Expert Recommendation
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Overview
Packing a 4x zoom and a swivel LCD in a compact body, the 8 megapixel Canon PowerShot A630 captures fabulous views of landscapes and is a terrific value for travelers.
My Best In Class Pick
Canon PowerShot A630
All of these cameras are compact and have an auto mode along with lots of scene modes so it’s easy for novice users to operate. Canon also offers control over settings like white-balance and ISO. Olympus doesn’t. The Canon A630 (1.93” thick) and A560 (1.7” thick) score higher because of their faster performance, higher resolution sensors and control over important settings like white-balance and ISO. The image quality is also good at higher ISO settings.
As a travel camera, the Canon A630 is the preferred choice because of the higher resolution, the swivel LCD (for overhead shots, flower & street photography), and manual modes. It also only costs $20 more than the Canon A560. The Canon PowerShot A630 is therefore my Top Pick.
However if you shoot mostly outdoors landscapes, and can live with around 5-7 second delays between shots, the Olympus is worth considering because of its wide-angle lens and compact size.
Olympus FE-200
The Olympus FE-200 is the only wide-angle budget offering from Olympus. It is 1.1” thick and packs a 6 megapixel resolution sensor with a 5x optical zoom lens (equivalent to 28-140mm on a 35mm camera). The camera has a Digital Image Stabilization (DIS) mode, which boosts the ISO setting to shoot at higher shutter speeds thereby reducing blur (however this increases the noise in the images). The full-press shutter lag is around 1 sec, and the shot-to-shot speed is 4.4-7 seconds. It uses a proprietary battery.
Canon PowerShot A560
The Canon PowerShot A560 has a 7 megapixel resolution sensor with a 4x optical zoom lens (equivalent to 35-140mm on a 35mm camera) and has good high ISO performance. It has a start-up time of 1.6 seconds. The pre-focus shutter lag is less than 0.1 seconds and the full-press shutter lag is around 0.50 seconds. It also has a face detection feature (when the shutter button is pressed halfway, the camera finds the faces in the frame and sets the exposure and most suitable focus point). The camera has an optical viewfinder and runs on two AA batteries. The battery life is around 500 shots/charge.
The camera received high praises from Steve’s Digicams (a popular camera review site).
How It Works
Unbiased experts recommend the best digital camera for you based on the types of photographs you intend to take, your budget, and desired features.
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How to Pick Digital Cameras
- For Travel Photos
- For Photos of Children or Pets
- For Action or Sports Photos
- For Photos in Low Light
