Category Archives: Digital Camera

Digital Camera reviews

Nikon D90 Digital SLR

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One of the key attraction of this month had to be the Nikon D90, which is also the costliest camera we’ve tested so far. Nikon has brought in the D90 to replace the trusted D80. The D80 was one of the best upper entry level to mid range cameras from Nikon. The D90 then has a lot to prove before it can earn its place.

Going through the D90′s key features, it certainly looks impressive. The D90 utilises a 12.3 Megapixel CMOS sensor going up from the D80′s 10.2 Megapixel CCD sensor. The sensor size remains unchanged. Most entry level cameras are supplied with an 18mm to 55mm lens which can be quite limiting to the kinds of photos you can take. We received the camera with a Nikkor DX 18 to 105mm VR zoom lens. This makes a good all purpose kit for wide angle and telescopic shooting.

Nikon D90 Front View

Nikon D90 Front View

The shape and size of D90 is somewhat larger then the D60 and also the D80 itself. The body is made with plastic, but feels extremely sturdy and the buttons are great as expected on any Nikon DSLR.

The D90 now comes with a 3 inch screen that is incredibly vibrant and crisp. The other thing that makes the camera interesting inclusion of Live View that allows you to use the LCD screen to focus. This is a feature rarely found on DSLRs.

The D90 is undoubtedly one of the easiest cameras to operate, if you have that a basic knowledge of using a decent point-and-shoot camera. All the functions of the camera such as ISO, White Balance, Exposure Metering and Focusing Modes can be accessed by holding down the respective buttons and rotating the jog dial. Shutter speed and aperture size have dedicated dials.

Its very difficult to criticize the D90 on quality as well. The 12.3 MP CMOS sensor does its job well. Photos turn out crisp across the entire aperture range. The lens isn’t made for marco photography, so, you will have difficulty with up-close shots. Mind you, great close ups can be shot by moving back and zooming into the target. Good depth of field can be achieved easily too. The flash is powerful and good enough for indoor photography every now and then.

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Popularity: 32% [?]

Canon Digital IXUS 80 IS

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The Canon Digital IXUS 80 IS is a camera very similar to the slightly superior IXUS 85 IS. It brings along a decently built design for people on the move. There aren’t too many settings and controls to play around with on this camera. It is made for users who want a camera that’s really compact to carry around – like a mobile phone of short.

One of the first issues is the battery door: as is the case with the IXUS 85 IS, the battery door here too feels weak and flimsy. Most of the interface design as well as the frame design is identical. The big change is in the Megapixel rating – the 80 IS is a 8 MP camera.

Canon Digital IXUS 80 IS

Canon Digital IXUS 80 IS

All the other Canon cameras in this price bracket run on AA batteries, but the IXUS 80 IS has a Lithium-ion battery. This, coupled with its compact design makes it a lot lighter than the rest. However, the shrunken size means its no longer chunky enough to hold in your hand as easily as the Powershot Series cameras.

Its overall performance isn’t bad at all. In just plain image and video quality tests, it lags behinds all the canon cameras, but not the others. Macro shots aren’t as easy to take as with the SX100 IS or the A720 IS. In video quality, once again, colors are a little too prominent, but the exposure meter helps changes the intensity of light instantly, and there’s not a lot of lag in lightning correction while moving from bright areas to dimmer ones. Overall, it’s a very good camera if you aren’t particular about pristine quality and manual controls.

Popularity: 17% [?]

Canon PowerShot A720 IS : Incremental Update

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Canon PowerShot A720 IS

The Canon PowerShot A720 IS is an upgrade to the A710 IS, which was a very good point-and-shoot camera-one of the best that we saw during our comparison test lest year. The most prominent change in the A720 IS, is it’s resolution. It is now an 8 Megapixel camera as posed to the 7.1 MP A710. The picture quality has stayed pretty much the some too. The ISO level on this camera goes up to 1600. The A710 IS had a maximum of 800. The amount of grain beyond 800 is pretty bad and should be avoided as fer as possible. The zoom lens is decent and theres no serious degradation of quality at maximum zoom.

The colors- as with all other Canons-are vary neutral and not exaggerated. The images aren’t too high on contrast so there’s a smooth balance between the dark and the bright areas. This makes for some good portrait photography. The flash is pretty powerful too and the slow sync mode works rather well in illuminating the background in shots with the flash on Macro shots are fairly easy to shoot and it’s possible to get extremely close to the object. The A720 IS now has a face detection feature , which works well and tracks people through darker areas as well.
The movie quality is decent and actually usable in low light situations . there are no sudden jumps in exposure while moving from bright areas to dark ones. Image stabilization evens out the bumps and the zoom works well, although a little aggressively, in the movie shooting mode. The A720 IS, is incrementally superior to the A710 IS. The problem with the A720 IS, is not so much to do with the camera itself, but with the other cameras even from canon itself in the same price bracket. The SX100 is more or available for the same price in the market and comes with a 10X optical zoom. If any, the A720 IS’s only advantage is that of being a little more compact then the SX100 IS.

Popularity: 25% [?]