canon ixus digital camera

Canon IXUS 970 IS Review
The Canon IXUS 970 IS is a 10 megapixel digital camera with a 5x optical zoom lens. It has a metal body and is a step up in overall quality compared to most point and shoot digital cameras.

The Canon IXUS digital camera range has always been impressive when it comes to picture quality. Extra features such as image stabilisation have also become the norm. The IXUS 970 IS upholds the tradition of good picture quality, stylish design and impressive build quality. This model also has a slight increase in the length of the zoom lens over its predecessors. It also has a top quality LCD screen.

Outdoor 1 (Medium Zoom)
The most striking feature of this shot is the amount of detail you can see in the lighter areas of the photo. The resolution is outstanding. This helps to make the shots appear sharply focused. Some of that sharp focusing is lost at the edges of the shot and if I was being picky I would also say that in where the sun cannot quite reach the IXUS 970 IS is unable to match the definition managed by the Panasonic DMC FS5 I reviewed recently. These are minor points though and this is a good start.

Outdoor 2 (No Zoom)
With the lens zoomed right out my test shot is about average in terms of focusing. There is also a small amount of purple fringing showing on the boat towards the left hand side of the picture.

Outdoor 3 (Maximum Zoom)
This is the best outdoor shot. Again the definition in the shot is highly impressive. The IXUS 970 IS is certainly able to bring out more detail than I am used to seeing. I also like the brightness of the shot. It helps add more life to the picture.

Outdoor 4 (Building)
This is another sharp shot and highlights the fact you should be able to take good quality snapshots in most situations with this Canon digital cameras.

Outdoor Portrait
This is quite a natural looking portrait shot. You will find other brands such as Panasonic digital cameras produce more colour in this test shot on a regular basis than Canon digital cameras manage.

Indoor Portrait with Flash
This photo is near to perfection for an indoor shot with flash. The camera handles the amount of light output by the flash unit expertly. This leads to a photo where the lighting is just right, leaving the colours to stand out.

Indoor Portrait without Flash
I like this photo. Here the IXUS 970 IS has used the natural light available very well. Again there is an impressive level of detail in the shot.

Colours
produce more colour in this test shot on a regular basis than Canon digital cameras tend to be somewhere in the middle rank when it comes to colour strength. In most cases I think the combination of the brightness of the photos and the colours they use creates great photos.

Macro
I have mentioned in other reviews that a really good macro shot suggests a high quality lens. The macro shot produced by the IXUS 970 IS shows great clarity and plenty of details.

ISO 400 and ISO 1600
Increasing the ISO setting on any compact digital camera will lead to noise appearing in the picture. At ISO 400 noise is controlled quite well and is inline with levels produced by most digital cameras. By the time ISO 1600 is reached picture quality really has broken down.

Overall
Based on picture quality I would be happy to own this camera. The way the lighting and colours combine works really well.

Underwater Camera

Intova Underwater Digital Camera 6Mp

Product Description

The new standard in affordable Sports Photography. This full featured 6 MP camera, with a rugged and compact housing, fills all your photographic needs. Use the camera by itself for safe, protected environments or put it in the housing for Wet and Wild photo occasions. The polycarbonite housing has full button feature controls and is waterproof to 180 feet (54 meters). Other features include a 2.4" color LCD display, 12 X zoom (3x optical, 4x digital) and SD card capacity up to 2 gig.

In this modern day & age, we are sometimes sufficiently graced to "get what we pay for". I am happy to convey this boffo little dynamo gives your steady hand way more bang than expected. As an avid diver & photographer I did a lot of research, wedged between some mecha-$1000s set up with strobes out to the sides like insect eyes - and the stoopid $20 disposable film jobbies I'd hobbled by with for years.

Lucky to have found this camera; their (Intova) newer, more mega-pixeled versions could be better - I would not be surprised, given the overall workmanship, quality of build & performance I got. Caveat: 90% of my opinion is based on scuba pix in warm & clear tropical environments; however, the responsive convenience of the digital itself - sans housing - should not be overlooked. For a suave dinky 6MP point & shoot, the built-in flash functioned admirably, if sometimes pawn to close range (~<5>100 ft, & my IC600 negotiated >30 dives without so much as a hiccup. I did also attentively maintain my housing, well rinsed & clean, with good quality fresh silicone grease on my o-rings when I changed the batteries. By the way, the red filter accessory is too much (overtones) & not worth it.

Two other tips - some may ponder ordinary "alkaline" vs rechargable batteries here; follow me & many other reviewers & use rechargeables ONLY. I got a sony 4-pk w/ wall charger & easily kept them going in&out by 2's ~every other day with zero performance lapse (eg, 50-75 HQ photos per day +some videos, over 600 files in total; didn't barely fill half my card). To that end, I also added a better-quality "fast" 2GB SD card. Very curious if the processor reads an SDHC (since the specs don't say), but haven't tried.

For what this camera costs versus what it delivers, it's 5-star, frankly. It is though an "entry level" option, and not meant to compete with those huge multi-eyed 12MP rigs fellows tote around. As at the start, sometimes we're lucky to get what we pay for, and MY IC600 to me is "worth" way more than I paid here on Amazon, that's for sure.

Polaroid Camera

Polaroid PhotoMAX PDC 2300Z Digital Camera

Long a household word in film-based photography, Polaroid started out as a strong contender in the digital marketplace, introducing one of the first high-quality digicams -- the PDC-2000 -- in 1996. At a retail price of $2,500, it fell squarely between the low-end digital point-and-shoots and the expensive high-end portable digital cameras, making it a popular choice for studio-based photographers. Since then, Polaroid has introduced a number of digital imaging products, including the PDC-3000 (another professional quality camera), several high-quality desktop film scanners, a line of complete digital studio systems, and the PhotoMAX series of low-end consumer digicams. The PhotoMAX 2300Z is the first in that series to offer 2-megapixel resolution with a robust imaging software package. As we'll see though, the 2300Z really doesn't live up to the Polaroid tradition of imaging excellence.

Overview
The PhotoMAX 2300Z is marketed as a complete Digital Camera Creative Kit, providing all the tools you need to capture and download your images to a Windows-based computer (including e-mail capabilities). The camera design and operation are very basic, with only one Record mode and a handful of controls to adjust image resolution, flash setting, exposure compensation (brightness), and white balance (color). It's targeted at the novice or amateur photographer who doesn't want to make a lot of exposure decisions -- just point the camera and shoot. The 2.3x optical zoom lens has a focal range equivalent to a 38-90mm on a 35mm camera, providing just enough flexibility to shoot indoors in cramped interiors or outdoors where your subject can be distant or close-up. (Note: a 90mm zoom is adequate for location portraiture but not great for capturing sports action from a distance.) Image resolution is 2.3 megapixels, high enough to make 8 x 10-inch prints or very sharp 5 x 7's.

The 2300Z comes equipped with a built-in flash, 8MB CompactFlash memory card, AC adapter, video cable (for hooking up to a TV), two computer connection cables (Serial port and USB), camera case, wrist strap, and Arcsoft's PhotoMAX Pro Software. The software supports Windows computers only, with image acquisition, photo manipulation (by ArcSoft), special effects, printing setups, optional frames and titles, e-mail, and Internet access to the PolaroidDigital website, where you have 50MB of free storage space provided with the purchase of a camera. While we appreciated the nice complement of supplied accessories (including the all-important AC adapter, which is usually sold as an option), we were disappointed with the difficulty we had in performing simple operations, such as turning the Mode dial or removing the CompactFlash card or AA batteries from their compartments. Latches tended to stick and the Mode dial was very difficult to turn -- with only small plastic nubs around the edges to provide a grip for your fingers.

The 2300Z's Mode dial sets the camera's main operation modes, including Record, Play, Setup, Erase, and PC connection. Each mode has a very short on-screen menu, activated by the Menu button and navigated with the Zoom lever on top of the camera (see Camera Operation). Selections are made with the OK button, which is located directly underneath the Menu button on the back panel. The LCD monitor is activated by the LCD button (also on the back panel) or by engaging the Macro and Digital Zoom modes. (Unfortunately, once you turn the LCD monitor on, you can't turn it off again without switching off the camera.) To our eye, the LCD image display is very poor, with dark muted colors that are difficult to see (impossible in sunlight). In fact, we found it necessary to adjust the monitor to its brightest setting (+5) just to lighten it up enough so we could see what we were shooting indoors.

On the positive side, the optical viewfinder is very clear, and it zooms along with the 2.3x lens, so you have a pretty accurate view of your scene without having to turn on the LCD menu at all. (Framing was also pretty good as far as optical viewfinders go.) In general, the control buttons were well placed, with the four non-menu adjustments lined up along the Status Display panel on top of the camera (Quality / Resolution, Macro, Self-Timer, and Flash). Adjustments for these buttons are reported as black icons in the Status display window, making it very easy to follow along as you make changes. The shutter button was relatively slow, with a long delay between the time you press down all the way to the moment it actually fires the shutter.

Basic Features

* 2.3-megapixel CCD with six image quality modes
* Optical viewfinder
* 1.8-inch color LCD display
* 1.3-inch black-and-white Status display
* All glass 2.3x zoom lens (equivalent to 38-90mm)
* 2x Digital zoom
* Built-in flash
* CompactFlash removable storage, 8MB CF card included
* USB or Serial computer connection
* Four Alkaline, Li-Ion, NiMH, or NiCd AA batteries (4 Alkaline batteries included)
* AC adapter included
* Polaroid PhotoMAX Pro Software CDs (Windows only)

Special Features

* Macro (close-up) lens adjustment
* White balance (color) adjustment
* Exposure compensation (lighten / darken) control
* Self-timer option for delayed shutter release
* Slide show playback feature
* NTSC video cable for viewing images on a TV

Recommendation
The PhotoMAX 2300Z is simple to operate and provides a fairly robust hardware and software package (if you're a Windows user!). However, we'd like to see some design improvements before we put it on our recommended buyers list. At $399, we would expect better quality parts and smoother operation, especially with functions like the Mode dial, CF card eject, and camera battery installation. The camera is pretty bulky, which appeals to some users, but for our tastes we prefer a more streamlined model. We also felt that image quality could be better, particularly in the current market: At $299 with a zoom lens, this would be a marginally OK deal, but at $399, you can do a lot better these days. If you want a complete digital imaging package, and don't mind the minor inadequacies, this just may fulfill your needs. However, we recommend trying it out in the store before you take it home.

Olympus Digital Cameras

Olympus E-3 Hands-On Preview

by Shawn Barnett

Look and feel. Aimed squarely at the Nikon D300 and Canon 40D, it's no surprise that the Olympus E-3 is big and teeming with buttons and controls. Its overall feel is very tight, solid, hefty, and well-thought-out. It is easily the finest experience I've had with an Olympus SLR, and probably the best Live View experience I've had with any SLR to date.

The Olympus E-3's large pentaprism protrudes proudly above its sloping shoulders, just a bit higher than its competitors. Inside is a real glass pentaprism that's bigger and brighter than any Olympus has offered on its Four-thirds cameras. Its 1.15x viewfinder is big and bright, appearing just slightly larger than the Canon 40D, despite the E-3's smaller sensor size.

The Olympus E-3's viewfinder status display runs along the bottom, not off to the right as on the E-410 and E-510. It's still a little tight to see all of the frame plus the status display with my glasses on, but there's a nice big rubber eyepiece protector to prevent my glasses from scratching.

The Olympus E-3's grip is very comfortable, shaped a little differently from the E-510, a little less aggressive on the forward curve, which gives the middle finger a more confident grip overall. It's also a little fatter and contoured, with a nice, tacky rubber surface for excellent traction.

Though it looks a little high in pictures, the Olympus E-3's shutter button is in just the right position when I grip the camera, with a nice finger well to guide me to the button. On the rear, the thumb grip is so comfortable it's easy to forget it's a grip at all. Function and AF-point selection buttons are nearby, but not easy to press accidentally.

Olympus has moved the Olympus E-3's Main Dial on the back relative to the more recent models, but this is indeed where it's located on the Olympus E-1, so they stuck with what upgrading E-1 owners will be used to. Also, both the E-410 and E-510 had no monochrome status display on the top deck, so there was room for a top-mounted Main Dial. The Olympus E-3's dial does not have as good a feel as the metallic dial on the E-510, but it does have good, firm detents. The same goes for the Sub-dial on the front of the Olympus E-3's grip.

Speaking of dials, there's no Mode Dial on the Olympus E-3, instead you press a button on the top deck, left of the pentaprism, and roll the Main or Sub-dial, while changes appear on the Status display.

The E-3's four-way navigator, which Olympus calls an Arrow pad, is well-positioned for easy access, and it's even angled a bit toward the right to accommodate the thumb's angle of attack. Other buttons on the back and top are clearly marked for easy comprehension. The Olympus E-3's rear LCD also serves as a Status display whose settings are accessible via a press of the center OK button.

The Olympus E-3's Power switch is located in a familiar place for Canon prosumer SLR owners, just off the lower right corner of the LCD display.

Opening the Olympus E-3's Card cover is awkward at first, but if you just rock the camera to the left and hold it in your left hand, a simple upward flip of the right thumb moves the release lever and the door pops open to reveal not only a CF card slot, but an xD-Picture Card slot as well.

Build. The Olympus E-3's body is a die-cast magnesium alloy whose two shells pretty well completely enclose the E-3 for a very solid feel. Olympus says they use a Thixomold process to make these shells, a method that promises greater durability, with less potential for bubbles or seams in the magnesium alloy shell structures. We don't know whether other manufacturers do the same, but this low-temperature technique is one of three major methods to cast this increasingly popular metal, and is supposed to give better crystalline structure to the material than the more common hot die-cast method.