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| Canon Vixia HF S10 |
| Full review » Gallery » |
 Most of the frenzied camcorder hype seemed to be centered around the Canon Vixia HF S10 this year at CES. Could the HF S10 leap from building to building while solving world peace? We're here to tell you that Canon has made one prodigious stride with the introduction of this AVCHD monster, but we feel that the company sacrificed a lot of prosumer potential for the sake of the consumer crowd. That's not to say the HF S10 is destined for rich dads and soccer moms. Its arsenal of advanced features and dense menus would send newbies running for the hills. You can shoot commercials, short films and b-roll with the Vixia HF S10, but you'll have to find a killer external microphone and invest in a set of professional lights. If Canon added a little more radioactive slime to the vat, we think we'd be seeing a viable alternative to a prosumer cam. In the end, we have a compact camcorder that blesses us with one of the best video performances we've seen in the consumer circuit, but we were left licking our jowls, thirsting for more. Release: March 2009. Price: $1300.
Pros: Great video quality in bright and low light. Built like a miniature tank. Oodles of shooting features, including Cine mode and multiple frame rates.
Cons: Design has the potential to be more omnipotent. Certain low light environments are too noisy. Short battery life.
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86%
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| Pentax K-7 |
| Full review » Scoreboard » Features » Gallery » |
 The big bad Pentax K-7 has surfaced upon the infoSync shores, and we’re here to tell you that the tides of time have brought many impressive features and slightly improved image quality to the company’s current lineup of intermediate/semi-professional DSLRs. The K-7 was one of the most feature-rich DSLRs we’ve ever tested, with an interface that made shooting much more enjoyable than the average bear. We felt as though the well never ran dry when it came time to compose our shots, and we’re sure there are still a few untapped features lying within the K-7 that we just didn’t have time to discover during the course of our photographic adventure. RAW image quality was highly impressive, and we feel as though the K-7 is the company’s best representation of how a DSLR in this class should perform. The HD video mode still needs to be tweaked, but we managed to capture a few excellent clips to prove that Pentax is on the right track, and can only improve on models to come. In this price range, not many models offer the specified level of advanced control offered by the K-7, but we feel as though the camera met its match in the image quality department with the Nikon D5000, which is currently the budget DSLR to beat this year. If you want oodles of features and highly amenable lens compatibility, then the Pentax K-7 is waiting in the wings. We were big fans of the Pentax K-7, and are not looking forward to sending the camera back. Release: July 2009. Price: $1300.
Pros: Great overall RAW image quality. Packed to the brim with features. Excellent lens compatibility. Cushy handling and advanced interface made shooting a delight.
Cons: Inconsistent HD video quality. Menu graphics could use a little sprucing up. Certain features like HDR mode require more effort than expected.
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87%
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| Motorola Droid |
| Full review » Scoreboard » Features » Gallery » |
 The Motorola Droid is a fascinating device, and a great addition to Verizon Wireless' lineup. It's the exact opposite of the Motorola CLIQ. While the CLIQ provides an innovative and deeply integrated social networking platform on top of a shoddy piece of hardware, the Motorola Droid is one of the most solid phones we've used, but it adds little to Google's own innovation. That's fine with us, since Google has added plenty of cool new features to Android 2.0 that will change the smartphone market for the better. Google Maps now includes a great, free turn-by-turn navigation system, and the interface gets improvements like a dedicated in-car mode that make us wonder why nobody else thought of this. The Droid hardware is rigidly constructed and loaded with high-end features. We especially liked the dazzling screen that packs more pixels than any other U.S. carrier phone, the 5-megapixel camera (though our unit's camcorder feature was bonked) and the fast processing that kept the system at a steady sprint. Even battery life was great on this phone, a rarity among Android devices. If Verizon Wireless and Motorola really want to dethrone the Apple iPhone 3GS, they'll have to significantly improve the music and video players, and we're hoping to see Flash 10 support in the Web browser sooner rather than later. But in the last couple months, Motorola has made a significant turnaround, and we're pleased to be able to highly recommend a Moto phone once again. Release: November 2009. Price: $200.
Pros: Excellent build quality. High-end features, especially the large display. Google Maps with Navigation is fantastic and free.
Cons: Verizon Wireless didn't add much to Google's stock interface. Camera was disappointing. Most features were superlative, but nothing unique.
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81%
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| Sony HDR-XR520V |
| Full review » Gallery » |
 At the end of our journey with the Sony HDR-XR520V, we were conflicted, as if we had just watched Terms of Endearment and couldn’t discern between joy and sorrow anymore. The HDR-XR520V is one of those camcorders that nails a few key features home and then phones in the rest from a booth down the street. No other HD camcorder could match its low light performance, and that’s a huge part of the HDR-XR520V’s success. The HDR-XR520V also rocks the largest HDD capacity at 240GB, in addition to supporting Memory Stick PRO Duo cards. But isn’t 29 hours and 20 minutes of continuous recording time in the highest quality a little excessive? The HDR-XR520V is also the most expensive HD cam on the market at 1500 bucks, and $200 of that is all hard drive. The step-down Sony HDR-XR500V has a 120GB HDD, and that’s the only difference between the two. We loved the HDR-XR520V’s super sized LCD with VGA screen resolution, and the Cam Control dial made manual adjustment a breeze. However, the HDR-XR520V lacked some significant manual controls, making it far less viable for budget filmmakers and serious shooters. Both the Canon Vixia HF S10 and Panasonic HDC-HS300 offer a lot more in terms of shooting options, including different frame rates and independent Shutter Speed control. The Sony HDR-XR520V is our pick for the #1 tourist HD cam, and Sony has a lot of work to do in order to make the next generation XR compelling to the advanced crowd. Release: March 2009. Price: $1500.
Pros: Excellent low light performance. Great LCD resolution and size. Cam Control dial makes shooting easier.
Cons: Inconsistent bright light performance. Limited manual controls compared to competition. Heavy and pricey.
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85%
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| Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 |
| Full review » Scoreboard » Features » Gallery » |
 Panasonic has done it again—they've succeeded in creating a beast of the consumer persuasion. One that spits fire with a champion image performance. One that claws at the competition with a solid set of features. And best of all, a beast that decimates all in its path with a great HD video performance and the ability to zoom while recording. Yes, folks, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 is definitely worth the extra 100 clams over the DMC-ZS1. Can it match the likes of the formidable Canon PowerShot SD970 IS? In some regards yes, and we actually think the Lumix DMC-ZS3 cranked out a better image performance in certain shooting environments. The Lumix DMC-ZS3 also gave the Fujifilm Finepix F200 EXR a run for its money, but we’d have to hand image quality over to the Finepix. Discerning shooters who are looking for a great performance compact will be torn between both models. However, there is the Lumix DMC-ZS3's 25mm wide-angle lens and 12x optical zoom to consider. Panasonic packs a plethora into its top compact, and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 should not be overlooked at any cost. Release: June 2009. Price: $400.
Pros: Great image quality. Impressive features and hardware. AVCHD Lite with zoom capability? Yummy!
Cons: Larger than most competitors. Clunky interface. We could have used some advanced manual controls.
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73%
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