Compact zooms (also known as travel zooms) are as close to an all-in-one camera as you can get: Feature-packed, pocketable shooters with huge zoom ranges that can shoot wide-open landscapes as well as candid close-ups from across a plaza. It's tough to choose a “best” compact zoom because so many different groups of photographers use them and each groups prizes different qualities. But, the compact zoom that promises to make the most people happy this year is the Canon SX230 HS, a 14x zoomer with 1080p video, a sharp widescreen LCD, GPS capability, PASM manual modes and, yes, the same 12.1 megapixel CMOS sensor as our favorite ELPH models above. There are travel zooms with longer zooms, more features, and better image quality, but each one seems to have a critical flaw. Despite a few irritating design quirks (the same that hurt its predecessors), the SX230 wins this category mainly by not messing up. There are other options sure to appeal to subsets of users: Enthusiasts will gravitate toward the Fujifilm F550EXR, which has the best still-image quality and most manual control (including RAW capture) in the class, though the video mode and interface are hampered with usability issues. The Nikon S9100 will enjoy some attention thanks to its class-leading 18x zoom and low-light images that pop, though it takes a few liberties in color reproduction. And for a more budget-oriented option, the Panasonic ZS8 offers an impressive 16x zoom, intuitive interface, and consistent image quality, though its performance is not quite as speedy. Since a wide swath of camera buyers are interested in the compact zoom class, expect to hear tons of conflicting opinions; that said, we're confident that a large number of folks will side with the consistency of the Canon SX230.Friday
Best Compact Zoom
Compact zooms (also known as travel zooms) are as close to an all-in-one camera as you can get: Feature-packed, pocketable shooters with huge zoom ranges that can shoot wide-open landscapes as well as candid close-ups from across a plaza. It's tough to choose a “best” compact zoom because so many different groups of photographers use them and each groups prizes different qualities. But, the compact zoom that promises to make the most people happy this year is the Canon SX230 HS, a 14x zoomer with 1080p video, a sharp widescreen LCD, GPS capability, PASM manual modes and, yes, the same 12.1 megapixel CMOS sensor as our favorite ELPH models above. There are travel zooms with longer zooms, more features, and better image quality, but each one seems to have a critical flaw. Despite a few irritating design quirks (the same that hurt its predecessors), the SX230 wins this category mainly by not messing up. There are other options sure to appeal to subsets of users: Enthusiasts will gravitate toward the Fujifilm F550EXR, which has the best still-image quality and most manual control (including RAW capture) in the class, though the video mode and interface are hampered with usability issues. The Nikon S9100 will enjoy some attention thanks to its class-leading 18x zoom and low-light images that pop, though it takes a few liberties in color reproduction. And for a more budget-oriented option, the Panasonic ZS8 offers an impressive 16x zoom, intuitive interface, and consistent image quality, though its performance is not quite as speedy. Since a wide swath of camera buyers are interested in the compact zoom class, expect to hear tons of conflicting opinions; that said, we're confident that a large number of folks will side with the consistency of the Canon SX230.
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