Canon SD870 IS:
Conclusion - Pros
* Good image quality (at lower ISO settings)
* Accurate metering in the majority of situations
* Very useful lens range with surprisingly good edge-to-edge performance
* Useful and adaptable Auto ISO-shift function
* Handy macro performance at wide end of lens
* Large, bright, clear screen
* Looks and feels well designed, handling better than expected
* Feels fast and responsive in use
* Superb build quality and finish
* Direct print button can be customized into something more useful
Conclusion - Cons
* AiAF/Face detection a little haphazard
* Occasional tendency to ignore (and overexpose) bright regions
* Touch wheel slightly awkward
* Image quality suffers above ISO 400 due to noise and noise reduction issues
* Easily scratched and scuffed
* Manual control limited
* Average battery life
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8:
Conclusion - Pros
* Excellent resolution & sharp results
* Good, natural color and excellent exposure
* Superb 12x optical zoom
* Smooth, almost stepless 2-speed zoom
* Effective image stabilization
* Small and light, but well built
* Comprehensive range of controls
* Very fast operation
* Fast (and accurate) focus using 'High Speed' option
* Well designed menu system
* Nice handling and improved controls
* Easy to use
* Bright, clear, high resolution LCD screen
* Excellent EVF, big improvement
* Decent burst mode and fast card writing
* Powerful flash
* Excellent battery life
* Good movie mode
* Usable raw mode (approx 3 second shot-to-shot with a fast card)
* Powerful raw convertor (SILKYPIX) included
* Lots of in-camera image adjustments
* Superb value for money
Conclusion - Cons
* Some areas of performance actually worse than predecessor
* Noise is, as usual, a bit of a problem at lower ISO settings
* ISO 400+ noise reduction produces color bleeding and loss of low contrast detail
* Default noise reduction too high at all ISO settings (use low NR setting)
* Limited dynamic range, highlight clipping in JPEGs
* Default contrast a bit on the high side
* Occasional (mild) fringing
* Occasional focus hunting at long end of zoom in low light and in macro mode
* Slight video lag in live preview makes very short shutter lag rather pointless
Sony Cyber-shot W80:
Conclusion - Pros
* Good resolution, particularly in the middle of the frame
* Nice design - very slim, all-metal body
* HDTV output
* Decent macro
* Good image quality in good light; bright, sharp images with immediate 'consumer friendly' appeal
* Very reliable exposure system in most shooting conditions
* Face Detection works well and is fast
* Accurate flash exposures
* Lots of detail at lowest ISO settings
* Easy to use with attractive interface
Conclusion - Cons
* Slow, unreliable focus in low light
* Combined effects of noise and noise reduction at high ISO's and in low light produces poor results
* Noise reduction effects visible even at low ISO settings
* Fiddly controls and fancy fade effects which make menus feel unresponsive
* Screen is low res, has low refresh rate in low light and isn't that bright
* Strong red-eye even with red-eye reduction mode
* Fairly weak flash with fairly slow recycling
* Multi AF can get confused in busy scenes and focus on the wrong area
* Image stabilization doesn't seem particularly effective
* HDTV output requires additional equipment
* Minor issues with highlight clipping and color fringing and flare
* Some corner/edge softness
* No manual (custom) white balance
Canon PowerShot A710 IS:
Conclusion - Pros
* Good resolution
* Clean and detailed results across the frame and zoom range
* Useful 35-210mm equiv. 6x zoom lens
* Effective image stabilization
* Fairly light noise reduction means less fine detail is lost at higher ISO settings (though see below)
* Fast, reliable focus
* Reliable exposure and white balance and accurate color (though a bit too 'vivid' by default)
* Sophisticated and comprehensive features and controls
* Good range of in-camera tonal and color adjustments
* Excellent build quality for a 'budget' camera
* Very little purple fringing
* Compact and lightweight
* Big, fairly bright (though low res) screen
* Excellent battery life from 2x NiMH batteries
* Good balance of noise reduction and detail retention at higher ISO settings
* Excellent macro mode
* Excellet movie quality
* Optional add-on lenses, filters, 40m underwater case and slave flash
* Good value for money
Conclusion - Cons
* Highlight clipping and occasional over-exposure in bright, contrasty conditions
* Combined card / battery compartment can make changing cards without losing the batteries fiddly
* Zoom is a bit jumpy (not enough steps between 35 and 210mm)
* No dedicated button for ISO and no custom modes / shortcuts
* Our sample had occasional auto orientation errors (landscape shots being tagged for rotation unnecessarily)
* Slow flash recycling (and fairly slow shot-to-shot times in general)
* Low res and very slightly laggy screen
* Images a bit soft viewed at 100% - benefit from a little sharpening
* ISO 400 and 800 do look quite noisy
Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3:
Conclusion - Pros
* Uniquely versatile compact with 28-280mm equiv. lens
* Excellent resolution, surprisingly sharp lens
* Unusually versatile aspect ratio options
* High quality construction for the price
* Little (if any) color fringing
* Very low distortion
* Good shot-to-shot speed
* Reliable white balance with fine tuning
* Feels fast and responsive with some important improvements over predecessor
* High speed (and accurate) focus; near class-leading performance
* Superb, bright, high-resolution 3.0-inch screen
* Decent movie mode with 848 x 480 pixel 30fps wide screen option
* Image stabilization works well
* Histogram in record and playback mode, full on-screen exposure information
* Excellent on-screen menus and control system
* New 'natural' and 'vivid' color options
* Easy - and fun - to use
* Good value for money
Conclusion - Cons
* Heavy noise reduction - make ISO 400+ usable only for small prints
* NR smoothing/smearing of fine detail and texture even at ISO 100 (and fairly strong at ISO 200)
* Mild vignetting at widest zoom setting / maximum aperture
* No manual control of shutter speed or aperture (not a huge issue to most users)
* Images look a little soft and flat using default settings
* Separate sharpness, saturation and contrast controls would have been nice!
* Occasional exposure problems and clipped highlights when shooting in bright light
* Closest focus not close enough, macro mode slows down focus and is not that impressive
* Focus hunting at long end of the zoom in low light and near close focus limit
* No longer allows zooming during movies
Canon SD800 IS:
Conclusion - Pros
* Good resolution, good color
* Useful and fairly rare 28-105mm zoom range
* Clean, detailed results at lower ISO settings
* Reliable exposure system
* Fast and accurate focus
* Very responsive
* Excellent user interface, easy to use
* Face detection AF/AE (it works most of the time but is a bit of a novelty)
* Effective image stabilization
* Superb build quality and styling
* Decent macro mode
* Punchy results out of camera
* Decent flash performance
* Large, bright, high resolution screen & optical viewfinder
* High quality movie mode
* External ISO control
Conclusion - Cons
* AiAF focus a bit unpredictable - turn it off
* Very little manual control
* ISO 200 and 400 suffer from the effect of noise reduction and loss of low contrast detail
* ISO 800 and 1600 of limited use
* Finish very susceptible to marks and scratches
* Still no exposure information for shutter speeds over 1/60 sec
* Some corner softness and some highlight clipping
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