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“To be brutally honest, apart from the more powerful sensor the P5100 doesn’t offer a lot of improvements over the P5000. It has a new EXPEED image processor, supposedly the same one used in recent Nikon DSLRs, but apart from that the new camera shares virtually all of its features with its predecessor. That’s not a bad thing, because the P5100 is a well designed and nicely specified camera, but it would have been nice to see a few of its shortcomings addressed. The P5100 still has no Raw mode, no manual focusing and no adjustable white balance. It does have some limited manual image control, but not over colour or tone. If you already own a P5000 it’s really not worth upgrading. ”

“The first thing you notice about the G1 is that it really is quite small. In fact, it’s smaller in every dimension than the ‘world’s smallest SLR’ (the Olympus E-420), which is one of the benefits promised by Micro Four Thirds’ elimination of the reflex mirror. From a design point of view it is, in almost every respect, very careful to mimic DSLR design, with a large grip and command dial embedded in the front of it. And the result is a camera that will be instantly familiar to users familiar with DSLRs and, perhaps more importantly, one that is consistent with the expectations of users aspiring to own a DSLR.”

As one of the new Kodak Easyshare Z series cameras, the Z1012 IS is an excellent addition. With the second highest available zoom with optical image stabilization (O.I.S.) on a Kodak model, a 10-megapixel imaging sensor, full auto through full manual shooting modes and HD video mode (1280x720 30fps), this camera is packed full of features. The performance is good, however, it would be nice to see the camera able to capture more than 3 images at a time both in burst and single shot modes. The image quality both indoors and out is excellent with vivid, natural colors. With a MSRP of US$299.95, this camera would be a great choice for anyone looking for a mega-zoom model that doesn’t mind the small burst modes.

A fully-fledged mid-range DSLR in a compact body, at an entry-level price – this is how one could distill the essence of the Olympus E-520 into one sentence. The new camera inherits the very well designed body, efficient handling and semi-professional feature set of its predecessor, and gains important capabilities such as wireless TTL flash control, Shadow Adjustment Technology and contrast-detect auto-focus in Live View. JPEG shooters will be delighted to learn that the default tone curve applied by the in-camera processing yields much more pleasing out-of-camera results, particularly with respect to the way specular highlights are rendered.

For full-frame digital SLR or film users, the 20mm ƒ/2.8 shows off its poorer performance issues, especially for sharpness and light falloff. Whether this performance is poor however, depends on your point of view; if you’re looking for a lens which isolates a centrally-located subject by means of sharpness and light falloff, the lens does it spectacularly. If you need even light distribution and even sharpness, the 20mm prime will disappoint, especially at ƒ/2.8. At other apertures, you have a better chance of getting what you need.

“There’s very little to criticise in the overall specification and performance of the E-420. I like it’s size - it’s ideal for travelling and is reminiscent of my old OM4 in some aspects of its handling. Images are generally good too, with excellent sharpness and detail. Colour is crisp and while exposures are slightly underexposed to my taste, they do maintain good tonality throughout the range. The Four-Thirds system is somewhat contentious amongst the more vocal geeks on the forums, but it has many benefits and is definitely worthy of consideration to anyone coming to a DSLR for the first time. The Olympus E-420 is a pleasure to use and it’s simplicity combined with the more advanced features allows the newbie to learn and grow as well as just enjoying taking good images.”