Click to Enlarge

The photo industry likes to call these cameras "high zooms," a reference to their exceptional magnifying power. We think "superzooms" is more descriptive, but either way their focal-length ranges of 10X, 12X, 15X, or even a staggering 20X make them just the ticket for shooting sports and wildlife (or even celebrities) if you don't want to carry a massive, expensive supertele and digital SLR. In the past these cameras have usually incorporated an electronic viewfinder (EVF), which allows steadier handheld shooting than composing with an LCD screen, especially when the lens is zoomed out to long tele. But a number of manufacturers are foregoing the EVF to keep cameras compact and leave space for a bigger screen. Fortunately, most of these models now have optical image stabilization to minimize blur due to hand shake -- and make your pictures sharper.

Superzoom Compact of the Year: Casio Exilim EX-F1

For photographers who've grown blasé about fast firing rates, Casio's new Exilim F1 is the ultimate antidote. It can rip 60 still frames at full resolution -- a respectable six megapixels -- in a single one-second burst. But our jaws really hit the floor when we set this paradigm-shifting model to its highest-speed video mode, in which it delivers a hard-to-believe 1200 frames per second. Played back at standard speed, the latter stretches one second of real time into 40 seconds of super slo-mo. Cracking an egg into a pan takes nearly a minute. (Visit our Sneak Peek for a demo.)

Resolution at 1200fps is limited to a wide-format 96 x 336 pixels, so the picture looks better when kept small. But if you lower the frames per second to 600fps or 300fps you get higher resolution with faster yet still-smooth slo-mo. (We stuck with 300fps to get full-format, full-screen coverage, and the effect was still mesmerizing.) Then, at 60fps, you can make movies with full HDTV resolution -- 1920 x 1080 pixels -- and stereo sound. You can also shoot 30fps video at a high-def 1280 x 720 or, to save memory, a ho-hum standard VGA (640 x 480).

Need more subject-stopping speed? The EX-F1's electronic shutter can shoot stills at 1/40,000 second. And its built-in flash recycles fast enough for you to fire seven full-resolution frames per second in bursts of up to 20 shots. Not fast enough? The F1 can even take a picture in the future, sort of: Its image buffer stores whatever the lens sees in the second before the shutter button is pressed, so you can retrieve a full-res image even if you miss the moment.

With its 36-432mm (35mm equivalent) f/2.7-4.6 zoom, the F1 performs these tricks both far and wide. It can even combine them with the manual focus, manual exposure, and RAW capture options that control freaks love. Could this be the hybrid still/video camera we've been expecting all these years?

At a Glance: Casio Exilim EX-F1

Other Top Superzoom Compacts

Fujifilm FinePix S100fs

You can shoot Fujichrome Velvia, Provia, or Astia with the new FinePix S100fs. How's that? Fuji's new superzoom evokes those iconic slide films with several film-simulation modes (hence the "fs" designation) that apply appropriate saturation, hue, and contrast to JPEG images. You can even autobracket your film simulation, capturing the same moment in different film palettes.

For photographers weaned on the moderate contrast and long tonal scale of color negatives -- and who prefer not to use the S100fs in its RAW mode to achieve those qualities -- there's even a JPEG portrait mode that simulates color neg. A dynamic-range adjustment lets you expand tonality another 400 percent. (You can even autobracket by dynamic range.) The new model's all-things-to-all-photographers effort continues with such amenities as a Super Macro mode that allows focus down to one centimeter in front of the lens; face detection that can automatically apply red-eye removal; and VGA-resolution video. And if you run out of existing light but can't use flash, you can shoot three-megapixel images at ISO 10000.

At a Glance: Fujifilm FinePix S100fs

Best Buy: Kodak EasyShare Z8612 IS

It's a good thing the EasyShare Z8612 IS has image stabilization to steady your shots, not only because of its powerful but shake-prone 12X top magnification but also because you have to compose at arm's length on its LCD screen. (It has no eye-level viewfinder.) The new model sure is a superzoom, though, with its Schneider-branded 36-432mm (35mm equivalent) lens, respectably fast at f/2.8-f/4.8. And this optical reach comes in a camera no bigger than some standard 5X-zooming compacts. In fact, the Z8612 fits in a jacket pocket.

The new EasyShare can choose an exposure mode for you using its Smart Scene capability, but you can pick an auto mode yourself if you prefer, or go fully manual. The camera will shoot stills in high-def, wide-screen format and display them on an HDTV when you connect it with Kodak's EasyShare HDTV Dock. (Video is standard VGA.) Or drop the camera into the optional EasyShare Printer Dock and make 4 x 6 prints on the spot: Press a button and it does the rest.

At a Glance: Kodak EasyShare Z8612 IS

• Print
• Stumble It