Consumers who have been lamenting the lack of “revolution” in the mass-market compact digital cameras — with the exception of a very few camera models — can look forward to seeing one in the year 2009.

Going by the trend — set by the likes of Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3, Leica D-LUX 4 and Ricoh GX200 in the wide-angle compact camera segment, and Canon PowerShot SX1 IS and SX10 IS as well as Olympus SP-570UZ and SP-565UZ in the long zoom segment — consumers are in for an interesting time this year.

Wider Angle

Landscape photography has been the exclusive realm of digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) cameras until as recent as last year.

With lenses mostly starting at a narrow 34mm — some even at 38mm — compact camera users can only shoot landscape and panoramic pictures by stitching together several shots using photo editor software.

But things have been changing, particularly after the release of Panasonic’s highly-acclaimed DMC-LX3.

Angles are now getting wider — from 34mm to 30mm, to a further 28mm, 26mm and ending at its widest at 24mm.

The only setback in these wide-angle cameras is the lack of zooming capabilities, with the exception of a few models like the Canon SX1 IS and SX10 IS and Olympus’ SP-570UZ and SP-565UZ.

This year, however, wide-angle digital cameras are set to reach farther than their predecessors.

South Korean giant, Samsung, for instance, set the wide-angle-to-superzoom lens rolling by introducing the 10x optical zoom HZ10W (24mm-240mm) early this month.

Just recently, Panasonic, the industry leader in the wide-angle camera segment, announced several camera models including two wide-angle-to-superzoom cameras — the DMC-TZ7 and DMC-ZS1 (TZ6 in Europe).

At 12x optical zoom, with lenses starting at 25mm and ending at 300mm, both cameras are heaven-sent tools for panoramic photo enthusiasts who want some flexibilities in their focal range.

Longer Zoom

The zooms are also getting longer this year. Last year, the range reached its maximum of 20x optical zoom.

For the first time, the range will surpass the 20x optical zoom this year — to reach a mind-boggling 26x optical zoom or 26mm-676mm in 35mm film camera equivalent.

Olympus, a leader in the superzoom compacts since the era of compact film cameras, is leading the pack with the introduction of the 26x optical zoom SP-590UZ. Kodak comes in second with its 24x optical zoom, the Z980.

What makes these cameras more appealing is that they also offer numerous other features such as excellent video recording capabilities — HD no less for the Z980 — and fast frame-per-second continuous shot (10fps for the SP-590UZ).

What Next?

With Canon, Olympus, Panasonic and Kodak having released or announced the production of their of wide-angle-to-ultrazoom cameras, it will be interesting to see if Nikon, Sony or Fujifilm have indeed had something up their sleeves.

An interesting time indeed for those looking to buy a new camera this year.