Expert Camera Reviews

These days, it is possible to get a great deal on a digital camera. You can also do your research fairly quickly, choosing a camera in a matter of minutes or hours from online research. There are many deals out there on Websites as well as customer reviews. Here are the steps I would recommend taking when researching a digital camera to buy. These steps shuold help you have a digital camera chosen in a short time.

1. Go through the most recent listing of top sold and rated digital cameras.
2. Browse through titles and images of cameras, looking for features you want, look and feel you want, and price you’re looking for.
3. As you select each one you like, press the control button on your keyboard and click the link on the camera to open each link you’re interested in, in new tabs.
4. Go through each new tab, reading not only features written about by the manufacturer about a given digital camera, but also customer reviews.
5. As you narrow down digital cameras you don’t want, close those tabs. When you finally have only one tab left open, you’re ready to buy that camera.

Here are current top sold and rated digital cameras.

Here are recent camera deals.

Here are the latest camera releases.

The Canon PowerShot SD780 IS is a terrific digital camera. If you want a powerful, small camera with a high megapixel number, this is the one. Not only does it have 12.1 megapixels for high detail, but also a 3.1 optical zoom lens, high quality HD video shooting capabilities, HDMI output, large LCD screen, face detection, and multiple card format options.

This link will give you a minimum of 20% off on this digital camera as of today.

The HP Photosmart M627 includes a 7 megapixel CCD imager and an HP-branded 3x optical zoom lens. The presence of an 8x digital zoom will help you crop in on subjects even more tightly. For framing images, there is a 2.5 inch LCD display unit. Images are stored in 16MB of internal memory or on SD/MM Cards. Some other HP M627 features include in-camera red-eye removal and HP Design Gallery with artistic effects, borders and colors.

Pros:

• High 7 megapixels resolution compared to similar priced cameras
• HP real life technologies like in-camera red-eye removal and design gallery

Cons:

• No optical viewfinder
• ISO sensitivity only up to 400 and noisy at ISO 100

Specifications:
Megapixels – 7.0
Weight (oz.) – 5.9
Optical Zoom – 3.0x
LCD Size – 2.5 inch
Flash Range (ft) – Built-in
Image stabilizer - No
Battery type – AA (x2)
Special features – 16MB onboard memory with SD/MMC card slot, PictBridge compatible, USB 1.1 PC connectivity, Auto ISO

Summary:
In view of its relatively inexpensive price, and packed with HP real life technologies, this digital camera has good features for the money and is targeted for the entry level users.

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The Fujifilm F31fd inherits its features from its predecessor, the award winning FinePix F30 camera. The Fuji FinePix F31fd is a stylish compact camera with an sharp Face Detection feature. The camera is built with a 6.3 megapixel CCD, 3x optical and 6x digital zoom and Picture Stabilisation mode, the Fuji FinePix F31fd gives a superb performance. At full resolution it has an ISO sensitivity of up to 3200. The camera also comes with some unique Fujifilm technologies such as Intelligent Flash

Strengths of the Fuji F31fd are:

• Built with Real Photo Processor II and new Super CCD HR VI
• Hardware-based Face Detection Technology built-in to the camera’s processor
• Fast response time to shots, 0.01 second shutter lag and 1.5 second start-up time
• Long-life battery which lasts for about 600 shots
• Aperture and shutter priority modes
• Very good response to low-light shooting conditions

Weaknesses are:

• 6.3 megapixel is very little compared to the 8 to 12 megapixels available
• Image qualities are not that sharp

Specifications:
Megapixels – 6.3
Weight (oz.) – 5.5
Optical Zoom – 3x
LCD Size – 2.5 inch
Flash Range (ft) – 2.0 to 21.3 ft
Image stabilizer - Yes
Battery type – Rechargeable NP95 Lithium Ion
Special features – 26 MB built-in memory, xD card compatible, AVI Movie file format, USB 2.0 High Speed, Direct Printing compatible

Summary:
The combination of Fuji’s latest technologies, manual controls and easy functionality makes the Fujifilm FinePix F31fd a promising digital camera for novices and experts. It is a solid, low prices, all-round compact camera for general photography and low-light shooting conditions.

The Fuji Finepix A500 is a 5 megapixel digital camera with a 3x optical zoom lens. It has some easy to use features to be found on most basic digital cameras. In terms of price the Finepix A500 finds itself towards the cheaper end of the market. Therefore this camera is likely to appeal to anyone who is on a budget shopping spree. Unfortunately, the camera’s low price comes at a cost in the form of a limited 3X zoom range, a tiny 1.8 inch LCD screen, no manual controls and just 4 scene modes. Beyond 320×240 pixels it has no burst capabilities at all.

Strengths of the A500:

Good quality lens with low distortion and decent sharpness
Simple and easy user interface
Auto white balance handles a wide range of lighting quite well
ISO settings in all modes

Drawbacks:

No Continuous shooting mode
Small, low-resolution LCD screen which is hard to use in daylight
Slow shot-to-shot and playback performance
Contrast is a little high, tends to lose details such as highlight and shadow

Specifications:
Megapixels – 5
Weight (oz.) – 6.0
Optical Zoom – 3x
LCD Size – 1.8 inch
Flash Range (ft) – 2.0 to 10.2 ft
Image stabilizer - No
Battery type – AA (x2)
Special features – Movie mode without sound, PictBridge and DPOF compatible, Macro lens settings, ISO from 100 to 400, Real image optical viewfinder

Summary:
If a low price camera to provide just basic image quality are your only demands, then the Fujifilm FinePix A500 might be the right choice for you. Priced in the $200 list, the A500 offers apparently a good shot for the buck with a solid 5.1-megapixel Super CCD HR image sensor, a 3x optical zoom, some basic scene modes, and the rich color image quality for which Fujifilm is well known.

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The Kodak EasyShare One is the first digital camera to integrate 802.11b wireless (WiFi) connectivity that allows people to share and print their images, lets you email pictures from the camera wirelessly. The camera has a 3X Schneider-Kreuznach optical zoom lens, a huge 3-inch LCD display with touchscreen technology, a 4 Megapixel CCD and comes built-in with 256 MB of memory capable of storing 1500 photos internally. One can print up to 20 x 30″ these images displayed on the large 3″ high-resolution LCD Monitor.

Strengths of the Kodak EasyShare One are:

• WiFi connectivity for uploading images onto the Web wirelessly and send emails directly from the camera
• Print pictures wirelessly
• Excellent shutter response at wide angle settings
• Very large touch sensitivity LCD screen

Weaknesses are:

• Battery life gets drained due to the LCD screen and WiFi
• Flash extremely weak
• Very poor low light performance
• Very slow start-up and shot to shot speed

Specifications:
Megapixels – 4.0
Weight (oz.) – 7.9
Optical Zoom – 3x
LCD Size – 3 inch
Flash Range (ft) – Built-in
Image stabilizer - No
Battery type - Rechargeable Lithium batteries
Special features – 256 MB built-in memory, Wi-Fi Connectivity, Built-in flash with red-eye reduction, 640 x 480 and 30 frames per seconds movies, The camera comes with 2 battery packs

Summary:
If your dreams are to have a camera with Wi-Fi connectivity, the Kodak EasyShare One is designed and indeed a camera for taking pictures easily and sharing them with fun. With a WiFi connection, there’s no need to wait to get home and share the photos. Photos can be printed, emailed and shared over wireless connection with utmost ease.

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The Fujifilm F31fd inherits its features from its predecessor, the award winning FinePix F30 camera. The Fuji FinePix F31fd is a stylish compact camera with an sharp Face Detection feature. The camera is built with a 6.3 megapixel CCD, 3x optical and 6x digital zoom and Picture Stabilisation mode, the Fuji FinePix F31fd gives a superb performance. At full resolution it has an ISO sensitivity of up to 3200. The camera also comes with some unique Fujifilm technologies such as Intelligent Flash

Strengths of the Fuji F31fd are:

• Built with Real Photo Processor II and new Super CCD HR VI
• Hardware-based Face Detection Technology built-in to the camera’s processor
• Fast response time to shots, 0.01 second shutter lag and 1.5 second start-up time
• Long-life battery which lasts for about 600 shots
• Aperture and shutter priority modes
• Very good response to low-light shooting conditions

Weaknesses are:

• 6.3 megapixel is very little compared to the 8 to 12 megapixels available
• Image qualities are not that sharp

Specifications:
Megapixels – 6.3
Weight (oz.) – 5.5
Optical Zoom – 3x
LCD Size – 2.5 inch
Flash Range (ft) – 2.0 to 21.3 ft
Image stabilizer - Yes
Battery type – Rechargeable NP95 Lithium Ion
Special features – 26 MB built-in memory, xD card compatible, AVI Movie file format, USB 2.0 High Speed, Direct Printing compatible

Summary:
The combination of Fuji’s latest technologies, manual controls and easy functionality makes the Fujifilm FinePix F31fd a promising digital camera for novices and experts. It is a solid, low prices, all-round compact camera for general photography and low-light shooting conditions.

Olympus Stylus 1000 is a compact, all-weather camera which can go anywhere anytime. It is has TruePic TURBO™ Image Processor along with a 10-megapixel image sensor which produces high-quality, curt photos. It has the additional feature of recording VGA-quality videos with sound aided with QuickTime® Movie Mode. It can be easily connected to a computer via USB cable. Digital Image Stabilization Mode allows enhancing ISO sensitivity and shuttering speed for capturing lucid pictures which are free from the blur originated from shaking of camera or moving subjects.

Strengths of the Stylus 1000 are:

• · Trendy and ultra-compact design
• · Provided with high resolution 2.5 inch LCD
• · Weather resistant with all-weather seals and gaskets
• · Menus and guide for photo editing
• · High-quality LCD resolution and superior corner sharpness
• · Built in features for red-eye, blur and under exposure editing

Weaknesses of the Stylus 1000 are:

• Inability of LCD to read outdoors
• Absence of auto focus lamp
• Affinity towards oversaturated color, poor equilibrium in highlights and shadows resulting in dark skin tones
• Auto ISO and flash are not in synchronization
• Flash is weak at telephoto
• Unclear Menus
• Short Battery Life
• Takes much time for processing

Specifications:
Megapixels – 10x
Weight (oz.) – 4.9
Optical Zoom – 3x
LCD Size – 2.5 inch
Flash Range (ft) – 10.5 to 17.1 ft
Image stabilizer – Yes
Battery type - LI-12B Lithium-ion rechargeable battery
Special features – High ISO sensitivities of 3,200, and 6,400, Digital Image Stabilization, Bright Capture technology to boost LCD brightness in dim scenes, TruePic TURBO image processor for quick start-up and fast shutter response, Perfect Fix in-camera image editing

Summary:
Although this model has 10 megapixels but this is only accessed in favorable brightness and while not using many of the other features. With high resolution the ISO cannot be enhanced and a few scene modes can only be used. This camera is highly priced with the ineptitude of accessing the complete resolution at all times.

The HP Photosmart M527 camera comes with a 6 megapixel CCD, a 2-inch LCD, a 3x optical zoom lens and a number of features which allow in-camera editing of images prior to printing or publishing on the HP Snapfish website. The M527 also offers an immense number of in-camera help features. Though there are limited manual controls available, this is mostly an automatic model. There is no optical viewfinder, so the 2 inch LCD screen is used for framing images.

Strengths of the HP M527 are:

• High 6 megapixels resolution compared to similar priced cameras
• HP real life technologies like in-camera red-eye removal and design gallery
• HP Photosmart Express makes sharing, printing and saving digital photos easy

Drawbacks are:

• No optical viewfinder
• ISO sensitivity only up to 400 and noisy at ISO 100

Specifications:
Megapixels – 6.0
Weight (oz.) – 5.3
Optical Zoom – 3x
LCD Size – 2 inch
Flash Range (ft) – Built-in
Image stabilizer - No
Battery type - AA (x2)
Special features - 16MB onboard memory with SD/MMC card slot, PictBridge compatible, USB 1.1 PC connectivity, Auto ISO, 90 days warranty

Summary:
In view of its relatively inexpensive price, and packed with HP real life technologies, this digital camera has good features for the money and is targeted for the entry level users.

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The Kodak Easyshare Z612 is a super zoom digital camera. It contains both a six megapixels CCD imager and a branded 12x optical zoom lens. The Z612 records movie of TV-quality video, up to 30 frames per second using advanced MPEG-4 compression method. The built-in optical image stabilization technology reduces on-screen shaking. The Z612 has a larger lens compared with the other smaller, pocket sized compact cameras. The camera with its aperture and shutter priority modes as well as fully manual mode is built for experts as well as novice photographers.

Some Plus points of the Kodak EasyShare Z612 are:

• High-speed, low light auto focus system with AF assist lamp
• Camera uses Kodak’s “Perfect Touch” technology
• Shutter lag and shot-to-shot time is quite fast
• Long battery life
• 16 scene modes

Negative features are:

• Noisy while shooting videos
• No RAW file support
• No manual white balance option
• Very poor close-up capability

Specifications:
Megapixels – 6.10
Weight (oz.) – 10.5
Optical Zoom – 12x
LCD Size – 2.5 inch
Flash Range (ft) – 2.0 to 15.4 ft
Image stabilizer – Yes, optical
Battery type – Rechargeable Lithium Ion
Special features – Electronic viewfinder, 32 MB built-in memory and SD Memory Card support, USB 2.0 High Speed, NTSC/PAL video output

Summary:
The Kodak Z612 offers users a nice balance of advanced features, flexibility and point to shoot ease of use. Except for the close-up shot problems with pictures the Z612 delivers where it does matter the most for photographers.

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