10 Hot Digicams

The Editors, April, 2003

We pick our favorite consumer models Digital imaging is finally reaching maturity. In our last two "Hot Digicam" pieces, there were no repeat members from the previous year's list, reflecting the rapid rate of digicam model turnover. This year's favorites list includes a mix of new models, repeaters from last year, and some new-generation versions of last-year's list members, indicating that things are settling down a bit. Of course, PMA 2003 will have happened by the time you read this, and there will no doubt be some exciting introductions there. But the days of a manufacturer's whole digicam line turning over a couple of times a year are past. And that's a good thing: Finally, you won't have to watch in frustration as that "latest, greatest" digicam you just bought becomes obsolete before the warranty expires! Here are our favorites from the more than 100 consumer digicams on the market today. As always, we present our list members in alphabetical order by manufacturer.

1. Canon PowerShot G3 Replacing the PowerShot G2 at the top of Canon's consumer digicam lineup, the PowerShot G3 features the same 4-megapixel (2272x1704-pixel) resolution, but offers a host of improvements, including a fast 35-140mm (35mm-camera equivalent) f/2.0-3.0 optical zoom lens with 3.6X digital zoom; a new proprietary DIGIC signal processor that provides better image quality, increased processing speed and up to 3-minute movie clips with sound at 320x240-pixel resolution; repositioned controls for easier operation; Wide-Area FlexiZone AF/AE for quicker and more-accurate focusing and exposure control, even with off-centered subjects; iSAPS technology that enables the camera to analyze a scene for quicker and more-accurate focusing, exposure and white balance; photo effects (high saturation, low saturation, black-and-white, sepia, low sharpening) now available in every shooting mode; built-in ND filter; three metering systems; focus bracketing; interval shooting; first and second-curtain flash sync; manual flash-output adjustment when desired; RAW settings after exposure; "My Camera" custom settings; direct printing to several Canon printers; and lots more. Retained are such niceties as a variety of Image modes plus program AE, shutter- and aperture-priority AE and metered manual; storage on CompactFlash cards and Microdrives; a flip-out vari-angle 1.8-inch color LCD monitor plus optical finder, and more. Camera dimensions remain 4.8x3.0x2.5 inches, while weight drops to 14.5 ounces. Suggested retail price is $899. Canon U.S.A., Inc., 800/OK-CANON; www.powershot.com.

2. Fujifilm FinePix S602 A repeater from last year's "favorites" list, the FinePix S602 Zoom features Pixel Data Coupling Technology and a 3.1-megapixel Super CCD to output images up to 2832x2128 pixels. Dual media slots let you store the TIFF or JPEG images on SmartMedia or CompactFash cards, as well as Microdrives. Other features include a Super EBC Fujinon 35-210mm zoom lens, autofocusing down to 1.6 feet (to 0.4 inch in Super Macro mode) plus manual focusing, a host of exposure modes (program, shutter- and aperture-priority AE, several subject programs, plus manual), three metering modes (64-zone TTL, spot and average), built-in red-eye-reducing autoflash plus hot-shoe for external flash, electronic eye-level viewfinder plus 1.8-inch color LCD monitor, 30-fps movie and voice-memo capability, ISOs up to 1600 (at 1280x960 pixels), and more. Dimensions are 4.8x3.2x3.8 inches and 17.6 ounces. Street price is just under $700. Fuji Photo Film U.S.A., Inc., 800/800-FUJI; www.fujifilm.com.

3. Kodak EasyShare LS443 The top model in Kodak's EasyShare lineup of docking digicams, the LS443 features 4-megapixel (2448x1632-pixel) resolution, a 3X (35-105mm equivalent) optical zoom lens with 3.3X digital zoom, one-touch picture transfer via the included EasyShare dock, a lithium-ion battery that recharges while the camera is in the dock, 16 MB of built-in memory to complement storage on SD/MMC cards, a 1.8-inch indoor/outdoor LCD monitor plus an optical viewfinder, three metering modes, multi-zone and center AF, simple dial setting of shooting modes and more. An AC adapter is included. Dimensions are 4.3x2.4x1.8 inches; weight is 7.9 ounces. Price is $469.95. Eastman Kodak Co., 800/235-6235; www.kodak.com.

4. Kyocera Finecam S5 A new 5-megapixel addition to Kyocera's digicam lineup, the $600 Finecam S5 is tiny (3.6x2.3x1.3 inches, 8.5 ounces), yet delivers 2560x1920-pixel JPEG images, which it stores on tiny SD or MMC cards. It's got a 3X (35-105mm equivalent) f/2.8-4.8 optical zoom lens with up to 4X digital zoom, auto and manual focusing (down to 4.8 inches in macro mode, at all focal lengths), three metering modes (multi-area evaluative, center-weighted and spot), ±2 stops of exposure compensation, built-in autoflash, shutter speeds from 8 seconds to 1/2000, a bright 1.6-inch color monitor plus an optical zoom viewfinder, B/W and sepia modes, 120-second AVI movie mode, voice memo capability and more. Kyocera Optics, Inc., www.yashica.com.

5. Leica Digilux 1 Another repeat from last year's list, the 4-megapixel Digilux 1 features a Leica look. The camera stores its 2240x1680-pixel images in TIFF or JPEG form on SD and MMC cards, and records them through an excellent 33-100mm f/2.0-2.5 Leica DC Vario-Summicron ASPH triple zoom lens. A large 2.5-inch color monitor (plus an optical finder) makes composing, reviewing and camera settings easy. Nearly 4-fps shooting, fast processing, and clean styling of its lightweight magnesium-alloy body are very nice features, as are the full array of auto and manual exposure and focusing modes. Focus and exposure bracketing, three metering modes and PIM and DPOF compatibility are additional assets. There's also a movie mode. Dimensions are 5.0x3.3x2.7 inches and 12.9 ounces. Street price is just under $900. Leica Camera Inc., 201/767-7500; www.leica-camera.com.