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This story was printed from CNET Asia.
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Last month's chart was especially interesting because we saw Canon beginning to feel the heat from Fujifilm. The latter ousted the IXUS 860 IS off second place with its Finepix F100fd. Rock-steady Panasonic claimed three places with its Lumix DMC-FX36, TZ15 and new touchscreen point-and-shoot, the FX520. New additions included Samsung's NV24HD and Canon's new shooter, the IXUS 970 IS. Sony and Olympus continued to hang on with the Cyber-shot DSC-T70 and Mju 850SW, respectively. From the rankings, it would seem that consumers are getting more savvy with digicams and buying more powerful shooters. Are you one of them?
The good: Ultra-high ISO sensitivity of 12,800; wide dynamic range; intuitive face detection; short shutter lag; 5x optical zoom with 28mm wide-angle lens; good image quality.
The bad: Relatively heavy; awkward positioning of flash, easily covered by fingers; lacks full manual control.
The bottom line: Despite an awkwardly positioned flash unit, the F100fd didn't disappoint with its enhanced feature set and excellent image quality.
The good: 10x optical zoom in a compact form; accurate Intelligent Exposure mode; HD video recording; clear 460K-pixel 3-inch LCD screen; captures detailed images with vibrant colors.
The bad: Top dial easily sets to wrong position; no option to switch off Extra Optical Zoom.
The bottom line: With a 10x optical zoom, 28mm-wide lens and HD video recording packed into one compact form, the TZ15 is probably one of the most versatile Lumix compacts we've come across.
The bad: Slow startup time; Face Detection didn't recognize faces with spectacles; oddly shaped stylus.
The bottom line: Besides the startup time and stylus, it is hard to find fault with the FX520. Image quality has also improved and we really like the features that are incorporated with the touchscreen.
Click here for a feature comparison table.
