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The more things change, the more they stay the same, and though Canon's PowerShot superzoom line has gone from SX20 up to SX30, the new model has received a review that's strikingly similar to that applied to last year's model. On the SX20 they liked the focal range but hated the noisy image quality, and such is the case on the SX30 IS. This year it has a whopping 35x focal range, going from 24mm all the way up to 840mm and adding "very effective" IS to boot. The problem is double-trouble on the image quality front: noisy shots anywhere north of ISO 400, and chromatic aberrations that add a little too much Technicolor delight on contrasty shots. Ultimately it sounds like a hugely flexible and capable shooter, but only for those who aren't too picky about quality -- and who don't mind the $429 MSRP.  Photography Blog

Nikon was joining the league of mirrorless cameras, the whole world's been waiting for its arch rival to make the next move in the battle of smaller prosumer cameras. Today, Canon finally gave away some hints about which camp it'll side with -- probably just sticking with traditional DSLRs, but smaller. Canon's Masaya Maeda didn't share any specific details, but here's how he dodged Reuters ' inquiry: "It's not a question of whether or not you have a mirror. There is a consumer need for good-quality cameras to be made smaller. We will meet this need." And to add some icing to that bland statement, Maeda reinforced that it wouldn't be a challenge for his company to retain a mirror (hence a viewfinder, which is essential for obtaining better results and higher shooting rates) in a smaller design, and that they've made very small SLR cameras before (likely in reference to the film era).  Whatever happens, here's hoping th...

Another player has entered the high-end compact camera fold, and this time it looks like Samsung is in it to win it. The TL500 (aka EX1) is a 10 megapixel shooter with a larger than usual 1/1.7-inch CCD backing up a 24 - 72mm 3x zoom lens that will take you all the way down to F1.8. In the Photography Blog review, that lens earned the camera one of its few criticisms, starting very wide but not offering enough magnification on the other end of the scale. A lack of 720p video recording is another bummer, but other than those two it's basically all positive, with the build quality and controls earning high marks, and the resulting images (helped by full manual exposure controls) looking as good as you'd expect. The camera isn't particularly reasonable at $449, but it does at least deliver on everything it promises.  Source: [via engadget ]