megazooms

Is a really long lens packed into a small camera body a good thing? We shall see, as today Olympus announced the 14-megapixel SP-810UZ, a megazoom camera measuring 4.2 inches by 2.9 inches by 2.9 inches with an ultrawide-angle f2.8-5.6 24-864mm lens, or a 36x zoom.

Though some may consider this a bridge camera simply because of its lens, I don't because it lacks semimanual and manual shooting modes. In fact, Olympus boasts that its lack of "time-consuming manual settings...frees you to concentrate on your subject." The 810UZ is full of scene modes and a scene-recognition auto mode as well as 10 Magic Filter creative modes: Pop Art, Pinhole, Fisheye, Drawing, Soft Focus, Punk, Sparkle, Watercolor, Reflection, and Miniature. The camera also captures HD 720p-resolution movies at the touch of a button.

There's a 3-inch LCD on back for framing your shots, but to keep the camera small there is no viewfinder. Here's hoping its image stabilization is top notch because keeping that lens steady when fully extended won't be easy.

Estimated street price will be $329 when it hits stores in September. … Read more

GE took an if-ain't-broke approach with the Power Pro X500. Almost nothing changes from its predecessor, the X5. There's just a bump in resolution from 14 to 16 megapixels and some new scene modes. Otherwise, it retains all the same things that made the X5 a popular camera: a wide-angle lens with a 15x zoom; an electronic viewfinder (EVF); semimanual and manual shooting modes; and power from AA-size batteries--all for a very reasonable sub-$150 price.

It's that price and its feature set that helped earn the camera its above average rating. The X500 is capable of … Read more

Anyone looking for a megazoom for simple point-and-shoot photos at a lower cost should look at the Nikon Coolpix L120. It's a refresh of the generally good L110 (generally good for its class, at least). In fact, the L120 is basically the same as the L110, but with a wider and longer lens (21x up from 15x) and a higher-resolution 3-inch LCD (920K dots compared with 460K dots). Its photo resolution jumps to 14 megapixels from 12, too, but that's not necessarily a good thing.

Shooting performance, particularly shutter lag, is better this time around and the LCD … Read more

One of the things that bugged me about Panasonic's Lumix DMC-FZ40 was its noticeably slower performance in comparison with its linemate, the FZ100. That apparently changes with its update, the Lumix FZ47.

Instead of using the same plain ol' 14-megapixel CCD, Panasonic swapped in one of its 12-megapixel high-speed CCD sensors and backed it with its Venus Engine FHD processor. This combo, which is also in the rugged Lumix TS3, allows it to shoot at up to 3.7 frames per second at full resolution and record full HD video in AVCHD. Panasonic also promises faster start-up and response … Read more

Sony has three compact megazooms in its 2011 lineup; the Cyber-shot HX9V is the most expensive. It's also the only one of the three (the H70 and HX7V are the others) that's not replacing a 2010 model. It's entirely new and hosts what seems like all of Sony's latest Cyber-shot technologies. That includes (for better or worse) a 16-megapixel Exmor R sensor, a 16x ultrawide-angle 24mm-equivalent Sony G lens, and a high-speed linear-focusing system. It shoots video in full HD at 60p. It has a GPS receiver for geotagging photos while you shoot. Shooting modes go … Read more

If you walked into a store and saw Panasonic's Lumix DMC-ZS8 and its Lumix DMC-ZS10 next to each other, you might not immediately see the differences, let alone $100 worth of them. Even after picking them up, you might notice only that the ZS10 has a GPS receiver and a touch screen. And a stereo mic. Oh, and look, it records full HD video in AVCHD with a one-touch record button.

But if none of that matters to you, then maybe the more hidden differences will, like the fact that the ZS10's screen is twice the resolution of … Read more

It seems we're in the midst of a full-on zoom lens war. The last couple years have seen manufacturers cram longer and longer lenses into compact camera bodies. While I wouldn't say this is a good thing, it's certainly something consumers want.

The two that currently rank as the longest are Canon's PowerShot SX30 IS and Nikon's Coolpix P500. Going just by their magnification numbers, the Nikon comes out on top with its 36x f3.4-5.7 21.5-800mm lens (35mm equivalent). However, the Canon doesn't start out as wide, so its 35x zoom … Read more

Last year's Olympus point-and-shoot lineup was filled with a few too many also-ran cameras. Its 2011 models so far seem much more competitive. Case in point, the newly announced SZ-30MR: a somewhat compact megazoom featuring a 24x, f3-6.9 25-600mm lens (35mm equivalent), a 3-inch high-resolution LCD, dual image processors, and 16-megapixel backside-illuminated CMOS sensor.

Judging by the press release, this camera does many of the things I've come to expect from a camera with a BSI CMOS sensor. Those include easy, one-press in-camera panoramas; high-speed burst at up to 9 frames per second at full resolution; and … Read more

Panasonic, out from under the product deluge that is CES 2011, announced today refreshed versions of its high-end point-and-shoot cameras. If you recently bought the compact megazoom Lumix ZS5, ZS6, or ZS7, the rugged TS2, or the touch-screen ultracompact FX75, you may not want to read on because some of the new tech is actually worth having.

The ZS10 and ZS8 get a wider, longer lens than their predecessors, and the former gets a 3-inch touch screen. The TS2 update, the TS3, gets GPS and is more rugged. The FX78 (replacing the FX75) gets a larger touch screen, a less … Read more