Review Train (A2000is, RAWsumer shootout, compacts)

Welcome to a new edition of the "Review Train". For past, present and future episodes, be sure to check the Reviews mini-blog.

Spotlight: RAWsumer shootout
Serious Compacts spotlights a multi-part series at Japanese site DC Watch, squaring off the G10, LX3, P6000 and the Gx-200. Speaking of LX3, if you missed it, here is Brenizer's LX3 review.

The Deconstruction of the A-series
Canon's A-series had (note: past tense) built up a great reputation as being an affordable yet photographer-friendly series of cameras offering manual exposure control. This changed with the new A1000-is and A2000-is. A number of reviews were posted on them already, but today we have the most high-profile tongue-lashing at Canon's dumbing-down of the A-series, a new review at DC-Resource. Ouch!

This is just like the G7/GINO debates, if you evaluate the camera for what it is, it is a different story than if you evaluate the camera as a continuation of the G-series (A-series in this case).

For the casual user or consumer who rolls their eyes and runs away if you mention manual exposure, this won't be an issue. But for photographers or people who might be interested in learning more while not breaking the bank, it's a major disappointment.

But there is a silver lining, BuyDig.com and Beach Camera have uncovered a number of Canon A630 units. These are older "real A-series" cameras with an 8mp 1/1.8" sensor, manual exposure, and a rotating LCD. As one of our readers put it, this may be a great camera for the recession for those who want to learn more than just point-n-shoot.

Compact Reviews Lightning Round
And we now have a lightning round of small compact digital camera reviews:

• Canon Ixus 980 is (aka SD990 is) at CNet Asia
  
• Canon SD880is (wide-angle) at NeoCamera
  
• Samsung L201 at Buy-n-Shoot
  
• Kodak M1093-is at ephotozine and Trusted Reviews
  
• Panasonic FX37 at Cameras UK

Review Reference
You can check the reviews of recent DSLRs at the DSLR Review Organizer, which you can also access using a shorter url: noisyreviews.com. If you prefer a full-page view of the available reviews, you can check version 2.0, the DSLR Map.

For compact reviews (next in line is the FZ28K), you can check the Compact Reviews Organizer.