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High-Performance Point & Shoot Checklist: by Jason Schneider The top 10 features serious enthusiasts should look for when buying a high-end digital compact camera! Article rating: 3.60

If you’re a DSLR shooter, chances are you also carry a compact digital camera in your pocket or pocketbook for fun shooting or capturing those unanticipated moments. Until fairly recently, few of these minuscule wonders could come anywhere near the picture-taking capability of your DSLR.  Indeed, when it comes to framing flexibility, responsiveness, eyelevel optical reflex viewing, and sheer firepower, the DSLR is still the king of the hill. But nowadays there’s a new breed of high-performance 8-,10-  and 12-MP point-and-shoots on the market that can deliver DSLR-caliber image quality along with point & shoot convenience. Targeted at serious enthusiasts and pros they’re capable of delivering a level of performance and features that would have seemed incredible only a few short years ago.

If you’re an experienced, advanced DSLR shooter who is willing to pay around $300-600 for a cutting-edge digital compact with a full feature set that performs on a par with a DSLR, this article will help you choose the model that’s just right for you. No, this is not a test article designed to steer you toward purchasing any particular cameras (an inherently subjective and personal decision) but a comprehensive checklist of essential and desirable features that will guide you to the appropriate choice.

In addition to the features listed here, make sure to check out the camera’s basic performance parameters before deciding on a particular model. These include the camera’s capture-lag (a.k.a. shutter lag) time (which should be under 0.25 sec, the shorter the better) before you buy. And if action shooting is important to you, check the burst rate at full resolution. Note: Few high-megapixel point-and-shoots provide burst rates of over 2 frames-per-sec at full resolution but several will shoot faster or longer bursts at medium and lower resolution settings.

Ten Essential Features For Serious Point & Shoots

1. RAW Capture: The ability to capture RAW files gives you maximum flexibility in post-production. A RAW file is not really an image per se—it’s the actual lossless, unprocessed, uncompressed image data—the digital equivalent of a film negative. Advantage: You can always go back to a RAW file as the starting point and use it as the basis for creating a new rendition of the image without any loss of image quality.

The Canon Powershot G9 allows you to capture images in RAW format, providing the most image information possible for post-capture image adjustment

2. Full Range of Exposure Modes: This includes P program) A (aperture priority) S (shutter priority) and M (manual). Make sure the camera provides full manual control, with the ability set apertures and shutter speeds independently of one another—a benchmark of any serious camera. A shiftable P mode is that lets you shift the exposure settings while remaining in P mode is also useful.

3. Optical Image Stabilization (OIS). Marketed under various names (e.g., Canon IS, Nikon VR, Panasonic Mega O.I.S.) this system senses camera movement (hand shake) and compensates by moving elements within the lens to provide a steady image on the image-capture sensor. As a result, you can take sharp handheld pictures at shutter speeds two to four stops slower than you could with a camera lacking such a system. OIS provides real benefits when you’re shooting in low light and especially at long telephoto focal lengths, when the effects of handheld camera shake are most pronounced.

Note: Digital Image Stabilization is not the same thing as OIS—it automatically selects higher ISOs and prioritizes faster shutter speeds when shake is detected. In short, it does mitigate the negative effects of camera shake, but does not address the fundamental cause of the problem. In short Digital Image Stabilization (DIS) is a worthwhile feature in a camera that also has OIS, but it is not a good substitute for OIS. Make sure your camera has OIS or OIS and DIS.

4. High Quality Movie Mode: More and more shooters are using point- and-shoots to capture video, so make sure your high-end model can shoot video movies at VGA or better resolution, and at a 30 fps or faster framing rate. If you plan to shoot longer video movies, the next feature is also very important in extending your shooting time range.

5. SDHC and/or CF Card Compatibility: The latest flash cards in both these categories provide capacities up to a staggering 16GB, and many serious shooters are now using SDHC and CF cards in the 2GB-8GB range. The higher the camera’s megapixel rating, the more important it is to have maximum storage capacity using SDHC and CF card compatibility, and it’s crucial for shooting hi-res video.

6. Hot Shoe: Having a dedicated hot shoe enables you to use off-camera flash via a dedicated cord or wirelessly. This is the best way to achieve the sophisticated lighting effects that are essential for creating professional caliber people pictures, including portraits, family gatherings, and sports events.

7. True Manual Focus: Most point and shoots have an AF-lock feature that lets you lock focus on a particular subject by holding the shutter release partway in, then recompose and shoot. While this provides a useful degree of focus control, true manual focus—the ability to focus the lens manually on any element in the frame as you observe the image on the LCD or electronic viewfinder (EVF)—is even better. It’s especially useful when shooting portraits at wide apertures or focusing precisely on close-up details.    

8. In-Camera Image Enhancement Tools: These include in-camera redeye fix, post-production color-balance settings, and various creative-effects modes. The ability to enhance images in camera prior to downloading is a convenience, especially when you’re sharing images on the fly.

9. Big LCD: Having an LCD of 2.7 inches or larger makes it easier to judge details such as expressions on the screen in capture and playback mode, and more satisfying to display images for family and friends. It also provides a reasonably large image even when the camera shifts to vertical display mode.

10. Separate Optical Viewfinder: This is a very useful item for composing pictures under adverse lighting conditions, such as in brilliant sunshine at the beach, where even the brightest LCD images may be hard to see. It’s also a valuable tool for shooting non-flash pictures in low light at slow shutter speeds, or when shooting at long telephoto settings because it lets you hold the camera right up to your eye and against your face for added handheld stability. 

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	This is good information to share with customers. Thank you Posted by: Melinda Wilburn May 22, 2008 @ 10:26 PM EST
	Very nice! Very usefull when looking for a new super zoom digital camera!! Posted by: Allan May 23, 2008 @ 2:39 AM EST
	It was concise and informative w/o being too complicated. Please keep up the good work! Posted by: Stanley Pearlstein May 29, 2008 @ 10:53 AM EST

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