Bulkiness
The last criterion to take into account is camera bulkiness. The biggest one isn’t what we would have expected, the Ricoh with a 7x optic zoom, but it isn’t the case. This is a real success for Ricoh and too bad for Nikon with such a big Coolpix R4. Its 200 grams and 174 cm3 are the biggest of the 10 cameras tested. In the opposite position is the Casio that has only a volume of 85 cm3 and 155 grams. One fits into a jacket pocket and the other into your pant pocket.
Here are the last grades before we conclude:
Conclusion
We were looking for a compact, thin, fast, camera with image stabilization. Out of the 10 tested, one clearly finishes ahead, the Canon Ixus 800-IS. It doesn’t have major disadvantages, it’s good for macro, video and has a 4x zoom instead of the 3x of most of its competitors. We are sorry for those who would have liked to have seen a camera other than Canon wining, but the Ixus 800-IS is a real success. It isn’t perfect yet as there could be an intermediate speed between 1/10 and 1/5s to gain even more from stabilization. As explained above, while waiting we advise you to take a big memory card and shoot pictures in burst mode at 200 ISO rather than 400 ISO. This could better results despite the amount of poor pictures.
Canon might also work on the Digic processor and particularly the level of noise beyond 200 ISO.
Two cameras share the second place. There is the Fujifilm F11, a camera without stabilization but which deals better with noise level increases than others, and the Panasonic FX01. The price of both cameras is equivalent and they are much less expensive than the Canon Ixus 800-IS. Amongst the two, we prefer the second because of its reduced bulkiness and the presence of stabilization which facilitates shooting. But then again, the F11 captures pictures with less noise and it’s faster.
There are then the following cameras:
Casio: we loved the reduced bulkiness. There is no real stabilization. Casio plays on words, but it is appreciable to have such a camera always in your pocket…
Olympus and Pentax, two perfectly waterproof cameras great for the beach and swimming pool…
Sony: a good compromise for those who want to have a thin camera with real image stabilization unlike the Casio.
Now we get to cameras with serious drawbacks:
Konica Minolta X1 : overly fragile body, too slow, defects in white balance.
Nikon P4 : too big and too slow. It’s unfortunate because it captures very nice images and videos.
Ricoh Calio R3 : too much noise in pictures, overly strong Jpeg compression. This camera must only be purchased if your are looking for an ultra flat compact with a big zoom.
