Photography News - The latest digital photography hardware and software news, reviews, articles, tips, techniques and more!

Ultimately then, the G7 is a camera that suffers in comparison with its predecessors. It also suffers from being neither fish nor fowl; too big, expensive and complex for the ‘average’ compact user; possibly (though by no means certainly) too limited for the high end / enthusiast user. And yet - taken on its own merits - it is without doubt one of the best, and most comprehensively-featured compact cameras we’ve ever seen, and one that (in the right hands) is capable of great results.

The Nikon D40 is an all new affordable, compact, point-and-shoot digital SLR from Nikon, it follows on from the D50 but at a significantly lower price point and with a subtly different feature set. The biggest news however is probably fact that Nikon resisted the temptation to keep chasing megapixels (hooray for that) and instead appear to have concentrated on what makes a good camera, a decent viewfinder, short shutter lag, very short viewfinder blackout…

Sponsored Links

• Dreamstime

  Immediately download from our huge collection of royalty free images. Thousands of stock photos added weekly!

• LightboxPhoto

  PHP Software for digital image hosting and asset management. Provides photographers, artists and artisans an affordable solution to displaying and selling their work online.

• Photostore by KTools

  Professional, user friendly, web based software package that enables you to publish and sell your photographs, images, artwork, prints and products online.

Overall it’s a nice camera worth buying if you don’t want to go up to an SLR just yet. It’s feels nice in your hand and is well balanced. The buttons are placed logically and are easy to use. It takes xD or Compact Flash and you can have both in the camera at the same time so you could carry all the storage you need in camera. It uses 4 AA batteries and these last a decent amount of time. I’ve yet to go through two whole sets in a day! If you want a camera that’s a bit better than a compact, has a great zoom and macro then this is the camera for you…

So aside from a few inconveniences, shooting with the Rebel XTi is thoroughly pleasurable. It works fast and accurately. No, it’s not a bulletproof tank, and some of the control buttons are just barely up from point-and-shoot. But given the image quality, autofocusing, fast shooting, and exposure controls of the XTi, it’s not just a deal, it’s a screaming, bloody, great deal…

Do I like the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ50? Yes, quite a lot. Am I disappointed that Panasonic stuffed a tiny 10 Megapixel sensor into it and then turned the noise reduction to eleven? Very much so. The FZ50 is definitely the best designed ultra zoom out there, and it’s a real pleasure to use. It’s also the largest and most expensive of the bunch—in fact, it’s even bigger and more expensive than some digital SLRs! If you’re a person who doesn’t plan on taking a lot of high ISO shots then I can certainly recommend this camera…