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With the burst of mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras, we've modified the enthusiast SLR category to include all interchangeable lens cameras, and added a new "street" for smaller, more discrete cameras made possible by the mirrorless systems.…

Maybe you find fixed-lens cameras constraining, but hate how dust sometimes gets on your sensor with interchangeable lenses. The Ricoh GXR may still not be for you, but in the off chance that this unique APS-C system is, you should take a look. The Ricoh GXR creates a modular system with a basic camera body, and a removable sensor-lens module. This prevents dust from getting between the lens and the imaging sensor, but it also means that every lens must come with a new imaging sensor and that lenses cannot be used when upgrading the imaging sensor. It's an interesting system, one to which a few enthusiasts will no doubt swarm.

Canon's latest incarnation of the EOS 1D is the first time since its release that the model was playing catch-up. The Nikon D3, released last year, was Nikon's first full-frame 35mm sensor, and it's still competitive against the newly released EOS 1D Mark IV. As is par for the line, the Mark IV has an APS-H sized sensor which can fire 10fps at 16MP, and with calibrated ISO to 12800. Its autofocus has been updated, and Cannon assures would-be purchasers that the kinks of the Mark III's autofocus system have long been worked-out.

The new upper-entry level—i.e. Canon Rebel competitor—from Pentax is the K-x, replacing the K200D in a line renaming process that has seen the lower K2000D become the K-m. The $550 K-x has a 12.4M APS-C CMOS chip and shares the newer Prime II engine with its bigger brother, the K-7. The K-x also includes in-camera lens correction, HDR and multiple exposure modes which—along with an orientation sensor—are absent in the lower-spec K-m. While the K-x marks a lot of checkboxes, reviews have criticised its auto-white balance for being unreliable, shake reduction for being ineffective, and raw format for minimal headroom for saving highlights.

While Leica has a line of point-and-shoot digitals that it cross-sells with Panasonic (and usually at small premium), the Leica X1 is the first point-and-shoot that feels like a Leica in many way. It is small, discrete, and is optimized for manual control. Rather than be concerned with such un-Lei…

When Leica introduced its first digital rangefinder in its venerable history, it came with an APS-C sized sensor. At the time, Leica (and others) said that a full-frame sensor in a rangefinder would not provide reasonable quality with wider lenses as the sensor's distance from the lens was too clos…

The latest Panasonic Micro Four Thirds camera is the DMC-GF1. Unlike its mini-SLR inspired predecessor, the DMC-G1, the DMC-GF1 shares a rangefinder-inspired appearance like the Olympus PEN E-P1. The DMC-GF1 is lighter (285g) than the PEN E-P1 and has an optional electronic viewfinder attachment which provides more accurate composing. The DMC-GF1 also has an excellent 20mm f/1.7 lens as a kit option which makes an excellent compact street system out of the box. The $900, 12MP DMC-GF1 maxes out at ISO 3200 (the PEN E-P1 has better low-light performance and goes to ISO 6400) and lacks the Olympus in-camera stabilization, instead relying on Panasonic image-stabilized lenses.

Canon's mid-market cameras have been feeling a little down. By packing so much of their D3 into the D300's smaller body, the gap between the EOS 50D and EOS 1D has been frustrating Canon users. The EOS 7D is Canon's answer, creating a new tier in the digital EOS hierarchy, and in doing so, a spiritual successor to the 10D-20D-30D. The EOS 7D is an 18MP APS-C that can shoot 8fps. It is environmentally sealed, and has dual Digic4 processors allowing Canon users on a budget to consider this as their poor-man's version of the EOS-1D. ISO values are calibrated to 6400 (pushed another stop), and raw images are recorded in 14-bit. Unlike the other single-digit EOS lines, but like the 50D, the 7D has an in-built flash—the EOS 7D does this however by also including a Speedlite transmitter for controlling up to three groups of four flashes (a definite nod to a more professional set-up). The 7D also has a dual-axis electronic level which can display on either the rear LCD or in the viewfinder by using the 19 auto-focus points.

Nikon's latest D40-descended entry camera is the $450 Nikon D3000. The camera on its spec sheet is decided low-spec compared to what else Nikon offers but on-par with Canon's 1000D and Sony's A230. Its 12-bit 10MP sensor has dust cleaning functionality, and calibrated ISO to 1600 (pushed to 3200) p…

Ricoh has continued to update its enthusiast compact, with the latest version of the small-sensored camera capturing 10MP digital negatives (DNG) at up to 5fps through its fixed 28mm equivalent, f1.9, lens.

The first consumer-targeted digital camera which was designed to be used underwater was the Pentax OptioWP, released in early 2005. A year later, Olympus created an underwater version of its Stylus, the 720SW and there was a duopoly in the waterproof-camera market. With Canon and Fujifilm joining …

The PEN E-P1 joins Panasonic's Lumix DMC-G1 as Olympus has released its first Micro-Four-Thirds camera. With the name and bodies both bearing similarity to Olympus Pen series of small film cameras, Olympus' initial venture in to Micro Four Thirds is decidedly different than Panasonic's mini-SLR format. The 12MP Olympus camera has Olympus sensor-shift stabilisation and can shoot at 3fps. Olympus is also releasing two new lenses which look like they belong naturally on this small camera, a 14-42mm (28-84mm equivalent; f3.5-5.6) and a very tiny 17mm f2.8 (34mm equivalent). Lenses for the Micro Four Thirds system are compatible between both Panasonic and Olympus cameras, and perhaps portending more serious, high-end ambitions (not that the PEN E-P1 is a low-end camera), Olympus is also releasing lens adapters for both its Four Thirds E-mount and manual-focus OM-mount. At $750, the camera does not come with an optical viewfinder; although one is available as an add-on, most users will be fine composing through the LCD and keeping size down.

Convenience in compact cameras often means a trade-off between physical size (ultracompacts) or lens (and zoom range). While there is only so much physics allows in terms of sensor size and aperture in small cameras, Casio's continued making magic with its ultracompact Exilims in the EX-H10, which has a 10x zoom range and room for digital cropping with a 12MP sensor. Surprisingly, distortion (chroma and geometric) is handled quite well at both extremes of the zoom range, and noise is quite good through ISO 200, and usable to ISO 800 for small prints and small screens.