Life on Earth through the eyes of its inhabitans

The stylish compact cameras are generally conceived as exposure machine, not quite reaching the level of the top-notch digital compacts. With a few exceptions – for that matter, the Leica D-Lux 4, whose test you can find here on our website, surely deserves to belong in the category alongside the top camera models. And convincingly enough, so does the decent Canon PowerShot S90, the pretext of this review.

Digital reflex cameras with absolute certainty belong to the top of contemporary photographic equipment and Canon belongs among the leading manufacturers of these advanced machines. Just as it applies for compact cameras, digital reflex cameras offer various types to choose from. This review introduces the most advanced model of the Canon digital SLR's utilizing the APS-C image sensor - Canon EOS 7D.

Thanks to digital technology, the field of photographic equipment saw the entrance of companies, which had very little to do with cameras at the time when film ruled the industry. One could name, for instance, Panasonic, Sony, and also Casio. This Japanese company has long been more than just a calculator manufacturer. Among others, Casio’s portfolio features also digital cameras, which are definitely not uninteresting.

If you even remotely follow the development of digital photography technology, you could not have missed that one of the basic parameters – resolution – has slowly and continually been improving. This year, and apparently for the first time in history, the opposite took place: for its flagship product among compact cameras, model PowerShot G11, Canon used a sensor with a lower resolution than its predecessor, the G10.

Digital technology allowed conventional optical viewfinders in cameras to be replaced by electronic displays (which of course have a lot of other functions). The typical characteristic of digital cameras is thus a sizable LCD display on the back side. But would you think of placing a display on the front side of the camera, too?

We perceive the overwhelming majority of cameras as sensitive devices that need to be handled with due care because unfavorable conditions such as humidity or dust are usually not tolerated by the electronics and the fine mechanics of cameras. But there are exceptions – the so-called outdoor devices – designed to withstand relatively rough conditions.

There are hundreds of types of compact digital cameras on the market and many are like peas in a pod. None the less, it is possible to find interesting items in manufaturers’ selections, even though they may look very inconspicuous at first glance. This is exactly the case with the Fujifilm FinePix F70 EXR.

Given that in our review, we declared the Olympus Pen E-P1 a legend the moment it was introduced, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1 can be labeled ‘another one’. Actually, it is a direct competitor to the Olympus and as a matter of fact, only the second model of this new concept of professional compacts with exchangeable optics.

There are many photographers, who get along with a lens with a fixed focal length, but many people prefer zoom lenses – lenses with a variable focal length. And quite a few users love the so-called wide-range zooms, which can “zoom” ten times and more.

Only demanding photographers are willing to carry around heavy equipment. The common user prefers smaller and lighter devices, which can be carried around in a small bag. And if a camera is literally pocket-sized, has an attractive design and interesting functions, its success on the market is guaranteed. This is all true of the Canon Digital IXUS 200 IS.