The Ricoh CX3 is a brand new point-and-shoot compact camera featuring a 10.7x, 28-300mm zoom lens in a body less than 3cms thick. Successor to the 6-month old CX2 model, the Ricoh CX3 incorporates a 10 megapixel back-illuminated sensor and an enhanced noise reduction function which promises to improve image quality when shooting in low-light scenes.

The long-zoom compact market is a highly competitive one, and the CX3 has a couple of serious rivals, the most notable of course being the multi-award-winning Panasonic TZ7 and its replacement the impressive-looking new TZ10  which I’ll be reviewing later this week.

Inside is where the differences between the CX3 and its predecessors become more apparent. Its sensor is a 10-megapixel back-illuminated CMOS variety, which is purported to reduce noise as the sensitivity increases, as well as retain more detail and colour.

Other new features include an enhanced dynamic range double shot, which is a form of HDR where the camera takes two shots, and merges them together in-camera to preserve the most detail in photographs with tricky lighting situations. The CX3’s fast burst shooting speed allows the camera to take 5 frames per second at full resolution.

There is also a new S-Auto mode (taking the place of the easy auto on the previous cameras) which removes most of the control from the photographer and selects the most appropriate scene mode for the image.

The Samsung NX10 is a new mirror-less compact digital camera with a large image sensor, electronic viewfinder and interchangeable lenses which is intended to bridge the gap between a small compact and large DSLR. A clear rival to the Micro Four Thirds cameras from Olympus and Panasonic, the NX-series is a proprietary rather than open standard, using the brand new NX-mount lens system. The first Samsung NX model has a 14.6 megapixel APS-C sized CMOS sensor, which is physically the same size as those used in entry-level DSLRs and notably larger than the MFT sensor, promising better image quality especially at higher ISO values. Styled like a mini-DSLR, the NX10 incorporates a high-resolution electronic viewfinder with eye-sensor, large 3 inch AMOLED LCD screen, built-in pop-up flash, fast contrast auto-focus system, 720p HD movies and Supersonic Dust Reduction system.

The camera body is small and compact — comparable to the size of the Olympus Pen or the Panasonic G1. It’s got a pretty solid construction and a simple design. If you’ve owned a dSLR before, you won’t have any problems familiarizing yourself with the NX10. It’s got both manual controls and the usual pre-sets.

On top of shooting 14.6-megapixel still images, the NX10 can also do 720p movie capture (H.264 @ 30 fps) which is a very useful feature mostly found on a lot of dSLR cameras nowadays .

Besides the lack of a mirror box and pentaprism that contribute to the NX10’s small size, there’s a 3.0-inch AMOLED (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode) monitor that promises better visibility in bright outdoor conditions along with a faster refresh rate and higher contrast than the typical LCD monitor. Unlike the competition, an electronic viewfinder is built in, not an optional add-on. A 720p HD video capability is onboard and still images can be captured in JPEG or RAW formats. Face detection technology and automatic sensor cleaning are available and Samsung also promises fast AF performance and easy-to-use menus.

Sony’s Cyber-shot DSC-T77 is a slim 10.1 Megapixel compact with a 4x optically-stabilised lens and a 3in touch-sensitive widescreen display. Announced in August 2008, it’s the successor to the Cyber-shot T70. Sony’s kept the display, sliding front panel and minimal physical controls, but increased the resolution by two Megapixels, extended the zoom range from 3x to 4x, enhanced a number of the automatic settings, and slimmed the unit down to a mere 15mm thick.

The earlier T70 was popular with gadget-lovers who were drawn to the touch-sensitive controls and smile-shutter feature which actually waited until the subject looked sufficiently happy before automatically taking the shot. With the new T77, Sony’s further enhanced these features while adding a longer zoom and making the body even slimmer. As before though, the big question is whether the touch controls are a novelty or a genuine enhancement to the user interface. Find out in our review of the Cyber-shot T77 where we’ll test the new features and compare its image quality against key rivals in a similar price bracket.

Like all of Sony’s recent cameras, the Cyber-shot DSC-T77 has built-in memory instead of having a memory card included in the box. The T77 has a paltry 15MB of onboard memory, which holds just three photos at the highest quality setting. Thus, you’ll want to get a large memory card, and fast. The DSC-T77 supports Memory Stick Duo media, and I’d start out with a 2GB card.

The DSC-T77 can use two different batteries: the included NP-BD1, and the optional NP-FD1. The only difference between the two is that the FD1 has the InfoLithium feature, which allows the camera to tell you exactly how many minutes of battery life you have left. Both batteries have just 2.4 Wh of energy, which is about as low as you’ll find

There’s no denying that the T77 is a very cool looking gadget. Everyone to whom I showed it was impressed by its slim body, elegant styling and solid build quality. It is available in a wide range of colours including silver, black (shown here), pink, brown or bright green. Despite its low weight the camera’s body is made of steel and is exceptionally well built. The sliding front cover is solidly mounted and feels very secure, and when closed it provides good protection for the lens and flash.

The all-black T500 has a mostly metal body, and sliding the front cover down reveals not only the optically stabilized 5x f3.5-4.4 33-165mm-equivalent lens but a larger-than-normal stereo microphone as well. The whole body measures 3.9 inches wide by 2.4 inches high by 0.8 inch deep, but the little camera feels more substantial than Sony’s slimmer models usually do with a weight of 6.2 ounces. A texturized rubber grip juts out from the right side giving you something to push down on to drop the lens cover and hold while shooting. On back a wrist-strap loop sticks out providing you someplace to rest your thumb next to the 3.5-inch touch-screen LCD. On top are the only physical controls: a power button, play button, and a shutter release that has a zoom ring on front and a switch at the back for quickly jumping from still shooting to movie mode.

The T500 camera integrates a wide (16:9), 3.5-inch (measured diagonally), transflective, touch panel LCD screen for easy navigation, framing and viewing in strong light conditions. It has a Carl Zeiss® 5x optical zoom lens with a wide field of view (33 – 165 mm, 35 mm equivalency). It incorporates Optical SteadyShot™ image stabilization and high sensitivity settings up to ISO3200 helps combat blur and facilitate flash-free shooting for natural-exposed photos. The model also incorporates face detection technology, an intelligent function that automatically detects up to eight faces in the camera frame and adjusts focus, exposure and flash. If having to wipe off fingerprints is a deal breaker, you’ll want to skip this camera–and probably the increasing number of touch-screen models, for that matter. Aside from fingerprints, you might take issue with the touch screen’s unresponsiveness. It’s adequately fast for poking around the three onscreen menus (Home, Menu, and Display) along with the handful of controls that are accessible directly from the screen including flash, macro, timer, and resolution. Navigating the camera settings is easy enough. The Home menu gives you access to all the main features and options, while the Menu screen provides context-sensitive options; for instance, if you’re taking still pictures, you get all the shooting choices like scene modes and resolutions. Nevertheless, Sony dropped this Home/Menu distinction in its 2009 models for a reason.

Besides the enhanced video functionality, the Sony Cybershot DSC-T500 has a 5x 33-165mm Carl Zeiss zoom lens (35mm equivalent), a 3.5-inch touch screen LCD display, Optical SteadyShot image stabilization, face detection, and sensitivity to ISO 3200. The T500 has an HDMI connector so images and video can be shared on high-definition TV sets, and new slideshow features with music and fades. The new Sony Cybershot DSC-T500 digital camera will be available at the end of September for about $400. For more on the T500, click on the press release link below.

The fact that the T500 features a large switch dedicated to changing the camera over from still image capture to video shooting might be your first clue that this isn’t your typical digicam with video capability tacked on. Using their experience designing camcorders as a jumping-off point, Sony appears to have thrown a lot of weight behind the T500’s high-def video recording capability.

The Canon Digital IXUS 980 IS (also known as the PowerShot SD990 IS Digital ELPH in North America) is the first-ever Digital IXUS / ELPH camera to offer a true manual mode, instantly appealing to all those DSLR owners looking for a pocketable second camera. Other highlights include a 14.7 megapixel sensor, a stabilised, 36-133mm equivalent, 3.7x optical zoom lens, a 2.5-inch, 230,000-dot LCD, a zoom-coupled optical viewfinder, a QuickShot mode, a live histogram, Servo AF, i-Contrast, Face Detection and a Face Self-Timer function. The Canon Digital IXUS 980 IS is available in silver, black and, in some markets, red as well, for a recommended price of £349.99 / $399.99 / €459.99. Zoltan Arva-Toth discovers if the range-topping Canon Digital IXUS 980 IS is the best-ever IXUS / ELPH.

The menu system is logical and fairly straightforward. Once you get used to the way Canon menus work then you can use any Canon camera. The camera lets you choose the image size (14.7m, 9m, 5m, 2m, VGA, Widescreen 4416 x 2480), aspect ratio (4:3, or Widescreen), and how much compression is applied to the images (Superfine, Fine, Normal). Higher quality images take a large amount of memory, so a high capacity memory card is definitely recommended, unless you’re prepared to sacrifice image size or compression to fit more pictures in memory. Battery life is rated at approx. 280 shots according to CIPA standards. I was able to take over 320 shots before the battery went flat. Battery life will be dependent on the kind of use you make of the camera. A large memory card is relatively cheap, and highly recommended, I would recommend at a bare minimum a 2gb memory card, if you intend to take fine JPEG images, and preferably a 4gb memory card, or larger.

One thing that hasn’t changed from the 960 IS is the stabilised, 36-133mm equivalent, 3.7x zoom lens that sits fully retracted into the body when the camera is switched off, but extends very rapidly upon power up. The maximum aperture is a fast f/2.8 at the wide end but a slow f/5.8 at the other extreme of the zoom range. In Manual mode – which of course was missing from the 960 IS – you have a choice of using the lens at full aperture or dialing in an f-stop that’s approximately 3 stops slower. You don’t get anything in between the two values, and the reason, I believe, is that there is probably no iris diaphragm built into the lens. So whenever choosing the ’smaller aperture’, what you do is simply engage a built-in neutral density filter. To test my theory, I took two shots at the telephoto end, one at the maximum aperture of f/5.8, and another one at the other selectable f-stop of f/16. The depth of field in the two photographs turned out to be identical, suggesting that stopping down did not affect the physical size of the aperture. Using an internal ND filter instead of a diaphragm actually makes some sense in a camera that has a small sensor – diffraction would eat away at details if you used ‘real’ f/16 anyway. The downside is that it limits manual control over exposure – fortunately, you still have two other variables (shutter speed and sensitivity) to play with.