,
* Scenes: Mode dial: Programmed Auto (P), Shutter-Priority Auto (S), Aperture-Priority Auto (A), Manual (M), Auto, Scenes: Portrait, Night Portrait, Sports, Landscape, Party, Beach/Snow, Sunset, Dusk/Dawn, Night Landscape, Museum, Fireworks, Show, Close Up, Copy, Back Light, Panorama Assist, Food
* Histogram available: Playback only?
* Exposure bracketing: Yes
* Optical viewfinder: Electronic Viewfinder
* Manual WB: Yes
* Dimensions: 114 x 83 x 99 mm
* Weight: 460 g

Box Contents: Digital Camera, Li-ion Rechargeable Battery EN-EL5, Battery Charge MH-61, USB Cable UC-E6, Audio/Video Cable EG-CP14, Strap AN-CP18, Lens Cap LC-CP19, Software Suite for COOLPIX CD-ROM

Menu system: The menu system is neatly divided into three main sections, shooting menu, playback menu, and the setup menu, and the options are easy to read thanks to the large 3" screen. There are a large number of options including the option to create a black border around photos you've taken. All options are clearly labelled so reference to the manual shouldn't be needed.

Picture Size / Options: 4000 x 3000 (12M), 3264 x 2448 (8M), 2592 x 1944 (5M), 2048 x 1536 (3M), 1600 x 1200 (2M), 1280 x 960 (1M), 1024×768 (PC), 640 x 480 (TV), 3984 x 2656 (3:2), 3968 x 2232 (16:9), 2992 x 2992 (1:1), Fine, Normal, Basic.

Battery usage: 230 shots (CIPA rating).

Memory cards: A large memory card is relatively cheap, and highly recommended, I would recommend at a bare minimum a 1gb memory card, if you intend to take fine JPEG images, and preferably a 2gb memory card, or larger. The larger the memory card, the more photos you will be able to take. If you are likely to go on holiday then the largest memory card you can afford would definitely be worth investing in, as you don't always know when you will next be at a computer. You can use SD or SDHC memory cards. Have a look at our guide to digital camera memory cards or our article what size memory card should I buy?

Speed: The camera switches on and takes photos in 2.6 seconds. Focusing was a little slow taking 0.5 - 0.7 seconds to focus at the wide angle end of the lens. The shutter response was instant. Shot to shot time was a little slow taking 2.5 seconds between shots. Continuous shooting was a little slow taking a shot every 0.7 seconds.

Ease of use: The camera is easy to use thanks to clearly labelled buttons, easy to understand menu items, and the large clear screen. The vibration reduction can help get sharper shots however you do need excellent shooting conditions when using the telephoto end of the camera, alternatively a tripod may be needed.

Ergonomics and Buttons: The camera feels quite light, perhaps a little too light and doesn't really feel expensive. It has a good sized handgrip that is comfortable to hold. The handgrip is rubberised, and there is a small rubber grip on the back. The buttons are clearly labelled and fall underneath the hands quite neatly. The screen can be moved quite easily, although it's a shame it doesn't tilt down further.

Image Quality: Here are some real world sample photos taken in various settings, such as Inside, Outside, Macro, to demonstrate the quality of pictures taken and also show different features of the camera. Larger versions of these photos, plus more photos are available in the Nikon Coolpix P90 Sample Photo Gallery!

Inside: Colour is bright and highly saturated, although I wasn't very impressed by the auto white balance, it seemed to give images an overly golden look with flash or without. The screen didn't particularly help as it tends to exaggerate the effect, and it's not until you look at the photos on the computer, that you can properly view image quality and colour. Focusing also struggled in low light despite the focus assist lamp.

Noise: The Nikon P90 features manual ISO settings from ISO64 to ISO1600 at full resolution, and then ISO3200 and ISO6400 are available at 3 megapixels. Shown below are example images taken in low indoor light without flash - Auto white balance was used.

Noise is visible at the lowest ISO settings, and it's quite clear that the camera is performing a lot of noise reduction as details are blurred. As the ISO setting increases to ISO400, specks of colour start appearing, as the ISO setting increases noise increases, detail becomes even more smeared, and at ISO1600 colour is lost. ISO3200 and above produce colourful images and may produces acceptable results if resized for web use. Results aren't too bad for a 12 megapixel camera, but they aren't impressive either. NB. For ISO Noise Comparisons: View the Nikon Coolpix P90 compared to other 12 megapixel cameras.

IS: The Nikon features Sensor-shift VR (Vibration Reduction) - this can help reduce blur when using the camera in low light, with slower shutter speeds or when using the camera's telephoto end of the zoom. However, the camera still needs good light when using the telephoto end of the zoom.

D-Lighting: "Creates pleasing results by correcting strong shadows to rescue underexposed images, or shots taken with excessive backlight."

Outside: When conditions for photography were ideal - for example on very bright sunny days - results were quite good, with colourful saturated images. However in any other conditions focusing seemed to struggle especially when using the full telephoto zoom, and images often seemed overexposed (but mostly at the telephoto end). Photo quality often seemed quite poor with overexposed areas and blown highlights, and photos almost looked like they were screenshots from video.

Zoom: There are around 21 steps between wide and telephoto - the zoom control is a little over sensitive, and tends to zoom too quickly which can make framing your subject a little difficult. Shown below is the camera at wide-angle and full 24x optical zoom.

Macro: the macro mode is impressive, allowing you to take photos as close as 1cm away from the front of the lens.

Video: VGA 640x480 at 30fps with electronic vibration reduction. It's not possible to use the optical while recording, only digital zoom is available.

Conclusion: I wanted to like this camera, on paper it seemed to offer a lot, and offers a large swivel screen, which is quite rare, and a large 24x optical zoom lens. However the screen quality appears pixelated, and does not seem to have accurate colour. Using the full optical zoom was problematic, with images overexposed, out of focus, and blurry unless you are shooting in perfect conditions.

There are quite a lot of positives, such as manual controls, lots of options, exposure bracketing, image stabilisation, 1cm macro mode etc, but all of this seems to be heavily outweighed by the poor image quality, inconsistent results, and poor screen quality. I think anyone used to the high quality of Nikon Digital SLRs would most likely be unimpressed by the quality of this camera.

The Nikon Coolpix P90 appears to be more expensive than a number of competitors, priced at £284. If this camera appeals to you I would highly recommend trying the camera in person, and ideally having a look at other ultra zoom cameras available such as the Panasonic Lumix FZ38 (£259), Canon Powershot SX20 IS (£315), Sony Cybershot HX1 (£329), Olympus SP590UZ (£269) or Kodak Easyshare Z980 (£259).

Nikon Coolpix P90 Rating: Average 6.5/10.

What I like:
+ 3" tilting screen
+ 24x optical zoom lens
+ Ability to save both colour and black and white images
+ Manual controls
+ 1cm macro mode

What I don't like:
- Unimpressive image quality (overexposed etc)
- Optical zoom not available while recording videos
- Screen tilts 90 degrees up, but only 45 down (Sony HX1 tilts more)
- Auto white balance seems a little off, especially indoors, even with flash
- Screen looks pixelated and colour appears overly yellow
- Struggled to focus indoors, and also when using full optical zoom

The Nikon Coolpix P90 is available for £284.
Click for our preview of the Nikon Coolpix P90 at Focus.
View more photos in the Nikon Coolpix P90 Sample Photo Gallery.
Read more Nikon Coolpix P90 Reviews: Digital Photography School, DCI, DCResource, LetsGoDigital, Photography BLOG.

Fujifilm FinePix F70EXR Review Online!

We've just published our review of the new Fujifilm FinePix F70EXR* - it features a wide angle 10x optical zoom lens (27-270mm), a 10 megapixel SuperCCD EXR sensor that provides high resolution, high sensitivity, and high dynamic range modes, an anti-shake sensor, 2.7" screen, SD card support, 5 Film Simulation Modes, and VGA video recording at 30fps. The Fujifilm FinePix F70EXR is available from Amazon for £200

"The Fujifilm FinePix F70EXR was a little unexpected, so soon after the F200EXR, it's thinner, yet has an impressive 10x optical zoom lens! As a compact camera it's impressive that so much can be packed into a camera the same size as most other cameras only featuring a 3x optical zoom lens! Whilst the EXR sensor may not be as good as previous Fuji cameras for low noise, it does provide much improved dynamic range, especially when you would normally lose detail in the sky."

Read our Fujifilm FinePix F70EXR Review
View our Fujifilm FinePix F70EXR Sample Photo Gallery

Fujifilm FinePix F70EXR Reviews: BuyNShoot, Photography BLOG, ePhotoZine, DPExpert, Sample Photos: DigiCamReview, Fujifilm USA, * AKA F75EXR, and F72EXR

Samsung WB550 HZ15w Ultra Zoom Review

DCResource have reviewed the new Samsung WB550 / HZ15W - it features a 24mm wide angle 10x optical zoom lens, a 3" screen, 12 megapixel sensor, 720p HD movie recording and optical image stabilisation. The Samsung WB550 is available for £220

"The Samsung HZ15W (also known as the WB550) is a competent but not spectacular compact ultra zoom camera. There's a lot to like about the HZ15: it's relatively small, it has a great 24 - 240 mm stabilized zoom lens, a large LCD, tons of automatic features, manual controls, and an HD movie mode. Downsides include heavy noise reduction in photos, poor low light performance, limited aperture choices in manual mode, and a few design-related annoyances."

Read more Samsung WB550 / HZ15W Reviews: Photography BLOG, DPExpert

Sony Ericsson Cybershot C905 Review Online!

The Sony Ericsson Cybershot C905 Mobile Phone has an 8.1 megapixel digital camera - the camera phone features a real "Xenon" flash, autofocus lens, face detection, a 2.4" QVGA screen, GPS (with geo photo tagging) and WiFi. This review looks at how the phone performs when used solely as a digital camera. The Sony Ericsson C905 is available from Amazon UK.

The biggest appeal of this camera has to be the built in 8 megapixel Sony "Cybershot" camera with "Xenon" flash. The flash definitely helps with photos of people. But one area where camera phones have always been behind in image quality is noise - the basic facts are that the more pixels you cram into a small image sensor, the more noise you're going to get, and mobile phone cameras have the smallest sensors you can get. There are no manual ISO settings on this camera, so it's pot luck as to how much noise will show up in the photos. All the photos I've taken with flash have used ISO100 or ISO200.

Read our Sony Ericsson Cybershot C905 Review.
View our Sony Ericsson C905 Sample Photo Gallery

Specifications / Features:

* Sensor: 8.1 megapixel CMOS sensor (3264 x 2448 pixels)
* Lens: f2.8 Auto Focus Lens 5.9mm, equivalent to 38mm on a 35mm camera
* Focusing: Auto, Macro, Infinity (for Landscape), Face Detection
* Screen: 2.4" QVGA 240 x 320 scratch-resistant mineral glass display
* Face detection: Detects 3 faces
* Colour modes / Effects: Off, Black & white, Negative, Sepia, Solarize
* Video Recording: 320x240, 30fps Video
* HD Output: No
* Red-Eye Reduction: Yes (flash)
* Macro: 15cm
* ISO : Auto / 64 / 100/ 200 / 400
* IS (Image Stabilisation): Digital
* Scenes: Auto, Twilight landscape, Twilight portrait, Landscape, Portrait, Beach / snow, Sports, Document
* Picture size: 8MP, 5MP, 3MP, VGA, Normal, Fine
* Histogram available: No
* Exposure bracketing: No
* Optical viewfinder: No
* Manual WB: No (Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Fluorescent, Incandescent)
* Other features: Focus assist LED, Smart contrast (a bit like increased dynamic range), Smile shutter (added with firmware update), Photo geo-tagging, Auto-rotate

Box contents: C905 phone, 2gb Sandisk M2 memory card (160mb built into the phone), an M2 to USB convertor, leather wrist strap, USB cable, wall charger, hands-free stereo earphones (needed for the radio to work), CD rom, manual, 930mAh 3.6v Lithium Ion battery, C905 camera guide. Memory cards: The C905 takes Sony M2 memory cards, and comes with a 2gb card which should store around 1000 photos, if you want to upgrade, have a look at our guide to digital camera memory cards.

Menu: The menu system and options can be brought up quite quickly by pressing the buttons closest to the screen, and the menus are quite similar to the quick menus you get on normal digital cameras. There is very little need to go into advanced options / settings as nearly all photographic options are available through the quick menus.

Battery Life: Not very impressive, the phone tends to last around 2 days with very little use, and I tend to plug it in to charge every other day. Compared to a normal camera that lasts for weeks with very little use, battery life is poor.

Speed: Put simply, it's not quick. Switch on time for the phone to switch on is painfully slow (we're talking around 12 seconds - however the phone is probably always on), switching to camera mode is a couple of seconds, focusing is not fast, and shutter response is around 0.3 - 0.4 seconds when pre-focused (compared to 0.1 seconds or less for more compact cameras). The menus are a little bit slow, but workable, and as long as you're patient with focusing, by pre-focusing and then pressing the shutter when you want the photo, you can capture moments fairly well.

Ease of Use: The camera design and layout with numerous photo buttons, such as the macro, flash, self-timer and exposure buttons on the D-pad make this phone really feel like it's been designed to be used as camera. The photo mode can be easily accessed, and the clear labelling of buttons make it easy to switch modes, and access features.

Ergonomics and Buttons: The shutter release works in the usual way, half a press focuses the camera, pressing fully then takes the photo. The only problem is that whilst the half press is fairly noticable, the full press doesn't feel like a proper shutter on other cameras - this is a bit disappointing. The lens cover switches the camera on when opened, and the buttons on the top give easy and fairly quick access to playback, photo and video modes. The C905 is quite small - smaller than most digital cameras and measures 104.0 x 49.0 x 18.0 mm, and weighs 136g, meaning it will fit easily into any pocket and can be taken everywhere with you.

Image Quality: Here are some real world sample photos taken in various settings, such as Inside, Outside, Macro, etc to demonstrate the quality of pictures taken and also show different features of the camera. Larger versions of these photos, plus more photos are available in the Sony Ericsson Cybershot C905 Sample Photo Gallery.

Inside: The flash works quite well, and is certainly much better than the LED flashes found on other camera phones, but does not appear to be as powerful as even budget digital cameras. Colours can be quite good, however, flash fall off is quite noticable and subject can often end up looking overly yellow. Noise is quite high, and detail is quite low, and the ISO tends to stay around ISO100 or ISO200.

Noise: Indoors, or in low light, when not using the flash, noise levels are high and detail is quite low as the camera has strong noise reduction. Noise is also visible on bright sunny days even when using ISO64, and this camera is definitely not recommended for pixel peepers. When images have been resized noise is much less noticable. Noise is much worse in the C905 and camera phones in general even when compared to high megapixel compact digital cameras.

Outside: The camera tends to use low ISO settings, down to ISO64, and colour was generally quite highly saturated. There was some highlight clipping, and noise was visible even in ISO64 photos. Noise reduction also removed quite a lot of detail. (Picture above cropped)

Zoom: The camera has digital zoom only. An example of digital zoom can be seen above, digital zoom basically takes a crop of the centre of the frame and enlarges the image, degrading image quality, and is therefore best avoided.

Macro: Whilst not as good as a dedicated digital camera, the Sony C905 was generally good, allowing close up photos, and allowed the use of flash which often produced some good results.

Video mode: Awful. Really really poor: 320x240 MP4, 30fps, 2 channels, 32khz. Go back to 2004 and even budget digital cameras feature VGA (640x480) video recording. To compete in todays market the camera phone should have at least VGA and preferably HD video recording. However, one nice feature is the video light which can be switched on and off when needed.

Conclusion. They say that the best camera is the camera you have with you, and in this regard the C905 is a very good camera simply because as a mobile phone it's likely to be with you at all times. This means you can capture the photo that you perhaps would have otherwise missed. However, the C905 still doesn't compete with even budget digital cameras, which beat the C905 on image quality, noise, speed, screen size, optical zoom, video quality, price etc. It does a decent job, and with a screen that works outdoors, and a real xenon flash it's better than the majority of other mobile phones as a camera. If you want to be able to have a decent camera in your mobile phone this would be the best choice simply because of the flash, which definitely outperforms LED based flashes. If all you intend to do is publish photos on the web, on sites like facebook, then it's possible this could be all the camera you ever need... but then why would you need an 8 megapixel camera, when facebook's maximum image size is 0.3 megapixels? ;) For better results it would be worth taking a cheap budget digital camera everywhere you go, but if your pockets are already full, then this will do the job, and it's possible you might like the photos. It's available from Amazon UK

Pros.

+ Real Xenon Flash
+ Screen works outdoors
+ Dedicated Photo buttons on camera (Macro, Flash etc)
+ Provided 2gb M2 card and USB reader makes it easy to transfer photos
+ Decent macro mode, allows the use of flash with good results
+ Bright colourful images with best results outdoors on sunny days
+ Camera always with you
+ Blue glowing buttons

Cons.

- Slow
- Awful video mode (320x240)
- Numerous reports of the phone screen / ear speaker breaking (including mine, which was repaired under warranty after 6 months)
- Small lens means it's important to make sure the lens is always clean
- Doesn't perform very well in low light outdoors (without flash)
- Lots of noise
- Poor battery life

For more information on the Sony C905 have a look at: First impressions of the Sony C905, View our Sony Ericsson C905 Sample Photo Gallery, Buy online at Amazon UK

Fujifilm FinePix F200EXR Review On-Line!

We've just published our review of the new Fujifilm FinePix F200EXR - an update to the F100fd - it features a new 12 megapixel Super CCD EXR sensor that provides high resolution (at 12mp), high dynamic range (at 6mp), and high sensitivity with low noise (upto ISO6400 at 6mp). The camera features a wide angle 5x optical zoom lens, manual controls, anti shake sensor, 3" screen, SD/XD card support, and compact body available in silver or black in for £215.

Read our Fujifilm FinePix F200EXR Review
View our Fujifilm FinePix F200EXR Sample Photo Gallery
Click here to view the Fujifilm FinePix F200EXR video

Read more Fujifilm FinePix F200EXR Reviews: DPReview, Photoxels, DCResource, DPExpert, Luminous Landscape, NeoCamera, Trusted Reviews, TestFreaks, Previews: Read our Fuji F200EXR quick preview.

Samsung ST50 Quick Review Online!

The Samsung ST50 / TL100 could be summed up by the writing on the front of the camera: it's got an ultra slim 16.6mm stainless steel body, features "smart auto", "beauty shot", a 12.2 megapixel sensor and a 3x optical zoom lens. And that's about as interesting as this camera gets. It doesn't have HD video recording (max video resolution is 800x600 at 20fps), it doesn't have any form of real image stabilisation (only offering digital image stabilisation), it has a 2.7" screen and face, blink and smile detection. The Samsung ST50 is available for £136 in Black, Silver or Red, measures 94.2 x 56 x 16.6 mm, and weighs 121g.

Apart from the camera being very small and fitting very neatly in small pockets, the camera has a very annoying focal range where the subject has to be 80cm away from the camera in normal mode, meaning you're always having to switch to macro mode so that you can focus on subjects that are between 10 and 80cm away from the camera, or alternatively leave face detection on all the time so that you can take photos of people! The camera has a macro button on the back of the camera, but it's a little slow to respond, and the menu is even slower to access (this problem can be avoided by using the "Smart Auto" mode). The camera doesn't feature any scene modes, so you can either use Auto and hope for the best, or try "Smart Auto" and once again, hope for the best. The Smart Auto mode will automatically select the scene mode it thinks is best, alternatively you can choose the "Photo style selector" in the normal mode, which gives you the choice of: Normal, Soft, Vivid, Forest, Retro (Sepia colours), Cool, Calm, Black and White, Negative, Custom RGB.

Continue reading our Samsung ST50 Quick Review.

Samsung have this to say about the camera: "Ultra-slim and stylish, this 16.6 mm wide camera is an ideal choice for those searching for an easy-to-use, pocket-sized digital camera. The 12.2 Megapixels ST50 features a 3x optical zoom lens and large 2.7” LCD tucked into a brushed stainless steel body. Add SAMSUNG’s New Smart Auto feature and the camera automatically chooses from 11 scene modes to take the perfect shot in any lighting condition."

Does the camera get better with use? Not particularly, apart from the annoying focusing issues mentioned, the camera has a habit of thinking that a cloudy day is too dark for sharp pictures and will switch on the flash, or alternatively, if you switch the flash off, your photos often end up blurred due to low shutter speeds, and the lack of image stabilisation. (The camera's small size probably doesn't help here either). In Smart Auto mode the camera is very easy to use, and you shouldn't need to change any options, just point and shoot.

Ultra compact cameras are available from everybody else, and most of them feature at least one or all of the following: a wide angle lens, real image stabilisation, HD video recording, more than 3x optical zoom. So why would anyone choose the Samsung ST50 over for example a Canon Digital IXUS 100 IS that features real optical image stabilisation and HD video recording? (or a Panasonic Lumix FS7 or Sony Cybershot W210 both feature real IS and 4x optical zoom, and cost less). I've been using the ST50 for about 2+ weeks as one of my main cameras, and can find no reason for it's existence (apart from the fact that it looks nice, and is small).

Yes, it's small, and has a stainless steel body that looks nice from the front - the back looks much more ordinary, and the small size can make it difficult to hold, especially as there's no hand grip. The shutter release and zoom control are quite nice to use, and the rest of the buttons are a fairly decent size considering how small the camera is. The camera also features a USB cable that charges the camera, so you can charge the camera by plugging it into a laptop or computer, or by plugging the USB cable into the provided wall charger.

Bottom - plastic tripod mount, SLB-07A 3.7v, 720mAh 2.6wh battery, and SD card slot.

Specifications:

• 12.2mp CCD sensor
• 3x optical zoom lens (equiv. 35 ~ 105 mm)
• 2.7" screen 230k pixels
• Face, Smile, Blink Detection
• Video recording: 800x592, 20fps, 640x480, 30fps
• HD Output: No
• Red eye reduction: Yes - Flash and Redeye fix
• 10cm macro mode
• ISO: Auto, 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200 (Up to 3 M Size)
• Image sizes available: 12mp: 4000 x 3000 pixels, 10mp: 3984 x 2656 pixels 9mp W: 3968 x 2232 pixels, 8mp: 3264 x 2448 pixels 5mp: 2592 x 1944 pixels, 3mp: 2048 x 1536 pixels 1mp: 1024 x 768 pixels
• IS (Image stabilisation): Digital
• Histogram available: No
• Exposure bracketing: Yes
• Optical viewfinder: No
• Manual White Balance: Yes

Box Contents: Camera, Wrist strap, Lithium Ion battery, User Manual, Software CD, Warranty, AC Adapter, USB Cable, A/V cable - a case and a large SD / SDHC memory card is highly recommended.

Battery life - I managed to take about 200 shots before the battery went flat. After this it's possible to use the playback mode, but not take any more photos.

Speed - the camera takes 3 seconds from switch on to first photo. Focusing takes around half a second, and shutter response is good responding in 0.1 seconds or less. Shot to shot time (without flash, review off) the delay was 1.8 seconds, with flash on the delay increased to 2.4 / 2.5 seconds between shots. Continuous shooting took a shot every 1.1 second (Flash is unavailable). The camera can take photos at 5fps but only at a picture size of 640x480. The camera also does Auto Exposure Bracketing taking a photo every 1.2 seconds, and taking a total of 3 shots (which is fairly rare for a point and shoot).

Image quality - here are some of the sample photos taken with the camera, you can view more in the Samsung ST50 Sample Photo Gallery

Inside - Flash photos of people turned out okay, however, there was noticable red-eye in this photo and in group photos. Colour and detail was quite good. However focusing was often hit and miss even with face detection on - in one situation I can remember the camera taking about 10 attempts before it said it was in focus, and then I had to take about 5 more photos until one was actually in focus.

Outside - colour was quite good, but on the cold side, and could benefit from being on the Vivid setting. The camera had a tendency to over-expose and often lacked detail in the sky, which resulted in photos occasionally appearing washed out. Images were also quite soft near the edges of the frame.

Zoom - shown above, on the left, the ST50 on wide angle, and then on the right 3x optical zoom. Exposure was quite good. There are 7 steps between wide and telephoto zoom, and the camera also features a 5x digital zoom (although digital zoom is generally best avoided as it degrades image quality quite dramatically).

Macro - Somewhat disappointing focus range, the subject was 10cm away from the camera and this is as close as you can get. Custom white balance can help get better results. One nice feature is that flash can be used on macro mode, and the camera does a good job of making sure the flash doesn't over-expose the image.

Video mode - the camera's video mode is average offering 800x592 at 20fps, 640x480 at 30fps, and 320x240 at 30fps. All recorded with mono sound - however the optical zoom can be used whilst filming and the sound is muted while the lens zooms and re-focuses.

ACB - One clever feature that can help keep detail in the sky is called "ACB" on the menu - thankfully it's explained as "Automatically compensates for differences in brightness" - a bit like shadow adjustment (on Olympus cameras), or D-Lighting (on Nikon cameras) - it basically aims to help expand dynamic range in your photos so that there's detail in the sky and detail in the shadows. It appears to work quite well as you can see in the photo above - the image on the left is with ACB off (and is overexposed), and the image on the right is with ACB on.

Conclusion: The camera gives adequate image quality although the success rate was disappointing as the camera doesn't have image stabilisation, and doesn't like cloudy days, focusing was also an issue unless you are happy switching to Smart Auto mode or switching to macro mode, I also noticed a lot of red-eye, and some over exposed images. (7/10). The camera's unique selling point (and pretty much only selling point in my opinion) is the ultra slim stainless steel body that looks good from the front, but is rather more ordinary from the back. Other features are greatly lacking, and the camera gives no real reason why you would choose this camera over practically every other compact camera on the market (7/10). Price wise the camera is in the middle, at around £136, with more expensive cameras available from Canon, but cheaper compact cameras available from Fuji, and most of them offer more features (7/10). Overall I would rate the camera as Average which basically means don't bother, unless you particularly love the way the camera looks. The camera wasn't particularly enjoyable to use and whilst image quality was acceptable the results were quite hit and miss. Samsung ST50 Rating: 7/10 Average.

What I like:

• It's very small (Ultra compact)
• It looks good (from the front) thanks to the stainless steel body
• Very easy to use in Smart Auto mode
• 2.7" screen
• Manual White Balance
• Video mode allows the use of the optical zoom (sound is muted whilst you zoom)
• ACB - Automatically Compensates for Brightness (expands Dynamic range)

What I don't like:

• Focus range is very limiting - subject must be 80cm away from camera or alternatively you have to switch to macro mode.
• 10cm macro mode
• Poor low light performance (including cloudy weather).
• Slow and awkward menu system - no quick access?
• Lacks (real) image stabilisation
• You can't manually select the scene modes
• Images over-exposed unless you use the ACB option
• Average battery life

Additional Test Images are viewable in the Samsung ST50 Sample Photo Gallery
The Samsung ST50 is available for £136 from Amazon UK.

Read more Samsung ST50 Reviews: DPExpert

Casio Exilim FC100 Review Online!

We've just published our review of the new Casio Exilim EX-FC100 - the compact camera features 30fps shooting at 6mp, HD video, a 5x optical zoom lens, 9 megapixel CMOS sensor with anti-shake, and 2.7" screen. It's available in black or white for £249

"The Casio Exilim FC100 is a very good compact camera offering a 9 megapixel sensor, 5x optical zoom lens, image stabilisation, a 2.7" screen, and HD video recording. All this in any ordinary camera would be quite good, however, the Casio uses a 9 megapixel CMOS sensor that allows high speed shooting, much like the Ricoh CX1, however, by reducing the resolution to 6 megapixels the FC100 can shoot at an amazing 30fps! It also lets you record videos at 210, 420 or 1000fps, letting you see things that you wouldn't normally be able to see, although at a much lower resolution."

Read our Casio Exilim FC100 Review
View our Casio Exilim FC100 Sample Photo Gallery

Read more Casio Exilim EX-FC100 Reviews: DigitalCameraInfo, Trusted Reviews, Photography BLOG, TestFreaks

Olympus Pen E-P1 DSLR Review Online!

We've just published our review of the new Olympus PEN E-P1 - a DSLR that fits in your pocket? Find out whether it lives up to the hype in our review. Update 11/07/09: We've also updated our sample photo gallery.

The E-P1 is the world's smallest digital camera with changeable lens, it features the same size sensor as other Olympus Digital SLRs (meaning much better image quality with all the low-noise benefits of a DSLR), but with a camera body and lens size much more in like with a compact point and shoot. It is available with a 17mm lens (34mm equivalent, with viewfinder £749), and 14-42mm 3x zoom lens (28 - 84mm equivalent, £699). It's also available with both lenses for £849 for the 14-42mm Black & 17mm Silver Pancake Lenses & VF-1 External Optical View Finder Kit with Silver body. The camera features dust reduction, a 12.3 megapixel live view sensor, 720p video recording (1280x720) with stereo sound and HDMI out, anti-shake sensor, 3" screen, 3fps shooting, SDHC support, and ISO100 - 6400.

Read our Olympus PEN E-P1 Review
View our Olympus PEN E-P1 Sample Photo Gallery
Olympus PEN E-P1 Unboxed at Recently Reviewed

Read more Olympus E-P1 Reviews: Kennysia, T3, Steves-Digicams, Engadget.com, Information, Previews: Serious Compacts London Launch, Olympus Press Release, Olympus Product Page, Hamburg Press Release (DPNow), Previews: JessopsTV, DPReview, LetsGoDigital, DCResource, Four Thirds Photo, Imaging Resource, MacWorld, Digital Camera HQ, Edmond Terakopian, Sample Photos: Photography BLOG, Sample Videos: Youtube, DPReview

Kodak Easyshare Z980 Review Online!

We've just uploaded our review of the new Kodak Easyshare Z980 - it features a 26mm wide angle 24x Optical Zoom Lens with optical image stabilisation, HD picture and video capture, Vertical shutter release and detachable vertical grip, for shooting scenes vertically, a hot shoe, 12 megapixel sensor, and 3" screen. The Kodak Easyshare Z980 is available for £298.

"The camera has another rare feature, the vertical shutter release, however this is made more awkward to use than necessary by having a manual switch to select which shutter is in use. Despite all of this, I actually found the camera quite enjoyable to use, it's responded quite quickly, had a screen (and EVF) that updated very quickly, which meant that you were able to capture the moment when photographing moving subjects. The huge optical zoom was also useful and managed to take some nice shots."

Read our Kodak Easyshare Z980 Review
View our Kodak Easyshare Z980 Sample Photo Gallery
Read our preview of the Kodak Easyshare Z980 at Focus.

Read more Kodak Easyshare Z980 Reviews: PhotographyBLOG, DigitalCameraReview, TestFreaks

Olympus Mju Stylus Tough 8000 Review Online!

We've just published our review of the new Olympus Mju Stylus Tough 8000 - a compact 12 megapixel camera, with a wide angle 3.6x optical zoom lens, 2.7" screen, image stabilisation, tap controls and tough credentials, namely it's shockproof to 2m, waterproof to 10m, crushproof, and feezeproof to -10. It is available in blue, black, and silver for £250 from Amazon:

"The camera has quite rich, saturated, pleasing colours. There was good detail, and the camera took a number of pleasing images outside, with good contrast, with little or no chromatic aberations and purple fringing. In general 'normal' quality jpeg artefacts are not easily seen, however areas with strong contrasts benefit from use of the highest quality setting. Images are slightly soft, with some slight corner softness, but nothing too worrying."

Read our Olympus Mju Stylus Tough 8000 Review
View our Olympus Mju Stylus Tough 8000 Sample Photo Gallery

Read more Olympus Mju / Stylus Tough 8000 Reviews: DPReview, Photography BLOG, Cameras.co.uk, DPInterface, TestFreaks

Panasonic Lumix TZ6 (ZS1) Review Online!

We've just published our review of the new Panasonic Lumix TZ6 (aka ZS1) - it features a 25mm Ultra Wide-angle 12x Optical Zoom lens, optical image stabilisation, 2.7" screen, 10 megapixel sensor, WVGA: 848 x 480 pixels, 30 fps video, and intelligent auto mode. The TZ6 is available for £219.

"The Panasonic TZ6 improves on a few key areas, and makes an impressive camera even better, the camera now offers an even wider 12x optical zoom lens with image stabilisation, all in the same compact body and it will still fit in your pocket. Image quality is excellent, with lower noise than the TZ5 and excellent detail."

Read our Panasonic Lumix TZ6 Review
View our Panasonic Lumix TZ6 Sample Photos

Read more Panasonic Lumix TZ6 (ZS1) Reviews: Photography BLOG, TestFreaks

Panasonic Lumix FX40 Review Online!

We've just published our review of the new Panasonic Lumix FX40 / FX48 - it features a 25mm Ultra Wide-angle 5x Optical Zoom lens with optical image stabilisation, 2.5" screen, 12 megapixel sensor, HD video (720p, 30fps), HD Output, and intelligent auto mode. It's available in silver, red and black for £249, and takes SD memory cards.

"Panasonic have taken an already winning formula, and tweaked it, with more megapixels, all packed into the same ultra compact and stylish body. Even with more pixels, image quality is still excellent, and noise is average, with very good detail."

Read our Panasonic Lumix FX40 Review
View Panasonic Lumix FX40 Sample Photos

Ricoh CX1 Full Review Online!

We've just published our full review of the new Ricoh CX1 - an update to the Ricoh R10 - it features a 9 megapixel CMOS sensor which allows high speed shooting at 4fps, enhanced dynamic range, and features a 28mm wide angle 7.1x optical zoom lens, high resolution 3" screen, ISO1600, VGA videos, and is available in silver, black or pink for £292.

"The Ricoh CX1 may seem like other Ricoh cameras before it - however the new 9 megapixel CMOS sensor adds some important features - namely extremely quick continuous shooting. With 4fps at full resolution the camera can shoot quicker than most budget Digital SLRs! High speed shooting also allows Ricoh to provide an impressive Dynamic Range mode - this uses the speed of the camera to take two shots of different exposures - combines the two and produces an image with greatly increased dynamic range. The results are quick, clever, and very useful."

Read our Ricoh CX1 Review
View our Ricoh CX1 Sample Photo Gallery