What's New - December 2007
December 18
Review posted for 
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS!
Canon's PowerShot SX100 IS makes long zoom photography point-and-shoot simple, with a no-nonsense design that still offers room to grow as your needs grow. The Canon SX100 IS is mid-sized and uses AA batteries, like one of Canon's A-series, yet it has a long, image-stabilized zoom lens, like the Canon S5 IS. With a simple, clean layout, the SX100 has an 8-megapixel sensor, a 2.5-inch screen, a 10x zoom, and a manually operated swing-up flash. Face detection works well in the Canon SX100 IS, finding faces very quickly; and after capture, it zooms in on the primary face to help you verify focus. The Canon SX100 IS's lens performed well optically, except for some pronounced chromatic aberration, which is unfortunately common in long zoom digital cameras. Canon users will be familiar right away with the SX100 IS, and those new to digital photography will warm up immediately to this practical long zoom digital camera. Click here to see our review of the Canon PowerShot SX100 IS.
December 15
Review posted for 
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T2!
The Sony T2 is a breath of fresh air, incorporating 4GB of memory in the camera, replacing awkward buttons with a sensuous touch screen, and wrapping the whole package in an elegantly sculpted aluminum frame the size of a pack of cards. The Sony T2 automatically organizes your image collection by date and frequency within the date, and also provides a unique playback mode inspired by scrapbook design. But it doesn't forego Sony's sophisticated slide show playback either. You get both with the T2. And it's no slouch when it comes to performance, greatly reducing shutter lag even if you don't prefocus. But with such a small size, there are bound to be trade-offs. Click here for our review of the Sony Cyber-shot T2.
December 12
Full review posted for 
Panasonic Lumix DMC-L10 SLR!
The Panasonic L10 surprised us with its good quality and excellent design, incorporating many features long missing from digital SLR cameras. We weren't as surprised to see how good the L10's 14-50mm lens performed, because we expect greatness from that Leica badge, and the lens doesn't disappoint. The Panasonic L10 reminds us of an FZ-series digicam that grew into a digital SLR, inheriting all the goodness of that series, and some of the troubles as well. Along with the great optical performance come a few troubles with the sensor, including demosaicing errors in certain lighting. Nevertheless, though we think its price is high for an entry-level digital SLR camera, the Panasonic Lumix L10 delivers a lot of unique features that work well, including a Live View mode that incorporates face detect autofocus and many other contrast detect options for focusing without leaving Live View. What's more, the LCD can flip out and swivel in many directions for more unique compositions. Click here for our full review of the Panasonic Lumix L10.
Full test results and sample images posted for
Nikon D300 SLR!We've just posted our full test results of the impressive Nikon D300 digital SLR, one of the most anticipated cameras of the year. Our full-production sample of the Nikon D300 has finally moved from the lab and into the hands of our reviewer; but in the meantime we're able to bring you a complete set of test shots (including sample RAW files), detailed image analysis, and performance results just in time for the holidays. Watch for our usual Imatest results, user report, and full review, coming soon! Meanwhile, check out our Nikon D300 Initial Test!
December 7
Review posted for 
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18!
With its fine Leica lens, the Panasonic FZ18 digital camera really shines in the long zoom category, delivering amazing corner sharpness across its 28-504mm zoom range. Though the Panasonic FZ18 feels a little too light at first, you quickly come to appreciate its small, lightweight form for all the zoom value it offers in such a small package. We were disappointed in the high ISO performance, especially in tungsten lighting, but for daylight shooting the Panasonic FZ18 is the long zoom you want to have along. The Panasonic FZ18's optical image stabilization helps make up for the loss of high ISO quality, and face detect autofocus will help ensure you're locked onto the right target. Click here for our review of the Panasonic FZ18 ultra long zoom digital camera.
December 4
First sample shots posted from production
EOS-1Ds Mark III!
Our full production sample of the Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III arrived yesterday, and we have an initial set of test images shot with it available tonight. The level of detail is just stunning, I can't think of another word for it. Shooting with a 70mm lens, when viewed on-screen pixel-for-pixel, the images are considerably larger than life size, and we're seeing details in the Still Life target that we've literally never seen with other cameras. (Would you believe the texture of the threads in the cloth samples?) On the 2x res target, it looks like its resolution is somewhere around 2,400 - 2,500 line widths/picture height, a pretty incredible performance. It's not too shabby at high ISOs either, to the point that we wonder why Canon didn't offer an option to go one more EV higher in than they do. We'll be shooting more over the next couple of days, trying to split lab time between the Canon 1Ds Mark III and the new Nikon D3 that we just received as well. Stay tuned, there's plenty more to come (including a goodly collection of RAW files), but in the meantime, check out what's there on the samples page of our Canon 1Ds Mark III review!
First sample shots posted from production
Nikon D3!Our full production sample of the Nikon D3 arrived today, we only had time to run a set of shots of the Still Life target with it, but they're posted now in all their glory, including the full range of ISOs up to 25,600. Crazy fast! There's quite a bit of noise at 25,600, but I suspect a lot of photojournalists would be way more than happy with them for those "impossible" (with other cameras) shots. Check out the sample at ISO 6,400, it's pretty amazing. Yes, there's a little noise there, but it's ISO Six Thousand, Four Hundred for cryin' out loud. We'll be shooting more with it tomorrow, should have a good many more shots posted by tomorrow night (including a mess of NEFs), but check out what's there now on the samples page of our Nikon D3 review!
Review posted for
Fujifilm FinePix S8000fd!The Fujifilm S8000fd is an ultra long zoom digital camera with an 18x optical zoom range and an 8.0-megapixel sensor. Its impressively long lens is shored up by the Fuji S8000fd's image stabilization system, and like many Fujifilm digital cameras, the S8000fd has very fast face detection. We particularly liked the Fujifilm S8000fd's two default Scene mode options on the Mode dial, the Natural Light and Natural Light with Flash options, the very quick pre-focus shutter lag and the comfortable grip. The Fujifilm S8000fd's control buttons are a little stiff, but that's not as important as how printed quality at higher ISOs fell short of our expectations. Click to read our review for more on the Fujifilm FinePix S8000fd!
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