Cameras

Capturing a photo from behind you is just one of the features with this Samsung digital camera.

While a few may still be wowed by huge MegaPixel, most now know it’s the quality of the CMOS that gives quality of image, here you get a perfectly respectable 12.1MP and an excellent 20x optical zoom in a small form factor.

Having looked at Samsung printers, smartphones and tablets, it is time to check out the company’s photographic line-up with its WB750 model.

With ‘Flips’ now a discontinued line there is a gap in the market for a small – pocket size – camcorder, this one from Kodak is waterproof to ten feet and has a range of special features as well as the ability to take stills as well as video.

I recently spent a couple of hours at the Broadcast Video exhibition, a great deal of what was on show was very expensive Broadcast equipment but then some stands had almost the opposite. I know Manfrotto for various photographic accessories. I have reviewed portable flash units, tripods and monopods, here something different.

This little black offering fits into the smallest pocket but can take HD video as well as rather nice still images. Even if you have a larger and more powerful unit, this can be ready even before that comes from the bag.

The Pentax Q has the appearance of a compact camera yet it offers the user an interchangeable lens facility.

PowerShot are the larger of two small Digital Camera ranges offered by Canon. This unit is larger than most and on first glance could be mistaken for a DSLR unit. The main difference is that its lens is not interchangeable.

I first saw this early last autumn at the impressive restaurant at OXO tower. I took some great images from their outside balcony over the Thames and have been impatiently waiting to get my hands on one to give it a thorough review.

Not slim, not sleek and the cream colour makes it look a little strange. However the important thing is image quality and here I have no complaints, in fact this ultra compact model has other features not always found with other small cameras.

The Canon Ixus 230HS is another offering in possibly the best range of small pocket cameras around. This is the latest Ixus offering, Canon do another ‘smaller’ unit the PowerShot apart from their many offerings in the DSLR market place.

I had to find my long lost feminine side to review this and endured many a ribbing while reviewing it, mind you there were certain parts of London I avoided as a man of mature years with a very pink digital camera could cause problems.

A waterproof camera that can by the aid of GPS tell you where you were when you took the image or movie. I did not get a chance to test if the two features worked together; in fact the only waterproof tests were in my bath.

This tiny handheld unit has probably got more capture power ability than a full size tripod mounted film unit of not that many years ago, so for not that much money you can capture HD movies and sound without any real effort.

Here I am looking at three different tripod type devices to allow you to let go of your camera. First the Hybrid that works with DSLR or pocket cameras. The other two are smaller the Micro250 for the pocket offering and the Micro800 for the larger pocket offering or the smaller DSLR.

Available in a choice of lime green, champagne silver or black (as in the case of the review model), the Ricoh PX is a waterproof, shockproof and dust-resistant digital camera. Perhaps I should have included the word “compact” into that description as the camera certainly qualifies in this respect. The camera’s dimensions are 100 x 55 x 21.3cm in whatever mode or zoom level is currently being used.

A small digital camera from Kodak, this however is part of their idea to make sharing easier and the camera itself has a 16MP image size and comes with 5x optical zoom so can it offer nirvana of everything to everyone?

Here something brand new and LED light that can also be a flash that has just been released. The second item also from Manfrotto is something all serious amateur photographers need is a bag to keep all their items in.

The Sony NEXC3KB is described as an Interchangeable Lens Digital Camera, what a lot of people would call a DSLR, it is small and easy to use but still has most of the ability you would expect from a DSLR unit, meaning excellent images.

I hesitate to use ‘entry level’ about any camera from Nikon. The Nikon Coolpix L23 is a small digital camera and probably the nearest thing they do to ‘point and shoot’ however this is still a more than competent piece of camera equipment.

This is described as waterproof, I assume that applies when a partial sleeve is applied. What is more interesting is the zoom is not with the normal lens extension but by using a sort of periscope action inside the unit.

While I have been concentrating on children others need gifts and those who have a hobby – in this case photography – can be an older child, a parent or grandparent, so here are a couple of suggestions from Manfrotto.

Since PowerShots went to solid batteries their size can get nearer that of their other range of pocket cameras the Ixus. However they still form a bridge between the tiny Ixus and Canons high end range DSLR offerings.

A small – very small – digital camera from one of the best camera manufacturers. In fact if you are well built you may find some of the controls a little fiddly this is as a direct relation to the small – even by modern standards – size.

Anyone who has seen wildlife shows on the TV will have seen larger versions of something like this. What has made that hole, who has done that, where has this come from, all things that this still and movie offering may solve.

Another tiny (in size) PowerShot - the Canon PowerShot A3200is from Canon. Since going to the solid battery offering for PowerShots they have managed to fit everything into a body that means the whole unit slips easily into a pocket.

If you enjoyed the Wallace & Gromit Claymation shorts then you might like to try your hand at creating your own videos using stop-motion captures.

By the time you read this you will be able to buy this rather nice DSLR unit in a range of colours as well as the more normal black. To me – providing it’s not pink – I could not care what colour it is providing I get decent images.

The first item for those who like to record what they are doing even with still images or video while out and about. The second is a lead that is always not where it should be or just not long enough to connect without movement.

A company perhaps better known for photocopiers and large printers but they have produced digital cameras for a while. However this is the first of their units to have come my way, but all decent recent units have similar features.