Days ago, EISA released the results of its Best Product Awards 2008-09. With relevancy to our site, attention is specially drawn to three serious compacts. (Although the WX1 is not serious compact for a lack of manual mode, its 24mm focal length, G lens and great high ISO IQ are noteworthy -- actually rather mouth-watering.)
European Compact Camera 2009-2010: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX1
EISA verdict: The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX1 is a very compact camera that is equipped with a high quality f/2.4-5.9 'G-lens' with a useful zoom range of 24-120mm. It features an Exmor R CMOS sensor that yields excellent image quality while maintaining low noise levels. At the highest resolution of 10 million pixels, the camera can make a series of 10 images per second. Thanks to the extraordinary Sweep Panorama function, you only have to move the camera across a scene to make excellent panoramics that will be stitched together in-camera. Sony's new Twilight mode combines multiple exposures to produce hand-held low light images with very little noise.
Now the following winner comes as a no surprise.
European Camera 2009-2010: Olympus PEN E-P1
EISA verdict: The Olympus PEN E-P1 is an elegant camera with an appealing retro design. The camera utilises the new mirror- and prism-less Micro Four Thirds system, which allows the E-P1 to be very compact and lightweight. Besides the compact Micro Four Thirds lenses, users can fit existing Four Thirds, OM and Leica M mount lenses to the body via an adaptor. As the sensor is larger than that found in compact cameras better image quality and lower noise levels can be achieved. The camera doesn’t have a viewfinder but the LCD provides a clear view even in bright conditions.
The next winner has been generally overlooked and, therefore, my gasp.
European Advanced Compact Camera 2009-2010: Samsung WB1000
EISA verdict: The Samsung WB 1000 is an advanced compact camera that features an elegant titanium body and a pair of analogue dials on the top plate that display battery-life and memory capacity information. The Schneider-Kreuznach 5x optical zoom, that has a 24mm widest focal length, has very well controlled distortion, while the 12.2-million-pixel CCD and SLR-like exposure modes help users to shoot creative pictures. Still and MPEG4 HD moving images can be reviewed on the camera's 3'in high-quality AMOLED 460,000-dot screen. These features, together with the built-in optical and software-based stabilisation, ensure that high quality images are easy to achieve.
The other "grown-up" winners can be seen here.
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