Having published the reviews of all three “compact, super-high resolution” cameras, the Canon PowerShot SD990 IS Digital ELPH, Nikon Coolpix S710 and Panasonic Lumix FX37, it’s now time for a comparison summary between the three cameras and to find out the winner.

Similarities between three cameras:
14+ effective megapixels
Full manual exposure mode

Canon PowerShot SD990 IS Digital ELPH/Digital IXUS 980 IS

• +Optical viewfinder
• +Fast performance
• +Most stylish/unique “bumpy” design
• –Smallest LCD in its class
• –No HD movie mode

Nikon Coolpix S710

• +Largest LCD in its class
• +Shutter and aperture priority modes
• +Smallest and lightest in its class
• –Movie issues and no HD movie mode
• –Limited burst mode
• –More noise than other 2 cameras

Panasonic Lumix FX150

• +Full white balance control
• +Fast performance
• +RAW image mode
• +High definition 720p movie mode
• –No separate rear control dial
• –Detail smudging above ISO 400

Conclusion
To conclude, I would say the Panasonic Lumix FX150 is the winner here (though the other two cameras are still choices to consider) – it’s an all-rounder in overall feature set and performance: good image quality, speedy to use, is the only one of the three to have a HD 720p movie mode and most importantly, has two huge features which put it on top of the competition: RAW mode and full white balance controls. Just watch out for detail smudging at ISO speeds above 400, or work around that by shooting in RAW.

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