We can’t quibble with the 5.1MP Samsung Digimax U-CA 5’s $250 price tag, but when it comes to features and performance, the camera disappoints. The resolution is in the 4MP range, the menus are clunky, and we noticed a good deal of shutter lag during testing. The market is crowded with consumer cameras vying for your money, and most of them are better than this one.

Our tests revealed rather lackluster image quality, even for an affordable compact camera. Our daylight test shot revealed some purple fringing around certain objects, along with noise in particular areas of the photo. Still, there was very good color saturation and accuracy, and the image displayed good, solid contrast. In the flash image, we would have liked to see better, more even coverage throughout the shot. We found lots of noise, even with the ISO under 100, which is surprising. There was very good color saturation and accurate colors, and although the image was underexposed, it still had pretty good dynamic range.

For a 5MP camera, the camera did very poorly on our resolution test, scoring only 1,175, which is low even for a 4MP camera. The boot-up time was a little slow at 4.1 seconds, but the recycle time was more respectable at 2.9 seconds. There was significant lag in the shutter when we tested our flash shots, which does not bode well for capturing indoor action with the flash on. Yet we found no pincushion distortion and just the normal amount of barrel distortion in our wide-angle shot.

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The Fujifilm FinePix Z1 is flat, without any protuberances, and roughly the same size as a deck of cards. It offers a 5.1 megapixel resolution using a Fujifilm CCD HR and has a fully internal 3X optical zoom.

While we could have wished the FinePix Z1’s monitor to have a even higher resolution and an even better image, the Z1 is nevertheless an attractive camera: its finishing is flawless and its few external controls clearly designed for efficiency and ease of use. The Z1 starts up quickly — it is ready to shoot in under a second — and reacts instantly to its controls, including the shutter release.

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We got a sample of the Konica Minolta Maxxum 7D very late. We still wanted to have a look at this camera as it features a unique Anti Shake (AS) sensor. There is also a cheaper 5D planned to be released soon that has some fewer capabilities but uses the same base technology.

The Maxxum 7D is very well to handle and the layout of all controls is some of the best we have seen so far. Konica Minolta tried to get most features into your reach without using menus. The 2.5″ LCD is bright and very easy to read.

Minor issue: We often use a bubble level that we attach to the camera’s flash hot shoe. We cannot use it on the 7D as this camera has a different styled hot shoe for use with only Konica Minolta flash units.

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The Kodak Easyshare C360 camera bundled with the Printer Dock Series 3 offers a full-featured, affordable digital camera system with a touch of style. The elegant, pocket-sized design lets you take the camera everywhere, then capture, print and share both everyday and once-in-a-lifetime moments. The large, two-inch LCD display enables instant picture review and sharing right on the camera. Convenient, intuitive controls provide access to most functions with just a slight thumb movement.

Because getting the shot right is so important, this 5.0-megapixel camera offers a KODAK RETINAR 3X optical zoom lens and new advanced features such as digital red-eye reduction, in-camera cropping and a blur warning indicator to help you get great pictures time and time again. Fully automatic exposure control as well as 16 pre-programmed Scene exposure modes means that you’ll be able to get that special shot regardless of the subject or lighting conditions.

For people looking beyond just still pictures, the C360 also features TV-quality VGA (640×480) video at 24fps with sound and playback capability. Your pictures and movies are stored in 32MB of internal memory or on optional SD memory cards. USB connectivity and Kodak Easyshare Software makes downloading, sharing, and printing your pictures a breeze.

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This latest model, the Pentax Optio S45, is an entry-level four megapixel model featuring a big 2.5 inch LCD monitor screen, an SMC Pentax Sliding Lens 3x optical zoom, an all-metal body and a range of fun and useful options that puts the competition to shame. It does all of this for under £125 and still manages to look good.

There’s no doubt the S45 is an attractive camera, and thanks to the sandblasted matt metal finish it will stay looking good for a long time. Pentax build quality has always been good and the S45 is certainly no exception. The pressed aluminium body feels very strong, with no creaks or flexing when squeezed. Design and handling are superb, with a comfortable handgrip on the front, easy-to-use controls on the back and that huge LCD monitor. The card slot hatch is separate from the battery hatch and is latched and spring-loaded. The battery hatch is on the base of the camera, but since the tripod bush is right over on the left edge it might be possible to change batteries while the camera is fixed on a tripod.

In terms of image quality, the S45 is comfortably above average, although it does have some noticeable issues. Noise control is very good with only a trace of colour distortion and speckling visible at 200 ISO, and even producing useable images at 400 ISO. Colour rendition is superb, even though the test shots were taken on an overcast day.

Unfortunately the S45, or at least our test model, had some major problems with lens distortion, especially at wide angle. Only the centre part of the image was really sharp, with very visible distortion over much of the rest of the image. Check out the test shot of the red door with the hanging baskets to see this effect. If you are considering buying an S45 it might be as well to check out this issue in the store before paying.

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