Travel compacts Grouptest: First and Second stops

Houses Of Parliament

ZOOM PERFORMANCE AND IMAGE STABILISATION

Our first stop was the Houses of Parliament. The subject was Big Ben's clock face, and the challenge was to test each camera's zoom: its speed, control, range and sharpness. The Fujifilm F550 EXR displayed the most impressive performance, with excellent speed and responsiveness from its zoom collar, and one of the fastest focusing speeds.

The Nikon S9100 moved a little slower through its range and its focal length couldn't be fine-tuned as well as the Fuji, but it focused quickly. Its performance was almost matched by the Canon, which did well to respond to slight nudges of the zoom and focused in good time, but was slower moving through its range. This was followed by the Sony and the Panasonic, and finally by the Samsung WB650, which trailed thanks to its lack of precise control over focal length.

With the shortest maximum focal length the Sony HX7V filled the frame the least with the subject, but it displayed excellent sharpness throughout the frame, though the results appear to rely more on in-camera processing than on lens sharpness and image stabilisation effectiveness. Nikon's S9100 didn't fare too badly, although the slight blur showed its image stabilisation struggled to maintain sharpness. The Panasonic's images were in the middle of the pack while the Samsung's results were compromised by image noise and softness.

The best performer was the Canon SX230 HS. Images showed a very good level of detail and sharpness, with only a hint of image noise and chromatic aberrations.The Fuji F550 EXR came a close second, just lacking a tiny bit of bite around the edges. Its Raw files provided a cleaner result although there were noticeable chromatic aberrations.

Verdict

Canon SX230 HS 4/5
Fujifilm F550EXR 4/5
Panasonic TZ20 3/5
Nikon S9100 3/5
Samsung WB650 2/5
Sony HX7V 3/5

St James's Park

COLOUR AND LCD PERFORMANCE

St James's Park was awash with colourful flowers and stripy deckchairs, making an ideal testing ground for the colour reproduction as well as the performance of each camera's display in the harsh midday sun.  

The Fujifilm F550 EXR's screen had the greatest contrast which helped while shooting. The Canon's slight preference for brighter images helped with viewing too. The Samsung's screen did an excellent job of reducing reflections and had the widest viewing angle (due to its AMOLED technology), although the reproduction is slightly flat. The Panasonic TZ20 wasn't the brightest at the default settings, while the Nikon's screen just outdid the Sony's HX7V for visibility, despite the two sharing the same resolution.

In terms of colour in captured images, the Panasonic TZ20 edged its way to the top, with deep green foliage and vibrant flower heads, with the Canon SX230 HS a close second. The Sony HX7V and Fujifilm F550 EXR followed them with their good but not quite great results, while the Samsung just slipped behind them due to its slightly paler results. With its images a touch washed out and colour lacking vitality, the Nikon S9100 came last.

Verdict

LCD

Canon SX230 HS 3/5
Fujifilm F550EXR 3/5
Panasonic TZ20 3/5
Nikon S9100 4/5
Samsung WB650 3/5
Sony HX7V 3/5

Colour  

Canon SX230 HS 4/5
Fujifilm F550EXR 3/5
Panasonic TZ20 5/5
Nikon S9100 2/5
Samsung WB650 3/5
Sony HX7V 3/5