Digital cameras make it simple to shoot hundreds of photos, faster than ever.
Unfortunately, for many of us that simply means more blurred faces, more
wobbly landscapes and more grainy shadows. But now help is at hand. The latest
cameras have a range of smart features that promise to improve your photography
and turn even the shakiest snapper into a seasoned professional.
The difference is that today’s cameras don’t just measure the light
and focus, they use sophisticated systems to analyse a scene at the instant
you hit the shutter. Some pick out faces from a crowded room, while others
compensate for unsteady hands or dim lighting conditions – letting you
just point and shoot.
The results can be very impressive, especially in extreme conditions or if
you’re in a hurry. But don’t expect your photo skills to develop
overnight. Like sat navs in cars, clever cameras make it easier to get where
you’re going, but if you’re a poor driver, you still risk having
an accident along the way…
Nikon Coolpix S500
£
250
www.nikon.co.uk
CCD megapixels: 7.1MP
Lens: 3x zoom
Screen size: 2.5-inches
Memory: 26Mb internal, SD card slot
Weight with battery: 165g
Snap up an S500 before Apple notices its suspiciously iPod-alike selector wheel,
which makes it easy to breeze through the metal-clad Nikon’s many functions.
One of the best is D-Lighting, a feature that rescues over-exposed photos,
silhouetted portraits or subjects hidden in dark shade. This one-touch editor
boosts brightness and detail in recorded photos, and a similar system lets
you restore ‘red eyes’ in flash images. In fact, the Nikon’s
7MP photos are so sharp and colourful that you might not need PC editing software
at all – making this a great choice if you’re on the road a lot,
or don’t have easy access to a computer.
Rating: 4
Panasonic Lumix TZ3
£
275
www.panasonic.co.uk
CCD megapixels: 7.2MP
Lens: 10x zoom
Screen size: 3.0-inches
Memory: 13Mb internal, SD card slot
Weight with battery: 265g
Digital cameras are increasingly coming with longer optical zooms, such as
the 10x lens on this stylish Panasonic. Long zooms are fantastic for getting
close to the action, but are prone to blurry camera shake in anything other
than bright, sunny conditions. To the rescue comes Panasonic’s Mega OIS
system, an optical image stabiliser that compensates for small wobbles and
lets you shoot handheld images with ease – although you should still
use a tripod in really dim light. Its 7MP photos are well exposed, though they
do lose some of their natural vibrancy in the dark. A fine, all-in-one snapper.
Rating: 4
Fujifilm FinePix F40fd
£
200
www.fujifilm.co.uk
CCD megapixels: 8.3MP
Lens: 3x zoom
Screen size: 2.5-inches
Memory: 25Mb internal, xD and SD card slots
Weight with battery: 181g
Here’s a bright idea. Flash photos can blast away the atmosphere of an
intimate concert or candle-lit party, so this classy little Fujifilm takes
two pictures in quick succession: one with and one without the flash. It also
automatically adjusts the intensity of the flash so you don’t end up
with washed-out faces. Images from its 8.3MP are simply stunning: smooth, bursting
with colour and full of detail. There aren’t too many confusing manual
features, making this an ideal camera for party animals or simply anyone new
to digital photography.
Rating: 5
Canon Ixus 70
£
190
www.canon.co.uk
CCD megapixels: 7.1MP
Lens: 3x zoom
Screen size: 2.5-inches
Memory: 32Mb SD card supplied
Weight with battery: 145g
Don’t be fooled by its minimalist, retro design, this tiny Ixus packs
some very modern technology. Inside its metal body is an advanced Face Detection
system that recognises and locks on to faces when framing. When you hit the
shutter, it calculates the best focus and exposure settings to give sharp portraits – instead
of the blurred mugshots you might have got in the past. Unfortunately, despite
fine exposure and natural colours, the autofocus isn’t reliable and the
small lens could be sharper. But if you want a fast, fun camera – or
one of the very few compacts with a real optical viewfinder – the Ixus
is still worth considering.
Rating: 3
Olympus FE-250
£
195
www.olympus.co.uk
CCD megapixels: 8.3MP
Lens: 3x zoom
Screen size: 2.5-inches
Memory: 20Mb internal, xD card slot
Weight with battery: 135g
With film cameras, you had to choose one film speed and stick with it all day.
Digital cameras can vary this sensitivity, although none can match this lightweight
Olympus, which reaches the heady heights of ISO 10,000 – ten times higher
than most cameras. This lets you shoot blur-free shots in the darkest conditions,
although it does so at the cost of reducing the resolution (to just 3MP) and
adding so much grainy digital ‘noise’ that you might as well be
shooting on a basic camera phone. Images are less than perfect even in daylight,
although a good 3x lens and straightforward ease of use earn it some consolation
points.
Rating: 2
Sony Cyber-shot W200
£
300
www.nikon.co.uk
CCD megapixels: 12.1MP
Lens: 3x zoom
Screen size: 2.5-inches
Memory: 31Mb internal, Memory Stick card slot
Weight with battery: 173g
With resolution, the temptation is to assume that bigger is better – and
it doesn’t get much bigger than the 12MP sensor inside this all-metal
Sony. With such high resolution, you’ll always be able to trim images
and still print them out at huge sizes (up to A2). But high resolution also
means slower shooting and large files that fill up your memory cards quicker.
The W200’s photos are rich and detailed, but unless you’re serious
about making poster-sized prints, there’s little reason to spend the
extra £100 the W200 commands over its 7MP sibling, the W80.
Rating: 3