Compact Camera Reviews

Low-tech cameras, a.k.a. toy cameras, a.k.a. plastic cameras, a.k.a. “you can’t be serious” cameras, have been around for a very long time.

The Nikon Coolpix A is an unusual camera with a very robust, retro design and a body based on a magnesium-alloy chassis. It is extremely compact but has a 16.2MP DX-format sensor (Nikon’s version of the APS-C format). It also incorporates Nikon’s EXPEED 2 image processor system.

Superzoom cameras, like Nikon’s Coolpix P1000 ($999.99) are popular because, let’s face it, people who buy entry level DSLR’s rarely, if ever, take the kit lenses off their cameras. I looked for statistics on this and didn’t find any empirical data but friendly retailers in the industry told me this assumption is true.

I’ve often wished I had a camera that could go from 24mm to 2000mm at the touch of a button and without being weighed down by a ton of glass. Okay, maybe not all the way to 2000mm and perhaps not in a power zoom, but you get my point. The Nikon Coolpix P900 superzoom (super-duper-zoom?) camera gives you that reach in a fairly compact body, relative to a lens with such a broad range of focal lengths.

The new Nikon P7100 offers many function buttons and dials along with a large mode dial on the top to choose standard exposure modes like P, S, A and M. The camera offers a full automatic mode, scene modes and special effect modes (like B&W, sepia tone effect, “High Key” effect and more). In addition, the P7100 offers three user modes that can be saved as U1-U3 and accessed directly on the mode dial.

Holga 135 BC Plastic Lens 35mm Film Camera: The BC stands for Black Corners effect and it creates prominent vignettes in your 35mm photos. The Holga uses all 35mmm formats films and it can operate without any batteries. There is a hot shoe on 135 BC, that allows you to use a flash when taking pictures at dark environments ( the flash is available separately). The Holga 135 BC is a fixed focus camera that offers four choices of object distances and two choice of aperture (f/11 and f/8). The Multiple Exposure effect can be easily achieve by not advancing the film after a frame has been exposed. There is a Lens/Filter for different effects available as an optional accessory. 

The Panasonic FZ150 is a super-zoom bridge camera with a 12MP sensor and an integral 24x zoom lens. The design of the body is similar to classic SLR systems, but the camera has no interchangeable lens system. It offers a zoom lens that ranges from a wide-angle setting (25mm) to an extreme tele setting (600mm, 35mm film equivalent). The FZ150 utilizes Panasonic’s newest version of the O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer), dubbed “Power O.I.S.” It works very well and allows users to shoot images with long shutter speed settings as slow as 1/20 sec when using the maximum tele setting of 600mm.