BenQ DC X720 Santa Fe NM

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BenQ claims that the X720 is the world's slimmest camera at 12.5mm deep. We measured 18mm from front to back at the thickest point, but this still makes it the slimmest camera we've ever seen. It looks uncannily like a Casio, especially as it's available in various colours. Ultra-compact cameras are never particularly comfortable to hold but the X720 is a little worse than most, as its rounded corner doesn't wedge into the palm of the hand.

You won't get many pictures from a single charge of the slim battery, partly because it doesn't last for long, but also because the camera is extremely slow to use. It takes five seconds to take a picture from startup and four seconds between subsequent shots. The 0.3fps continuous mode is the worst we have seen in years. The menu is slow to respond to button clicks and is badly laid out, with key options such as ISO speed about as inaccessible as they could be. Most frustrating is that the one-second autofocus time is followed by a further second of shutter lag, which makes it tricky to capture moving subjects with any kind of precision. To top it off, the shutter sound is emitted from the speaker long after the picture is taken.

The X720 fared better when it came to image quality. Detail was soft compared to the best 6- and 7-megapixel cameras, but exposures were well balanced and the automatic settings handled tricky lighting well. Noise was visible at the lowest ISO setting, but not too intrusive at ISO 400, and its ISO 800 mode was passable for when gloomy lighting demanded it.

The X720 takes better pictures than the similar Casio SX-Z70 but its slow performance means it's not worth the extra expense.7.1 megapixels (3,072x2,304), 3x optical zoom (37.5-112.5mm), SD slot (18MB internal), li-ion battery

Author: Ben Pitt

BenQ DC X720