Looking at the specs, you will think that this is a great camera. It has 3-inch LCD, 12 mega pixel resolution, 24mm-equivalent wide-angle lens along with a 10x zoom, 1000 shots battery life, HD movie recording which is all put in a 1 inch thick body. However, once you use this camera, you will be disappointed with the cramped control layout, average shooting performance, OK stills quality and finally the exterior body. There are two features that really impressed us, the big battery life and the lens. The latter is not very good but still is on par with other competitors. We would recommend you this camera if you are looking for such good lens in a compact size. The camera looks attractive but the buttons on it are messed up. Shutter release with zoom ring and power button is located on the top. There are two more buttons located there; one is for Landscape Mode activation that can be used to boost color saturation or to correct cloudy or misty conditions.  [...]

This device costs $200 and has a nice set of manual features, SD-card based recording, long zoom lens and a traditional design. The feature set is good however when it comes to quality and performance, the SC-MX20 is no match for its competitors. On the top of the camcorder there is a zoom rocker with a toggle button for still/movie mode. There is also a plastic cover which reveals power jack, USB connector and AV out connector underneath it. Just like a camera, the SD card slot and battery is located on the bottom which makes it difficult to swap the peripherals if you are using a tripod. On the body, there are three buttons which can be accessed when you open the LCD – Easy Q, screen brightness and info/battery check. There is also a speaker in there. The lens is covered by a manual cover. It feels easy to use with minimal buttons but there is an irritating delay when you start/stop recording. In our tests, we thought our press wasn’t registered and we pressed  [...]

This is a fairly simple and straightforward camera by Kodak and the manufacturer has given us a simple device rather than putting convoluted features that would confuse a newbie. The best feature on the camera is the inclusion of 35mm-equivalent lens along with a 10x zoom and yet Kodak has managed to keep the body compact. You get semimanual and manual controls and there are no outlandish options for shooting. We liked the performance of the camera and for the given price; this device seems to be a good buy. Image-stabilized 10x zoom lens is the main attraction of the camera. It is not fast or wide, but you can get close to your subject with it. On the top of the device, there is zoom ring and shutter release, dedicated keys for timer/drive and flash, mode dial and a tiny power button. Icons for mode position, timer and flash are backlight which makes it usable even in the dark. The HD marking button is also red lit. The LCD behind the camera is  [...]

This camcorder is really a great device from JVC. It costs about $1299.99 and supports AVCHD along with MPEG-2 TS, JVC’s traditional format. There is a single CCD sensor unlike previous models which had three. The quality of video is good and on par with competitors like Sony and Canon. On the front, there is a 10x f1.8-2.2 50-500mm-equivalent lens but there is no optical image stabilization, all you get is Electronic Image stabilization. A stereo microphone is located on the top of the devices’ body. The shoe cover is not attached to the camcorder and hence it can easily fall off and get lost. The strap is also located too low and hence gripping the GZ-HD40 is not as comfortable as other camcorders, it easily flops to the side with a little relaxation of the grip. The GZ-HD40 has a 2.8 inch LCD display and opening it will give you a host of buttons in the cavity. There is Direct DVD which lets you write the content on to discs without a computer,  [...]

This camera is the successor to the DSLR-A200 and the new model has a revamped body, the performance and quality has improved so we will call this an ‘upgrade’ over the previous model. This SLR is a cheaper option to the expensive A330. The latter’s magnification isn’t as high as A230 and the LCD screen on the A330 can be tilted up and down to an angle of 55 degrees. A330 has live view shooting which A230 doesn’t. But apart from that, both of them are almost the same. Given a choice amongst the two, we would go for A230 since it is not worth spending more for the above features. A230 comes in two kits, with dual-lens kit that adds the 55-200mm lens or with the 18-55mm lens. There is no body only model of the A230 but we think Sony will come out with that soon. Just like all Sony dSLRs you can use any Minolta A mount lens along with the device. The revamped body though welcome had an issue. We couldn’t securely grip the camera like other  [...]

This is a great camera from Sony in the company’s line up of point-and-shoot camera. It looks like Sony has turned its compact W290 camera in to a megazoom device. We really liked the camera, it has a revamped menu system which is more user friendly, has great shooting features and there is the 720p movie capture mode which uses the 10x zoom. It takes good photos, is a fast performer and is attractive looking. There are few issues but that doesn’t make it a deal breaker. The controls on the camera are well laid out and the buttons are big which makes operation easy. On the top of the thumb, there is a mode dial and it isn’t cramped with too many icons. Along with the mode dial, there is shutter release with zoom ring, smile shutter button and power button on the top of the device. The shutter button clicks when it detects a smile. We were relieved  [...]

Pocket camcorders are going quickly because they are now extensively used by the youth to make videos and put it on sites like YouTube. Creative Labs intends to cash in on this growing demand and comes up with Vado 3rd Gen. It manages to offer all the features that pocket camcorders have and still manages to keep the price low. The device weighs about 3.3 ounces and has HDMI output, 4 GB of internal memory and records in 720p HD resolution. It costs about $179 which is less than second-generation Flip Video MinoHD. Kodak Zi8 too costs the same as this camcorder but there is no internal memory and you have to buy one separately. The tiny 2.4 inch display gives a resolution of 640X240 and below the screen there is a record button and few touch sensitive buttons. There is a mini-HDMI port but Creative Labs doesn’t give an HDMI cable, you will have to purchase one separately. There is a flip-out USB connector and a threaded tripod mount at the bottom. You can charge the battery of  [...]