DC C50

Aluminium and high-gloss plastic styling aside, the 5 megapixel CCD and low price are sure to bring the DC C50 attention. At the DC C50's top resolution of 2560 x 1920 pixels and highest quality setting, you can fit about 10 shots on the supplied 32MB SD card before you need to upload or swap cards. Power is supplied by a rechargeable lithium-ion battery.

The lens is a standard 3X optical zoom with a maximum aperture of f2.8, so it's not as well equipped for dim lighting conditions as some of the more expensive 5 megapixel models. Also, the 1.5" LCD can get a little crowded with information at times.

Manual controls include aperture and shutter priority modes, exposure bracketing plus a full manual mode. There's a choice of manual balance plus six lighting presets, spot or average weight (multipoint) metering, and three exposure presets for portrait, sports and low-light photography.

The autofocus illuminator would prove handy for shooting in the dark and it also has a time-lapse mode with up to one-minute intervals as well as a three-shot full-resolution burst mode.

The camera itself was fairly easy to operate with a clear menu system and logical switchgear. We also liked the way it pauses slightly before engaging the 4X digital zoom, letting you know when you've left the range of the lens.

The image quality was about what you'd expect for the price, with a tendency towards over-sharpening and slightly vivid colour balance, but these can be adjusted along with image contrast in the camera setup. However, the image detail wasn't quite as crisp as you might anticipate from a 5 megapixel model, suggesting that the optics aren't really up to scratch. Despite the low price, BenQ hasn't cut too many corners.