Four of the Top-Rated Digital Cameras there are for Less than $500
Go to any well-stocked photography department at an electronics store and you’re likely to be completely overwhelmed by the dozens (if not hundreds) of digital cameras at every price point and for every kind of demand. Go on CNet or some other website for the reviews, and you’re likely to be just as overwhelmed. What you need is a shortlist of the top-rated digital cameras there are on the market. Let’s look at just such a list, assuming that what you’re looking for is a compact camera.
Samsung 12.2MP Dig Camera 4.6X Opt 3
Let’s start with the Samsung 12.2MP Dig Camera. For an ultracompact camera, it certainly packs a punch with a 12 megapixel sensor. It comes with front and back LCD screens and a 27mm wide angel lens. For the $440 that is the asking price, 4,000×3,000 pixels in still photography is pretty good. Of course, the main differentiating feature of this camera is the Rear Touch Screen LCD. The camera takes sharp and clear pictures and has a great face recognition and image stabilisation in place.
Canon PowerShot S95 10 MP Digital Camera
The Canon PowerShot S95, as you would expect from Canon, is a great little camera. It gives you picture quality that approaches what you would get on a digital SLR, and the great part is that it doesn’t force you to use the automatic capabilities alone. You can easily turn off the automatic functions and make everything manual. It gives you some pretty top class 720p video shooting, and the 10 megapixel sensor puts out beautiful pictures. The zoom is 3x, and the camera actually has an optical viewfinder. Still, the camera’s processor is a bit slow, and battery life is less than adequate. It also has no allowance for JPEG compression. It is worth the extra hundred dollars over the Samsung that it will cost you to buy it though.
Sony TX Series DSC-TX9/H 12.2MP Digital Still Camera
Coming closer to the top of our list of top-rated digital cameras, we have the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX9. Unlike the Canon above, this Cyber-Shot is extremely fast. It is spectacular in its low light photography abilities and it can actually capture 1080i video. It has 4X zoom, a 3.5″ LCD and 12 megapixels. For all this wizardry, it is surprising that this camera takes soft focus pictures alone. A nice feature is the organizing of the photos onto a calender like Nintendo DS does it. The battery life is not really great so that you might want to get a second battery if you plan to travel outside. Still, the camera is pricey at almost $300, and compared to the Panasonic below, it isn’t the best deal.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS1 12MP Digital Camera
On top of our list of top-rated digital cameras comes the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS1. As you would expect from Lumix, the camera is extremely rugged, and it is even completely waterproof. Dropping the camera won’t be a problem either. It is a drop-proof to 5 feet. This 12 megapixel camera with a 2.7 inch LCD doesn’t capture completely flawless pictures; you do have a certain amount of trouble with sharpness. Still, for about $330, the price-performance ratio is pretty super.
