Posted 08/05/09 at 12:00:37 AM by Norman Chan

We love point-and-shoot pocket cameras for their small size and ease of use, but we lament their relatively paltry feature sets when compared to more expensive DSLR models. The good news, for owners of the popular Canon PowerShot cameras, is that your consumer-grade gadget can be upgraded with custom software to endow it with professional features like RAW image recording and live histogram feedback. CHDK (Canon Hack Development Kit) is an easy-to-install software package created by a savvy group of programmers to supercharge the Canon PowerShot. We show you how to safely install and configure this free firmware add-on with no risk to your camera.

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Posted 08/04/09 at 12:00:00 AM by Gordon Mah Ung

There’s possibly nothing more confusing than trying to buy a new SDHC card. Do you buy Class 2 or Class 6. Do you care about the “X” rating and should you pay for spring for a premium card? Frankly, even geeks can get confused when faced with a selection of 14 different SDHC cards of varying sizes and ratings – none of which readily make sense. Fear not, we waded through the specs and grabbed a selection of cards for testing to see what really matters.

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Posted 08/05/08 at 05:44:45 PM by Mark Edward Soper

J.D. Power and Associates have announced the results of their 2008 Digital Camera Usage and Satisfaction Survey, and the winners include:

• Digital SLR cameras: Canon EOS Digital and Nikon D-Series (tie); Olympus, Pentax, and Sony scored way behind the leaders. Canon EOS led in picture quality, while Nikon led in performance and operation.
• Point-and-Shoot cameras: in a crowded field, the Fujifilm Finepix S series was the winner, but not far behind were the Kodak M, V, and Z series, the Olympus Stylus series, the HP Photosmart R series, the Samsung S series, and the Sony Cyber-Shot S Series.
• Premium Point-and-Shoot cameras: Another tie, between Canon PowerShot G series and Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ series. In second place, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ series.
• Ultra-Slim cameras: the Sony Cyber-Shot T series was the winner here, with a three-way tie for second place between the Sony Cyber-Shot W series, the Casio Exilim Zoom series, and the Fujifilm Finepix Z series.

Each camera in the survey was judges on five criteria: overall rating, picture quality, performance, operation, and apperance.

One frustration for serious camera shoppers is the lack of model-specific information, but given the frequent turnover in camera models, perhaps the J.D. Power and Associates method of evaluating by series is the best way.

The survey was conducted between April 2007 and March 2008, and was based on responses from more than 8,000 consumers. See the press release for more information. For more information about J.D. Power and Associates, see their  website.

What do you think about the ratings? Give us your best shot after the jump.

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Posted 02/23/06 at 02:38:46 PM by Steve Klett

The X1 makes it clear that Konica is well aware of our penchant to gravitate toward, hold, and purchase shiny objects. However, unless you care little about performance and getting the highest-quality images possible for your dollar, there are better options available.

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Posted 02/10/06 at 04:34:45 PM by Gordon Mah Ung

Look into the viewfinder of a consumer-grade digital SLR and you’ll notice a startling difference compared with a film camera and the same lens: Your view is cropped, in much the same way black bars crop a widescreen movie to fit an older TV.

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