Picture perfect
James Fryer scouts out four of the finest digital cameras on the market with something to suit every need, taste and budget.
Kodak EasyShare V610
BEST ZOOM AND WIRELESS
Unless you’re willing to re-mortgage the villa, take the kids out of school and give up restaurant dining just to invest in a digital SLR camera, you will have to make do with second rate zooms. Sadly, these fail to get anywhere near as close to the action as you’d like them to. And there’s no point going for something with a whopping great digital zoom – it’s a feature which proves about as useful as a chocolate teapot. But Kodak has set the new standard with this baby, the world’s smallest 10X optical zoom camera. It looks, feels and is as easy to use as a conventional point-and-shoot snapper, but will extend your range of shots no end as you focus way beyond conventional distances, taking advantage of the dual lens technology. A 2.8 inch LCD display reflects the beaming quality of your six megapixel pictures. It’s even Bluetooth-enabled so your holiday snaps can be wirelessly transferred to a mobile phone or laptop, eliminating the need to swap SD cards back and forth. Oh, and did we mention TV quality VGA video recording at 30 frames per second?
HP Photosmart R927
BEST MEGAPIXELS
HP (yes, the company best known for printers) cameras muscle in with the photographic big boys and the R927 model is worth a look if you’re in the market for a powerful point-and shooter. It’s an ergonomic joy in the hands and boasts a robust yet reasonably light body. A mighty three-inch display reduces the chance of taking duff shots. The auto-focus is pretty accurate and image colours are vivid, and a mammoth 8.2 megapixels of power means you can blow up shots of little Johnny to poster size. The advanced settings aren’t as scary as it might first seem, and the dock allows simultaneous charging and picture transferring, and there are some cool special effects to be had too.
Sony T30
BEST FOR SIZE
Pop into Carrefour’s electronics section and you’ll find customers marvelling at Sony’s latest cameras. And who can blame them? The T30 isn’t much bigger than your credit card, only 19mm in depth, and yet it packs a powerful 7.2 megapixel punch. The Super Steady Shot does a great job of combating shaky hands and resulting blurry images. And a beefed-up high sensitivity mode means half-decent shots in low light are now possible. The display sadly isn’t touch-screen like other Sony models, but our biggest gripe is that you’ll have to fork out for a Sony-specific memory card if you want more space for your pics, rather than being able to use a smaller, cheaper SD card.
Panasonic DMC-FX01
BEST FOR WIDE ANGLE
If you’re after a camera with up-to-date features that will take decent snaps without David Bailey at its helm, you can’t go far wrong with this model. The Leica lens (designed by the German manufacturer of the same name) will optimise your chances of getting a decent shot and 6 megapixels meets minimum expectations. But it’s the 28mm wide angle lens which makes this model stand out as, rather than risking walking back and tripping into a pond, you’ll fit the whole family into your shots. The budget price does reflect in the overall image quality, however.