Product Reviews

The EasyShare V610's slim, stylish design and 160g weight means it just squeezes into the super-compact category, which makes its 10x zoom capability an extraordinary achievement.

It manages this by using two separate lenses, each with its own 6-megapixel CCD. One has a focal length of 38 to 114mm (35mm film-equivalent), while the other ranges from 130 to 380mm. This leaves a small gap in the middle of the zoom range, but it's not a massive inconvenience. A whopping 2.8" 230,000-pixel screen and a Bluetooth interface reminds you that this is a posh camera, although the screen takes its toll on battery life and

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the interface is too slow for copying much data.

Performance is impressive at little over a second between shots, even in dark conditions without flash. It slows down after around 13 shots, as the camera can't save pictures to memory card as fast as it can record them to its buffer, but this is still plenty for a flurry of photographic activity. The wide-angle lens is fast to focus, but the telephoto lens hunts for up to five seconds at its highest telephoto setting. Sharp focus doesn't necessarily lead to sharp pictures at this setting, as the slim styling makes it difficult to hold steadily and there's no image stabilisation to counteract camera shake.

Image quality was disappointing. Outdoor shots were vibrant and attractive, but there was less detail than we'd expect from a 6-megapixel camera, especially at this price. The flash produced pasty skin tones and heavy vignetting, where the corners of the picture were darker than the centre. Low-light photography was often underexposed, while noise was evident at ISO 100 and intrusive at ISO 400.

The EasyShare V610 is a great idea, but given its image quality it's not suited to enthusiasts who might consider spending this much.