The Digital Camera Reviews

If the D5000 didn’t quite live up to some of the more outlandish rumors surrounding its hardware (no, there’s no full-frame 16 megapixel sensor…), the latest iterration in the D40/D40X/D60 series nonetheless gets a pretty substantial upgrade with the inclusion of what appears to be the same highly regarded 12.3 megapixel CMOS imager that powers the D90. Nikon EXPEED processing pulls prosumer-grade performance from this APS-C (DX format, in Nikon-speak) imager, with an expanded high-sensitivity limit of ISO 6400 and 4.0 fps continuous shooting.

ikon has opted to stick with the 720p/24fps HD video capture format that debuted in the D90 for its latest launch as well. Even without full 1080p video capture, however, the D5000 is still in a fairly exclusive club, and joins Canon’s recently announced Rebel T1i as the only squarely consumer-oriented interchangeable lens cameras to allow video capture of any kind.

Beyond this novel display, the D5000’s interface shares most of its key elements in common with previous entry-level Nikon DSLRs. Similar in styling and size to its D60 predecessor, the D5000 eschews prosumer touches like a top-deck status LCD and a front-side control wheel in favor of a single point of access using the main display and back-panel controls.

Built around the same basic platform as the previous Lumix FX35, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX37 features a 10.1 megapixel sensor and a new 5x, 25-125mm Leica zoom lens. An auto-exposure pocket camera, the FX37 sports an implementation of Panasonic’s very smooth and savvy Intelligent Auto system, which automatically detects the type of scene in front of the lens and adjusts accordingly.

Panasonic claims the pocket-friendly FX37 is good for more than 300 shots on a single charge of its slim li-ion pack; our experience with the camera suggests that 200 is probably a more reasonable average number for shooting outdoors with the screen gained up, or where lots of flash is required.

Here’s a shocker: the FX37 is, as best we can tell, physically identical to the FX35. Panasonic tends to be pretty conservative in restyling its cameras anyway, and with much of the same hardware (same sensor, same LCD, same processor) under the hood and on the back panel, it makes sense that there was really no need for a fundamental overhaul.

The F200EXR also comes with a powerful Fujinon 5x optical zoom lens that offers a wide-to-telephoto range of 28-140mm; manual shooting that allows control over aperture, shutter speed, and exposure compensation; and five classic Fuji Film Simulation modes including Provia for natural tones, Velvia for vivid color reproduction, Astia for smooth tonalities, and black and white and sepia modes. The F200EXR also features sensor-shift image stabilization, Fuji’s Face Detection 3.0, some helpful shooting presets like landscape and portrait, Dynamic Range Bracketing, and sensitivity up to an unprecedented ISO 12800.

After first unwrapping the F200EXR from the box, I appreciated its design right away. It sports a more traditional boxy construction and a concave curvature along the length of the camera. It measures 3.8 by 2.3 by 0.9 inches and weighs 6.8 ounces with the battery and memory card.The F200EXR is a solidly built camera with stylish trimming, traditional point-and-shoot dials, and a large retractable lens that makes it portable and compact.

The 10.1 megapixel, 3x zoom 1050 SW is designed to handle just about anything active shooters can throw at it (or throw it into), with a body that sealed against the elements and designed to absorb impacts. The camera’s 2.7 inch HyperCrystal II LCD display is also ruggedized, and provides five steps of brightness adjustment for shooting in a range of lighting conditions. Low-light illumination courtesy of a front-mounted LED expands the underwater shooting versatility of the 1050, which, as noted, can safely be submerged at depths of up to 10 feet without a separate waterproof housing.

More conventional features include face detection technology that can recognize up to 16 faces at a time, as well as a Smile Shot feature that tracks a subject’s faces, detects a smile, and fires the shutter accordingly. Aforementioned Shadow Adjustment Technology provides some leeway for shooting where lighting conditions are harsh or less than ideal, and Perfect Shot Preview and Perfect Fix in-camera editing provide tools for correcting image exposure either before or after the capture.

Processing is provided by Olympus’s current-generation TruePic III imaging engine. Unfortunately, though, image stabilization technology is a little more behind the times, with the 1050 receiving only an ISO-boosting digital image stabilization system.

The S610 features a 10 megapixel sensor, 3.0 inch LCD monitor, optical Vibration Reduction (stabilization), a nominal ISO sensitivity range from 100 to 3200 and a 4x optical zoom lens that provides a 28 to 112mm focal range.In addition, there’s also automatic in-camera red-eye correction, face-priority auto focus and Nikon’s post-processing D-Lighting tool. The camera has Nikon’s new EXPEED processor technology and there are approximately 45MB of internal memory – SD/SDHC memory media can also be accepted. Here are before and after shots using D-Lighting.

Nikon includes a USB cable, A/V cable, wrist strap, rechargeable battery and charger, and CD-ROM software with each camera.The S610 is a typical compact digital, sized about the same as a pack of cigarettes or a small deck of cards.The rectangular metal S610 body is a bit more angular than the 600 but generally shares the overall rounded edge shape of the earlier model.Even with the addition of the larger monitor, the camera back is not cluttered and there is ample spacing between the few controls found here.

The S600 offered a mixed bag of results in our performance categories, so I was hoping to see better results with the newer camera. Unfortunately, the hoped-for improvements didn’t materialize across the board.

One of Canon’s latest round of PowerShot models with the current DIGIC 4 processor, the 12.1 megapixel PowerShot SX200 IS is built around a 1/2.3 inch CCD imager and a 12x, 28-336mm optical zoom. DIGIC 4 affords the new PowerShot several key features common to Canon’s latest models, including an advanced face detection system that tracks faces as quickly and cleanly as anything we’ve shot with (and automatically adjusts exposure and white balance besides), 720p video capture, Canon’s highlight/shadow balancing i-Contrast tool, 16 scene presets (including Color Swap and Color Accent modes), and Canon’s newly developed Smart Auto automatic scene recognition mode.

Physically, the SX200 takes Canon’s SX PowerShots in a new direction: love it or hate it, the SX200 is unquestionably a different breed of PowerShot than previous compact ultrazooms from Canon. While we often felt that the SX100 and SX110 were underrated as cameras, on the “compact” part of “compact ultrazoom” it always felt like Canon was only half-heartedly playing along.

Pentax touts the P70 as the lightest Optio in the line, weighing in at 4.4 ounces in shooting configuration (battery and memory card onboard). The camera measures out at 3.8 x 2.1 x .8 inches - the first two figures are nothing unusual in the compact ranks, but that .8 makes the P70 a bit slimmer than a lot of competitors, and that translates into better pocketability (or at least a reduced unsightly bulge).

The camera features a 4x Pentax zoom lens covering a 35mm film equivalent focal range of 27.5 to 110mm.Besides the 12 megapixel sensor, there’s a 2.7 inch LCD with 230,000 dot composition, a nominal 64 to 1600 ISO sensitivity range (with 3200 and 6400 ISO available at a reduced resolution of 5 megapixels), new Pixel Track Shake Reduction technology, Advanced Face Recognition that tracks up to 32 faces in 0.03 seconds, and both Smile Capture that automatically releases the shutter when subjects smile, and Blink Detection to alert you if your subject’s eyes are closed. The camera accepts SD or SDHC memory media, and there is about 33.7MB of built-in memory.

Pentax includes USB and AV cables, a Li-Ion battery and charger with AC plug cord, wrist strap and CD-ROM software with each camera.