Nikon Coolpix S640 is priced at $239.95 that is $50 more than the price of S570. The S640 offers optical image stabilization, improved performance and extra options for shooting. The Coolpix S640 continues to have same 5x zoom similar to its predecessors. The S640 is an ultra-compact camera with 28mm equivalent wide-angle lens. However, the camera does not have HD-quality video mode. We recommend Nikon Coolpix S640 if you need an ultra-compact camera with good basic features. Despite having wide-angle lens, its aperture comes down to f6.6 on zooming out that makes the low-light shots iffy. This is acceptable on S570 because of the low price, but we won’t accept the Nikon Coolpix S640. The flash bulb is located on top left side and you will have to take care while positioning you finger, or else you may block it. Nikon Coolpix S640 has standard controls, which are easy to get used to. The shutter release buttons, zoom control and power button  [...]

We were wondering about what Samsung could possibly mean when they said Dualview on the camera name. We gave up, after thinking for a lot of time and we finally opened the product to find out for ourselves. What followed really blew us of our feet. Yes! It has a screen right next to the lens of the camera. The screen is used for self portrait and a few other functions that we will discuss later. But a presence of a dual screen would add to the cost and it does take up the price of the product a little. The screen of the Samsung DualView TL220 is about three inches and it is a touch screen interface. Most of the physical buttons have been sacrificed for the LCD interface. The LCD has lots of functions you may get confused with the features of the camera if you are a newbie. This camera has a lot of expert features and has been made for shutter bug freaks. It will get a while for you to get used to this camera if you have never handled one before. The LCD display of the touch screen  [...]

Canon PowerShot S90 has flash on the top of the body that pops up and retracts automatically when turned on and off. The camera is a bit slow when it comes to taking pictures, it will take 1.8 second for the first shot and then for shooting raw the time extends to 3.4 seconds.

There are options for the advanced user like exposure bracketing and focus bracketing. These options are not recommended for persons who are using a camera for the first time, they are sure to get confused. There are17 options for ISO from ISO 80 to ISO 3,200. There are plenty of options available for this camera but you have to be a professional to understand them.

We were happy with the lens, but there was a small amount of barrel distortion at the camera’s widest 28 mm equivalent position. The zoom is short on this camera (3.8x)

The photo quality of this camera is one of the best we have seen, there is a wide option of resolution from 3648 x 2736 to 640 x 480. Pictures can be stored in RAW or JPEG format, the video resolution is 640X480 and 320X420. Videos are stored in H.264 (mov) format. There is no optical zoom feature while recording. There are host of shooting options available like Snow, Beach, Indoor, Sunset, Foliage, Aquarium, Fireworks, Landscape, Low light, Underwater, Kids & pets, Night scene, Portrait mode, Stitch assist, Night snapshot.

Memory supported is MultiMediaCard, SD Memory Card. The device is powered by Lithium ion rechargeable and a single recharge has enough juice for 220 shots.

Nitty Gritty:

Canon PowerShot S90 is a good camera in its class and we would recommend this camera to shutter bug freaks who use cameras frequently. This device is not for amateurs because it is costly and they would get confused with the controls.

Samsung HZ15W is a 10 MP camera and it is quite good, the photo quality didn’t disappoint us. But it was not impressive either. The camera can churn out photos with good detail and the sharpness. There is a command lever near the LCD which can be used to adjust exposure compensation, adjust ISO or white balance. The command lever sometimes comes in the way and there is a possibility of accidental presses while taking a picture or zooming. There is a four way directional pad that is used for changing display information, setting a timer, entering macro and manual focus, or turning on the flash. The Menu/OK button in the centre is used for accessing basic shooting, sound, display, and system settings. There is a Function button, which goes by the name Fn and it is for context sensitive shooting. If you use the command lever for ISO or white balance, then you can use the function button for exposure compensation, which will be controlled again by the command lever. A second press of the  [...]

The exterior of the camera is all metal  and looks quite rugged. It will sit in your pocket comfortably, it is compact and slim. The camera is 9.1 MP, the photos don’t look like they have been shot from a 9.1 MP rated camera. Photos could have been better. There are options on the camera which support high speed, but they consume extra battery and the resolution drops. Casio Exilim EX-FC100  has 5X optical zoom and we were glad with it, but then we realized that this option was not available for video shooting. In the video mode there are three options high speed, normal or slow shooting. In the slow shooting mode the video is captured in slow motion and you can click a specific picture. For example, a person is running to catch a bus, you are capturing the video in slow motion. You can run the video later and then click the picture where the person gets on to the bus. In the high speed mode, there are options for high speed anti shake and high speed night scene. The results  [...]

This device has all the features that one looks in a camera. The lens of the camera bulges out for finer pictures. This camera doesn’t have a view finder though and so this disappoint the people who are use this feature. Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1 feels great on your hand and it is comfortable to hold it, the Nikon Coolpix S70 which we reviewed earlier had a lot of issues while handling and we ended up getting our finger in between the lens most of the time. The Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1 is simple to use in basic controls and basic photography. There is a camera memory where in you can store up to six faces along with their names and birthdays. There are also settings to change the aperture and shutter speed and see the effects in advanced, just like “print preview” in computers. Storing of video content is available in formats of AVCHD or Motion JPEG MOV files. You will find that the AVCHD is better than the motion JPEG format. It also has four levels of intelligent exposure  [...]

Nikon is a well known name in the camera industry and has been known to make good digi-cams. Nikon Coolpix S70 won’t disappoint you either. The camera looks really cool. You have to slide down a thin metal lens cover and it reveals the lens inside. The back of the device has a big 3.5 inch, 288k dot resolution and it is all touch screen. Now this may be good for people who love touch screen technology but it adds to the cost of the camera. If you are crazy about touch screen and don’t mind shelling out a few more bucks for it then go for this one. The touch screen big screen takes up the entire back panel and the lens are located at the top. So when you are clicking the photos you are bound to get a finger in between them and spoil your photos. So make sure you handle the camera right before clicking. We had some problems with this, the finger or the shadow of the finger  [...]

The smaller screen on the front is a very nice touch and don’t be fooled with the simplicity. It also can display your countdown for clicking photos on timer, and can display animation to grab attention of babies while clicking pictures. It surely is a very clever thought and a truly interesting feature. The image stabilization helps in self portraits too. It seems like the whole camera has been designed around the front screen, and the final result is pretty interesting and attractive. The touchscreen at the back hides a whole pot load of menus and selections. There are some very interesting features and one of them is focusing in program more. You can touch your desired point of focus on the screen and the camera focuses and shoots, keeping your point of focus as priority. There are thirteen screen types which you can manually choose and a further eleven in auto shoot mode that the  [...]

When I saw the SD980, I first noticed that it was a modified version of the SD960 IS. To begin with, the design and features are not all that impressive. However, the long zoom lens and wider touch screen make up for the design and features shortcomings. The photography and videography quality are good. The performance is also pretty impressive .But it does call for plenty of improvisations. If you are seeking touch-based controls, this Camera is worth your money. As you can expect of the Digtial Elph series, the SD980 is an attractive and small camera that is available in the beautiful hues of silver, purple, blue and gold. The 3 inches wide touch screen display is apt for HD video capturing but for clicking still photographs it is not recommended. If you want to use the full screen in the best possible way for shooting, you’d better drop the resolution from 12 megapixel to 4,000 X 2, 248.Its not necessary that you use the touch screen for all your shooting purposes. You can use  [...]

If you like to control the aperture and the shutter speeds, than, sorry, this is not the camera you’d like! It is heavy on auto-focus, so newbie shutterbugs would prefer it to the amateurs. Whilst you can control the focus, light metering, color effects, white balance, exposure and ISO in Normal Picture mode, you can exercise limited control over the settings in other modes. The ISO settings help you click photos in very low light conditions although the pictures turn out too noisy and at ISO 1600 are almost unusable. A max ISO of 800 is recommended for low light shots. The FS15 again asserts that it is a camera for those relatively new to digital photography by offering us 26 scene modes. Apart from the usual modes like landscape, portrait and night mode, there are some new modes to play around with. You can try the pin-hole and the film-grain modes, although you’ll be restricted to 3 megapixel in these modes. The movie mode helps you capture clips at VGA quality. Keeping  [...]