Hot Shots

GIZMO GALLERY

Entry-level digital cameras are a great way to start a stint in amateur photography. For instance, take the Samsung Digimax S760, which is an entry level digital camera with a very low price tag. One of its main strengths is ease of use. At roughly Rs 6,800, it’s a steal. The Digimax S760 has 7 megapixels and a 3x optical zoom lens, which is acceptable for its genre. Taking into account the price of this camera, the sharpness of the shot really stands out. One drawback is that it can only focus from 10 cm away.

Closely following Samsung is a stylish 8-megapixel camera — Olympus’s Stylus 850 SW. There is also an upgrade by company, the 10.1-megapixel Stylus 1030 SW. In effect, both models include face detection for autofocus and auto exposure, ISO-boost digital image stabilisation instead of the more-effective mechanical stabilisation found in some of Olympus’ other Stylus models and a handful of in-camera editing functions, including red-eye removal, panorama stitching of up to three shots and more.

The Stylus 850 SW offers the ability to withstand a drop of up to 5 feet, can shoot submerged down to almost 10 feet in water, and can operate even in extreme cold.In addition, an LED Macro Illuminator is available in Stylus 850 SW for enhancing shots of close-up subjects during macro photography.

The new flagship in Nikon’s Coolpix S (for Stylish) range is the S710. This point-and-shoot camera comes with 14.5-megapixel resolution, 3.6x zoom lens and optical image stabilisation. But just adding more resolution does not guarantee a winning camera; in other ways, the S710 is less impressive. At a time when many cameras are shooting high-definition video, the S710 shoots only standard definition, and has only an analog video output.

But a few features are worth mentioning. It has a face-priority AF that can recognise up to 12 faces, so that users will not be disappointed again when shooting that group photo. Selecting a shot is also easy with its extra-large 3-inch wide-viewing angle TFT monitor with anti-reflection coating.

The S710 has approximately 42MB of internal memory plus an SD/SDHC expansion slot. Advanced features like the Scene mode sub-menu that contains 16 pre-sets including a close-up mode that can focus down to 10 cm with the wide-angle setting are present. (Using the Macro control on the arrow pad achieves the same objective.) This is the camera for those looking for a compact camera that offers top-level images and superior features in a sophisticated package.