Kodak EasyShare M381

Kodak EasyShare M381 is a good low-priced point-and-shoot camera for anyone who doesn't want to fuss with a lot of controls--as long as they're also willing to deal with a few of the camera's quirks.

The 5X optical zoom (35mm to 175mm) EasyShare M381 looks and feels like many basic point-and-shoot cameras geared toward easy operation. The top of the camera hosts the shutter button, the mode dial, the power button, and a useful flash button for quickly switching flash modes.

Through the mode dial you get access to six shooting modes: Video, Smart Capture, Program, Blur Reduction, Sport, and Panorama. Most people using the M381 will set the mode dial to Smart Capture, which is essentially an automatic mode; the camera determines the settings based on the scene framed in the 3-inch-diagonal LCD.

Samsung DualView TL225

computer-article4u.blogspot.com - Samsung DualView TL225 packs various never-before-seen features into a single point-and-shoot camera. As a feat of engineering and design, it's an astounding piece of work. Performance-minded photographers, however, will see past those nifty features and demand better battery life, sharper photos, and more manual settings for the price.

"Subtlety" isn't in the DualView TL225's vocabulary. When you tap the area to the left of its 4.6X (27mm to 124mm) optical zoom lens, its black front faceplate morphs into a secondary LCD screen. The front-facing LCD screen has several useful functions, depending on the mode you set the In Portrait mode, you can aim the camera at yourself, compose a self-portrait, and have the shutter fire as soon as you smile (sometimes you have to exaggerate the smile for the feature to work, but it's still a neat trick--and if your nickname is Fang, you should have no problem). When the camera is in Self-Timer mode, the front screen displays a 3-2-1 countdown clock, eliminating some of the timing guesswork normally involved in unmanned shots. And when the TL225 is in the Children scene mode, the front LCD shows an enchanting animation of a clown, meant to capture a kid's attention just long enough to get a decent picture.

Canon PowerShot SD940

computer-article4u.blogspot.com - The Canon PowerShot SD940 IS might look familiar to you, especially if you've seen the Canon PowerShot SD780 IS. Both models have an eye-catching design--including a lens casing that's the same color as the camera's body--and both are available in a range of colors (the SD940 IS comes in black, brown, blue, and silver).

The similarities between the two cameras go beyond aesthetics. Both offer 12-megapixel image resolution, effective optical stabilization, 720p high-def movie capture (in MOV files at 30 frames per second), an HDMI-out port, the same fun Color Accent scene mode (along with about 19 other scene modes), and very good image quality for a pocketable camera.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX1

computer-article4u.blogspot.com - The 10-megapixel, 5X-optical-zoom (24mm to 120mm) Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX1 is among the first pocket cameras to offer Sony's redesigned, low-light-optimized Exmor R sensor. Those low-light chops are the marquee feature of this very compact camera, which excels in dark situations thanks to its unique shooting modes.

Rather than forcing the shooter to boost ISO equivalency in order to take a brightly exposed photo in low-light situations without a flash, the WX1's Handheld Twilight mode snaps up to six shots at different exposure settings in rapid succession, then overlays the images to create a sharper photo than most point-and-shoots produce in low light. The Handheld Twilight option works best in pitch-black settings; the sensor is so sensitive to light that any exposure to a light source in an otherwise dark environment can make those well-lit areas look a bit blown out and murky.

For example, in the first shot below, the light coming from the fountain is muted enough to create a fairly sharp picture. But in the second shot, the neon lights and the moon are bright enough to create a blobby glow around them.