A while back I wrote about semi-professional digital cameras under £200, which were all super zoom but my focus then was more toward manual controls. So I decided to take a fresh look at what long zoom lenses can offer in some of the newer compact camera models.

If you are looking to buy a new digital camera instead of joining the megapixel race you are better off looking for unique features and great pictures. Optical zoom is one such unique feature of any camera as it lets you get close to the action and take beautiful macro and portrait shots.

Super zoom cameras these days don't have to be bulky or require lots of different lenses as you will see in this review, plus they can be fun to operate. There are however disadvantages of trying to get long zoom ranges from small lenses and these are usually seen as barrel and pincushion distortion, blurring around corners and occasionally purple fringing in the resulting pictures. For most shots these effects are negligible and can be ignored and some can even be corrected using a photo editing software, nevertheless you should be aware of them when choosing your super zoom camera. Good image stabilization features also become extremely important when shooting hand-held at high zoom because even slight wrist motion can blur the image.

FujiFilm F70/F72-EXR

This is my personal favourite. It is a pocket sized miracle and offers several advanced features. I have learned much about shooting good pictures while using this camera so I cannot recommend it enough. It has a large following on the internet, so you'll never be alone if you need help. It has a 1/2.0" Super EXR CCD at 10 million pixels combined with 10x optical zoom (27mm-270mm), CCD-shift image stabilization and a brilliant 2.7" 230k LCD. Notice that the 27mm wide angle lens allows you to actually zoom out further and fit more into the shot, a recommended feature for landscape photography. The EXR-DR (dynamic range) mode on this camera allows capturing of additional details in light and dark areas of the shot. Again a plus for landscape photography. However this camera also outperforms many others its size in indoor and low-light shots, with no chroma noise1 all the way upto ISO 1600 and a special pro-lowlight mode which combines 4 pictures taken in low light to give one clear shot. Using 800 or 1600 ISO on this camera produces beautiful portraits with natural film grain look and no chroma noise making this an excellent camera for concerts. Manual exposure control is available. Finally, distortion is negligible with no purple fringing and corner sharpness is good. The only thing to remember about this camera is that in order to fully utilize its dynamic range and low-light features you have to operate it at half its megapixel capacity, i.e. at 5MP. Also the automatic mode is not necessarily optimal and advanced users are better off using custom settings as described by Kim Letkeman. The F72-EXR is identical to the F70-EXR except for body colour. There are no feature differences between these cameras. Also, the 'newer' F80-EXR crams 12 megapixels into the same 1/2.0" sensor, therefore it loses the low noise qualities of the F70.
Specification. Sample Images. Buy.

Panasonic TZ7/DMC-ZS3

The TZ7 is another great camera from Panasonics TZ series offering 12x optical zoom (25mm - 300mm), 10 million pixels on 1/2.3" CCD, brilliant 3" 460K display with automatic brightness control and optical image stabilization. Again note the 25mm super wide angle for landscape and group shots, though dynamic range is less than the F70EXR. This camera is purely a point and shoot with no manual controls but features very advanced inbuilt software. It features face recognition which remembers upto 6 registered faces and can even automatically switch to 'Baby Mode' if someone registered as less than 3 years old appears in the frame! The camera focuses well and has a bright AF lamp allowing it to focus even in pitch darkness. While the camera can shoot at 1600 ISO, the image quality deteriorates beyond 400 ISO with visible chroma noise due to the smaller CCD size compared to the F70EXR. There is slight barrel distortion at the 25mm end of the lens and occasional purple fringing. Corner sharpness and colour saturation are both good. A plus on this camera is it has the ability to shoot 720p (1280 x 720) HD video at 25fps with Dolby stereo sound. The only annoyance with this camera is its mode dial which is loose and tends to turn automatically when the camera is stored in a pouch.
Specification. Sample Images. Buy.

Canon PowerShot SX200 IS

This is the last camera I'll discuss. Not exactly pocket sized but close, the camera pushes 12 million pixels out of a 1/2.3" CCD so images will tend to be more noisy at higher ISO and low-light. Yet it features here because of its 12x optical zoom (28mm - 336mm), low chroma noise characteristics and excellent pin sharp lens. The best feature of this camera is the sharpness of the pictures taken. It has excellent corner sharpness, no distortion and very slight purple fringing. Canons image stabilization is also excellent for hand held shots. Note however that the wide angle end of the lens stops at 28mm which while better than the standard 35mm, is not as good as the cameras discussed before for landscape shots. It has a 3.0" 230K LCD, a pop-up motorized flash and very quick start-up time (under 2sec). It supports manual exposure as well as aperture and shutter priority controls for advanced users. In terms of ISO as mentioned before the camera performs well upto ISO 800 in average light but above that pictures get too noisy and mushy, though chroma noise remains very well controlled. Finally like the TZ7 the SX200 has 720p (1280 x 720) HD video recording at 30fps with mono sound.
Specification. Sample Images. Buy.

In Conclusion

All the cameras featured above have their uses and take great pictures when used properly. The F70EXR has the best ISO performance takes excellent pictures upto ISO 1600 in low-light but must be operated at 5MP to achieve this. It is great for indoor and outdoor portraits, gigs and concerts. The TZ7 is a true point-and-shoot and features no manual controls with a fantastic 25mm wide angle lens for landscape photography. Finally the SX200 has the best overall sharpness for pictures taken in daylight, though its attempt to squeeze too many megapixels onto its CCD affects high ISO and low-light performance. It is great for outdoor, product and flash photography. All cameras are easy to operate and feature fantastic zoom ranges allowing you full freedom to experiment with portrait, landscape and macro to get the best composition for your shot. Besides they are a lot of fun to use and convenient to carry and extremely reasonably priced. So take your pick.

• 1. Noise is composed of fluctuations in colour and luminance. Color or "chroma" noise is usually more unnatural in appearance and can render images unusable if not kept under control. Luminance noise makes an image look grainy on screen, but is usually not visible when printed. Luminance noise can be removed using tools like Topaz DeNoise