Digital Camera News and Reviews

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX580 / FX550

Photography Blog has reviewed the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX550 compact camera (also known as Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX580 in USA). This digital camera feature 12.1 megapixels and 5x optical zoom.

Some key features for the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX580 / FX550:
-12.1 megapixel sensor
-3″ LCD touch screen
-5x optical zoom (25 – 125mm)
-40mb built in memory
-HD video with 1280 x 720 pixels quality
-Venus Engine V processing engine

Photography Blog ends up giving the Panasonic Lumix camera a “Recommended” rating as the camera has many neat features, but some of them are hidden in the menu system so it can be hard for a new photographer to find them. The camera is able to take pictures that are crisp and clear, but there is some noise over at higher ISO levels which is not a surprise in this camera class.
Read the full review of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX550 camera here.

Canon PowerShot SD880

Imaging Resource has reviewed the Canon PowerShot SD880 IS ELPH compact camera. This digital camera from Canon feature a 10 megapixel sensor and 4x optical zoom.

Some key features for the Canon PowerShot SD880 IS ELPH:
-10 megapixel image sensor
-4x optical zoom lens (28-112mm eq.)
-ISO sensitivity from 80 to 3200
-3″ LCD screen
-optical image stabilization
-uses SDHC / SD memory cards

Imaging Resource ends up giving the Canon camera a “Dave’s pick” award as the reviewer find the camera fun to use and enjoy the design. The Canon PowerShot SD880 IS is also able to take good pictures. The only downsides are no HD video and the lack of manual controls.
Overall this seems like a very nice and stylish compact camera.
Read the full review of the Canon PowerShot SD880 IS ELPH camera here.

Casio Exilim Pro EX-F1

Casio has released new firmware for their Casio Exilim Pro EX-F1 compact camera. Verison 2.0 of the firmware let you use the new EX-F1 Controller application.

Read more about the new firmware and how to download it on the Casio website.

Information from Casio about the new firmware:
“EX-F1 Controller (“This Software”) provides the following capabilities.
•Control of your EX-F1 camera from a computer connected to the computer with the USB cable that comes with the camera.
•Computer-control of High Speed Continuous Shutter, High Speed Movie, Interval Recording, and more.
Note
* This Software is intended for use with the CASIO EX-F1 digital camera only.
* This Software does not control all of the functions provided by the EX-F1 camera.
* In order to enable computer-control an EX-F1 camera, you must first update the camera with special firmware (Version 2.00) included in the download file.

Attention users in Russia and the Ukraine
Updating the firmware of your camera to Version 2.00 will cause your camera to lose its ability to display messages in Russian. Update your firmware to Version 2.00 only if you agree to lose Russian display messages. Note also that there are no plans to offer a Russian language version of firmware update Version 2.00.”

There is a rumor circulating on the web that Samsung will announce a new compact camera on July 7th. The camera is supposed be called Samsung HZ30W (WB700 in Europe) and will feature a 1/1.8″ CMOS sensor instead of a CCD 1/2.33″ sensor.

Here are the rumored specifications for the Samsung HZ30W / WB700 camera:
-Design like HZ series
-1/1.8″ CMOS sensor instead of a CCD 1/2.33″ (10 megapixels?)
-ISO sensitivity 100-3200
-Video Full HD
-5X optical zoom (24-120mm) with ring zoom
-3″ AMOLED screen
-RAW files

It remains to be seen if Samsung will release this camera on July 7th. There are also rumors that Samsung will announce the GX30 DSLR camera and a Micro Four Thirds killer, the NX3.