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“The EOS 40D stands as a solid successor to Canon’s popular EOS 30D. It offers increased resolution, 30 percent faster continuous shooting, and enhanced computing power. A number of innovations, such as sRAW files, Live Preview, automatic dust reduction, and additional weather seals, also make their first appearance in the series, collectively creating a more dynamic and contemporized feature set. In terms of image quality, the 40D’s photos look great, but not significantly better than the 30D’s. The 40D’s noise levels are very low, though not any lower than the 30D. The 40D’s dynamic range is excellent, and slightly improves on the 30D. Color accuracy is almost identical, but the 40D’s resolution is less than impressive, even with the extra megapixels.”

Panasonic’s second digital SLR is a far more conventional affair than its first attempt, the DSC-L1. It’s also quite obviously aimed at a very different type of user - the beginner / first time user / upgrader from a compact. To this end the L10 has perhaps the most compact-like operation and user interface of any SLR to date (and if you were being cruel, the most compact-like JPEG image quality too). And though it may look a lot more conventional, in typical Panasonic fashion it has a few unique tricks up its sleeve, mainly centred around the sophisticated live view capabilities.

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The PowerShot A720 IS was a pretty snappy performer, overall. The camera takes about 1.1 seconds to extend its big lens, which is above average. Focusing speeds were good, typically around 0.2 - 0.4 seconds, and rarely exceeding one second. Low light focusing was excellent, thanks to the camera’s AF-assist lamp. Shot-to-shot speeds were minimal, except when you’re using the flash, where they were around 3 to 4 seconds. While the PowerShot A720 won’t break any speed records for its continuous shooting mode, I do like the fact that you can keep shooting until your high speed memory card fills up. The camera’s battery life is more than 20% above average, and that’s on just two AA batteries. Like all Canon cameras, the A720 IS supports the USB 2.0 High Speed standard.

With a street price of US$159 or less, the FujiFilm Finepix F480 is an appealing entry-level, 8-megapixel model. This is a simple camera, that doesn’t offer all of the fancy features found on other, more expensive digicams. If you’re one who is just getting into the digital market, and want a compact point-n-shoot model, the F480 will please. It can capture nice photos, has a versatile “Wide” zoom range and includes a very nice LCD. The only downfalls of this model are, the shooting performance isn’t quite up to par, and you can only record QVGA (320x240) video. Be sure to check out our reviews of other “F” series models for 2007, like the FinePix F40fd and F50fd. 

Panasonic has created a really nice ultra zoom camera in the FZ18, though once again, image quality needs improvement. It’s clear from shooting in RAW mode that the camera is capable of capturing a lot of detail, but unfortunately the Venus III engine removes a lot of it in the name of noise reduction. If you’re a typical point-and-shoot user who will be sticking to smaller-sized prints, then this really isn’t an issue, and you’ll be very satisfied with the FZ18. If you’re making large prints, viewing them at 100% on your computer screen, or shooting at high ISOs, then you can still love the camera, but be prepared to post-process to get the best results. While it’s not the ultra zoom image quality champion, the FZ18 has so much to offer that it easily earns my recommendation.