Choose Your Next Camera
Some of the features to check out: a short guide.
If you go into an electronics store and browse the digital camera section, you may be overwhelmed by the choices available. But choosing the right point-and-shoot camera isn't really difficult: It's basically a matter of understanding the features you need.
More pixels means better photographs--right? Not always. There's more to image quality than the resolution: The quality of the lens and of the image processing that the camera performs also play significant roles. In our image-quality tests, we rated the 5.1-megapixel Olympus C-5500 Sport Zoom and the 7.2-megapixel Casio Exilim EX-Z750 as having equally strong image quality. The 5.1-megapixel images from the Olympus are large enough to produce nice-looking prints at 8 by 10 inches (the size we use for testing), but not at much bigger sizes. To produce a good-looking photo print, you need at least 200 pixels per inch. So the 7.2-megapixel Casio (which takes photos at resolutions of up to 3072 by 2034 pixels) can produce a good-quality print as large as 11 by 14 inches. On the other hand, all of the cameras on our chart can produce attractive 4-by-6-inch photos that you will be proud to display.
Photograph: Rick RiznerEven though today's thin-and-light cameras can fit into a shirt pocket, many of them have big, bright LCD screens. The Casio Exilim EX-Z750, for instance, is under 1 inch thick, but offers a 2.5-inch LCD screen that's great for showing off your photos at a party. Such smaller models provide the same resolutions and scene modes as their bigger cousins do, but their zoom lenses are typically limited to 3X; a larger camera like Olympus's SP-500 Ultra Zoom has the size to accommodate a larger lens and can zoom farther into the action (up to 10X).
Mode Mania
Photograph: Rick RiznerAll the cameras we tested offer automatic shooting modes such as portrait, sports, fireworks, and museum. These scene modes can help you get the best pictures without having to manually change settings such as shutter speed. The Fujifilm FinePix F10 comes with just 5 preset scene modes, while the Casio Exilim EX-Z750 offers 30. But you probably won't use most of the Casio's modes, and scrolling through the list to find the right one can take a while. If you just want to point and shoot with your camera, try a simple model (such as the chart-topping HP Photosmart R717) that makes picture-taking as easy as possible by offering on-screen instructions. Our December review of advanced cameras evaluated plenty of units with sophisticated features, starting with the top-rated Canon PowerShot G6. Note, however, that some point-and-shoot camera models--among them the Canon PowerShot A520 and the Nikon Coolpix 7900--have useful advanced features of their own, such as manual control and several metering modes for taking finer control of the photographic process beyond what many of these cameras allow.
Got Juice?
You might assume that the smaller a camera is, the shorter its battery life will be, but that's not the case. The compact Casio Exilim EX-Z57 had very impressive battery life, reaching our testing limit of 500 shots--that's more than double the life of the HP Photosmart R717. Some of the cameras on our point-and-shoot chart (such as the Olympus C-5500 Sport Zoom) use nonrechargeable AA batteries, which is a useful feature if your battery runs out and you're within trekking distance of a store.
Photograph: Rick RiznerWe evaluated four new cameras for this month's chart: Olympus's SP-500 Ultra Zoom and Stylus 800, Panasonic's Lumix DMC-XL1, and Samsung's Digimax i5. The Olympus SP-500 carries an impressively long 10X zoom--the longest on the chart--while the Stylus 800 has a splash-proof case that protects the electronics from water, salt, and sand. The Panasonic provides three aspect ratios for taking wide-screen photos; and the Samsung is the size of a pack of cards, though the quality of its photos was mediocre. We also reexamined Nikon's Coolpix 7900 under our new test plan. (For more on testing, click here.) The two Olympus models and the Nikon made our Top 10. Click the links to read reviews of the Lumix and the Digimax.
See our current Top 10 chart of point-and-shoot cameras.
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