ultracompact

If you like touch-screen cameras, keep reading. The Coolpix S100 is Nikon's top-of-the-line ultracompact featuring a large, 3.5-inch 820K-dot resolution OLED touch screen, likely the same one used on last year's S80, which was really quite beautiful. In fact, the whole design of the S100 seems to be unchanged.

What is new is a 16-megapixel BSI CMOS sensor and a 5x f3.9-4.8 28-140mm lens. With that new sensor comes all its advantages such as the potential for better low-light photos and video (kind of important for what's essentially a nightlife camera), faster shooting performance, … Read more

Until recently, most point-and-shoots were too slow to capture active kids. I mean, you could get something, but probably not the shot you wanted. The switch to fast CMOS sensors, such as the one in the new PowerShot Elph 510 HS, has helped speed up capture. Add in the 510's wide, long lens with improved image stabilization, full HD, and slow-motion movie capture, and a large touch screen all in a body that's somehow less than an inch thick and you have what sounds like an ideal snapshot camera for families.

The 510 HS updates the SD4500 IS, … Read more

So it seems digital zoom is experiencing a bit of a revival after years of consumers being told not to use it. Panasonic has its Intelligent Resolution/Intelligent Zoom function, which extends the zoom ratio by about 1.3x while maintaining the picture quality. Sony's new By Pixel Super Resolution technology in its latest ultracompact, the Cyber-shot DSC-TX55, puts that ratio to shame.

Instead of just magnifying pixels or cropping in, Sony's Clear Image Zoom uses pixel creation and pattern matching when it "zooms" in. Sony claims this will maintain the image quality and keep the … Read more

My first thought when I saw the Casio Tryx was that Casio took a smartphone and turned it into a single-function device. It has the dimensions of a smartphone, a 3-inch touch screen, and a fixed-focal-length lens similar to what's on a mobile phone, but with better specs. Where the design differs from a smartphone or the average point-and-shoot is that the display can pivot through its frame a full 360 degrees while the screen itself can rotate 270 degrees. With its built-in orientation sensor, you can hold the Tryx in your left or right hand and the picture … Read more

If the only thing stopping you from buying a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FH5 was its lack of a touch screen, you're in luck. Along with the announcement of the considerably more interesting Lumix DMC-G3, Panasonic announced the FH7, a 16-megapixel ultracompact with a 3-inch touch screen.

The photo above spells out all its features for you, but if you want to read more about it, you can hit up Panasonic's global site (which is ridiculously better than the U.S. site).

No release date or pricing was announced, but since the FH5 is $150, I'd put the FH7 … Read more

Panasonic, out from under the product deluge that is CES 2011, announced today refreshed versions of its high-end point-and-shoot cameras. If you recently bought the compact megazoom Lumix ZS5, ZS6, or ZS7, the rugged TS2, or the touch-screen ultracompact FX75, you may not want to read on because some of the new tech is actually worth having.

The ZS10 and ZS8 get a wider, longer lens than their predecessors, and the former gets a 3-inch touch screen. The TS2 update, the TS3, gets GPS and is more rugged. The FX78 (replacing the FX75) gets a larger touch screen, a less … Read more

One of the best parts about Panasonic's higher-end touch-screen ultracompacts is that they feature brighter than usual lenses. In the case of the FX78, you get an f2.5-5.9 24mm-equivalent wide-angle lens with a 5x zoom. That's not as nice as the f2.2 on its predecessor the FX75, but it's still good.

Its other key specs include a 3.5-inch touch-screen LCD and a 12-megapixel high-speed CCD sensor. The sensor is a new design and it's paired with Panasonic's Venus Engine FHD processor. This combo allows for high-speed burst shooting--full resolution at 3.… Read more

It's tough to judge just how small the Kodak EasyShare Mini is from the photo here. It's actually the same height and width as a credit card; it's not that much thicker than one either. That's pretty amazing considering this 10-megapixel camera still has a 29mm-equivalent wide-angle lens with 3x zoom and a 2.5-inch LCD.

The Mini doesn't do much beyond basics, though you do get Kodak's sharing features and some creative photo and video modes. It also has a built-in front mirror for self portraits.

Look for the EasyShare Mini in spring … Read more

Every manufacturer should really have a touch-screen pocket camera in its 2011 lineup and Kodak's is the EasyShare Touch. It's a 14-megapixel ultracompact with a 3-inch touch screen and a 28mm-equivalent wide-angle lens with a 5x optical zoom.

Beyond those basic specs you get 720p HD video capture with a one-touch record button, so no fumbling with switching modes; HDMI output; automatic photo organization that sorts by people, date, keywords, and videos; artistic effects for photos and videos; and, of course, Kodak's Share button for quickly tagging your shots to be sent off to e-mail addresses or … Read more