For the past couple of years, Adobe has given professional photographers some choices when it comes to image-editing software—if you find Photoshop a bit daunting.

Creating keepsakes from snapshots has long been the domain of glue-sniffing, scissor-wielding scrapbookers.

Like many of its features, photos taken with the 10-megapixel Kodak Z1085 IS look good initially but lose their luster on closer inspection. Most images are stippled with visual noise, and background details often jumble together. An optical image stabilizer keeps many handheld shots steady, and a manual mode even lets you set the aperture and shutter speed. HD-video mode captures high-resolution video, but muddy quality looks worse than footage at a low resolution. We can’t get too excited about the Z1085, but it does manage to cover the basics.

The EX-F1 is an unevenly performing camera that almost always seems to present a downside to counter each amazing high point. Its most unique feature is its ability to capture video at amazingly high framerates, all the way up to 1,200 frames per second. Five seconds of real-time footage turns into more than three minutes when played back, transforming a bumblebee’s flight and falling raindrops into a backyard ballet. But faster speeds severely limit resolution, curbing possibilities in both recording and playback. Still photos look good, with bright, accurate colors, but RAW images drastically slow down the camera.