It was always going to be ambitious to pack a 12.1MP camera onto a mobile phone which also provides the media-handling we’ve come to expect of most Sony Ericsson handsets.

The Camera

The camera was meant to be the Satio’s piece de resistance and its whopping 12.1MP camera is the best that we’ve test-driven on any phone to date. Put simply, it beats the competition hands down.

The viewfinder pops up on the screen almost as soon as you slide the lens cover to the side and images are captured quickly in near-immaculate definition

There is a built in LED flash which performs well – but not spectacularly – for the darker shots amongst a set of tools and features which is rather impressive.

The camera has a wide variety of modes to help you capture the perfect shot such as built-in face recognition (including smile recognition), red eye reduction, image stabilisation to reduce motion blur and touch focus. You can also set the camera to “auto” mode and let it make the decisions for you.

The digital zoom offers up to 16x magnification, and the quality of the camera means that you can crop and zoom in on pictures without sacrificing too much clarity.

One drawback of having such a gargantuan camera on the Satio is that it doesn’t fill the entire screen, adopting a smaller 4:3 ratio instead. To capture full screen images you need to turn off auto mode and opt for 9MP photos instead.  It’s a little disappointing to have to reign in the powers of the camera in this way, but the resulting pictures are still noticeably better than those of rival smartphones.

The video capture is decent, but would trip over its own shoelaces if it tried to compete with Samsung’s HD Icon.

Once you have your images there are a variety of things you can do with them. Geo-tagging is possible using the phone’s built in GPS. You can also edit your pictures directly from the handset or send them via MMS, email, Bluetooth or direct to the web. This last option means that you can publish photos on the web using sites like Flickr, Youtube or Picassa. Another feature called web albums allows you to add comments to pictures online, editing them in real time for friends to view.

Pictures can by synced with either your PC or PS3, as can your music files.

The Phone

If it was purely on the basis of the camera, this phone would be a must-have media centre for the modern photographer to quickly share and update their on and offline worlds.

So what excells about phone that was withdrawn?

The Satio sports a 3.5” touch screen like the iPhone (though in a slightly different ratio) making it one of the largest Sony Ericsson handsets to-date. The look of the model – as has been said of other SE phones – is rather chunky, squared, heavy and even bloke-ish.

On the touchscreen, the Satio’s screen is resistive rather than capacitive meaning that you need to use a finger nail in a stabby, jabby motion to provoke the phone into reacting to your touch.  The Satio however, does come with a stylus .

It takes a while to boot up but the user interface is easy to operate and as we’ve come to expect from the makers – most likely Sony’s involvement – the media centre handles well and performs music and video playback comfortably and effortlessly.

The Satio comes pre-loaded with several internet Apps such as Facebook and YouTube but once online, the text appears very small, almost illegible in some cases which can start to grate your eyes.

Seductive extras such as Play Now Movies gives the user access to up to 60 movies a year which can be downloaded to your PC and watched at leisure on the Satio. Web Album and MediaGo will help to organise and sync your media but the onboard memory is a pitiful 128MB without an SD card.

The Conclusion

It was all kept rather hush hush why the phone was withdrawn from sale from two of the UKs biggest retailers but problems reported with the Satio include freezing, crashing, battery problems and issues with the phone’s interface.

They’ve been ultra ambitious with the smartphone that is more a camera and media centre than a phone but it’s fair to say they’ve mostly done it right aside from a few browsing and reactive issues with the phone’s touchscreen.Sony Ericsson have mainly sorted these issues out although a quick look around the forums and some customers are still complaining of sticking issues.

The camera is very versatile and the media centre fabulous. The phone as a phone is more than competant and less than spectacular. It’s a sound four out of five phone but a five on five camera which is ultra compatible with social media sites and allows friends to view such portals into your life with supreme clarity.

The s5100 boasts 12.2 MP with enhanced motion detection and a new flash control system. The EXPEED C2 processing system has been given an upgrade where a faster response time and capturing objects with more clarity will make this quite a desirable model for release around September. No price has yet been stapled to the camera.

The s1100pj is an update to the s1000pj and – as does the s5100 – features an in-built projector for displaying snaps on the wall.  At 14 lumen better images in daylight conditions are a cert and with a 14.1 MP sensor, 5 x zoom, a host of mood and setting features and the ability to add music files to a slideshow presentation – it does sound worth it’s salt at £349.99.

This model will be in stores on 16 September.

But compete it did, the Jet moniker would prove fairly accurate and the phone would perform at a speed faster that many smartphone contemporaries.

The Camera

The 5MP camera boasts a feature set that beats even a fair few budget digicams. Autofocus, antishake, smile detection, a 4X digital zoom and a dual LED flash are all becoming fairly standard on mobile phone cameras. Panorama mode, alterable ISO, contrast, saturation and sharpness much less so.

So a bit to get excited about here.

Once you’ve taken your snaps, it’s a piece of cake to upload them to the internet, browse them in the onboard gallery, send them via MMS or simply store them in the Jet’s impressive 2GB of memory or an optional SD card (via which the phone can be upgraded by a maximum of 16GB).

The camera is also capable of recording video in 30fps VGA with a 120fps slo-mo mode, while video playback includes support for hi-res DivX and Xvid formats with no conversion necessary. The 3.1in AMOLED screen offers a detailed and crisp display,

The Jet even comes equipped with a basic editing suite for images and video, for which Samsung deserves applause. Finally, a front-facing camera means that video calling is a doddle.

The Phone

So let’s be honest, that’s a pretty impressive camera right there with a host of accessible and tidy features to sharpen and clean up the quality of your shots.

But what of the rest of the phone? Well aside from its impressive speed (thanks to an 800MHz processor)  it’s not the most responsive device compared to bigger-game smartphones, yet it beasts phones in its class hands down.

One button brings up what Samsung calls the cube screen, from which you can access entertainment functions such as your photo albums, the music and video players, FM radio, and the internet.

Web browsing itself is handled very nicely, with intuitive bookmarking functions and a touchscreen that handles scrolling smoothly and painlessly. Samsung’s developed-for-mobiles Dolfin browser can handle up to five pages at once: we found that multiple pages loaded relatively quickly and flicking between them was effortless and the one-touch zoom feature is an invaluable aid that really beats messing about with a magnifying glass.

The Jet’s TouchWiz interface delivers one-touch widgets including Facebook and YouTube and also features hotlinks to Google services, although using the inbuilt Google search will (annoyingly) take you to the HTML version of a page rather than the phone-friendly version.

Clicking on hyperlinks can also be an unfriendly business, as the touchscreen doesn’t always have the necessary accuracy. Strangely, there’s also no concession to instant messaging.

A QWERTY keyboard is implemented in both the browser and text messaging. Simply turning the phone to a landscape position activates the keyboard, and typing on it is far less fiddly than on most phone keyboards. Ingeniously, the Samsung QWERTY doesn’t just track the letter that you actually hit, but also the letters around it. Should you miss-hit a character or two, a predictive text function will give you two or more alternatives for the word you just typed, and as often as not they’ll include the one you wanted. It’s a neat solution that allows you to type at pretty fast speeds without worrying about hitting a single wrong letter. The handwriting recognition tool, however, is nothing worth writing home about.

The Conclusion

The Samsung Jet beats mobile phones hands down with its intuitive capabilities and attention to detail, we’re actually struggling to determine why this hasn’t quite been labelled a smartphone. The bigger tech review publishers have also struggled to pitch this model: as a smartphone it will garner maybe three out of five but as a mobile it’s a veritable six out of five. Confusing no?

It’s lack of a smartphone label must be something to do with the price as we found contracts for the device don’t come with a surcharge and the handset-only price is as little as circa £200.

The camera is pretty impressive and beasts that of high-ranking smartphones, there are some slight navigation issues but as a mid-range phone its impressive, slick, fast and aero-dynamic – as the name would suggest.

The Pre is cute and curvy, if a little chunkier than some of the slicker models around and never quite caught up with the rival runners who flew out of the blocks at the starter’s gun before Palm could get its fat beehind in gear.

The Camera

The camera on the Pre is pretty decent for 3 MP and includes a flash for indoor snapping, but no autofocus. Mind you, the thing can move with haste and may well have been the fastest performing phone camera to-date when it did finally come to market. Palm decided that reliance on speed would counter-balance some of the phone’s missing features.

Although the screen is pretty small at 3.1 inches, the image quality on the camera is of a rather high standard and accomodates sharp photos on the 320 x 480 pixel screen. .

Unfortunately, the simplicity of the camera doesn’t lend itself to versatility. There are no options to control how the camera takes pictures, only the flash is adjustable and even then it’s a simple case of on, off or auto. Balance control, exposure, zoom – nope. Just point and shoot.

As stated though, Palm have put their efforts into making this a speedy snapper for on-the-go and action shots. Able to take seven photos in ten seconds without flash and five shots in the same time with flash is fairly impressive for a camera that appears so pedestrian.

Smartphones have generally adapted their tie-ins with social media sites to allow instant publishing on a Flikr or Facebook page but with the Pre it’s more laborious, having to exit and send it via the gallery which is reminiscent of a more archaic time in the life of the mobile phone.

The Phone

It’s fair to say the camera is a mixed bag, but at this point the modern smartphone user will be leaning towards no in their consideration of the Pre. So is the phone and it’s features enough to compensate?

The phone itself falls down in a few basic areas. It isn’t the most attractive of phones when at full distension, especially the QWERTY keyboard. This and the rather plasticky feel of the build materials alone may be enough to put you off this one.

Luckily for Palm, the inner workings of the Pre are a joy. It is quick to load and able to multitask, running numerous applications in a oner and browsing is a rapid joy.

The capacitive touchscreen is fantastically responsive and feels as though this is the way multitouch should always have been. Palm has included a ripple effect which lets you know that the phone has registered a command, like as visual version of haptic feedback.

It is able to sync and handle your contacts and social networking in a smooth and easy way.

The “Universal Search” function hunts through your contacts, apps, Google, Google Maps, Wikipedia and Twitter for a match. Unlike the iPhone it skips e-mails, calendar and music library and so is actually faster, though not exactly “universal”.

The Conclusion

The Pre seemed like such a tempting offer when it came to market but its shortcomings were all too telling and by the time you’ve figured out exactly what makes this phone passable, there’s no real area where it bests the competition. It does everything and it does it OK. That’s about the size of it and with a very restrained camera with inefficient compatibility to social media sites, even those who regard photography as a by-product of a phone, it doesn’t quite hit the spot. A nice phone that has since been eclipsed by the competition.

Its successful predecessor, the 3G, ironed out the teething issues with the first generation iPhone by adding better and more efficient web browsing and the media player was rightly praised as an upgrade. Better battery life, a universal headphone jack and fantastically improved download speeds allowed for even more “how did I ever live without this” applications.

The Camera

The frankly crude and uninspiring 2MP camera of the previous models made way for a marginally more fancy 3.2MP version and in adding video capability, iPhone images and action stills stalk the photography sections of the www.

On paper the camera hasn’t got much bigger or better but there is a real difference. The auto/manual focus capabilities are quite something and allow for ambitious and dexterous photography with ease. Combining the iPhone 3GS’s limited hardware capabilities with the thousands of camera-specific applications in the App Store and versatility and comedy become the name of the game.

The camera is the source for much discussion but generally people are pleasantly surprised with the quality of the imagery the device can produce, albeit that in low-light situations they can be poor so a flash is a must-have.

iPhone imagery has actually gathered something of a cult net status and there are various pages dedicated to what’s been dubbed iPhoneography - they even have annual awards.

The Phone

But lets be honest, you don’t buy an iPhone 3GS for its fantabulous camera. It’s a smartphone, until brother number four came along, it was THE smartphone – and your best friend – rolled into one.

Features which improved this generation of iPhone no end, included voice control, an improved messaging service, the inbuilt GPS and the ability for monster app speeds; their multi-use and compatibility with the web and social networking, and the beasts immense storage facility. This was the model when iPhone became fearless.

If you haven’t already fooled around on this version of the iPhone then it’s a treat. Navigation couldn’t be simpler, neither could using the App Store and overcoming the new phone how-do-I-use-this hump.

The speed of this beast compared to its predecessor is infinitely more efficient and capable of dealing with multiple applications and programs at the same time. Word of caution is with the phone’s poor battery life but any iPhone users will know to bring a spare charging cable.

The Conclusion

As I’ve said, you don’t buy an iPhone for the images it pulls off but for the use of the phone and giving over your social, work and leisure life to a higher power. With a new operating system after iPhone 4 came to market, Apple has added stealth to what was already a significant weapon.

Thanks to iPhone 4, the 3GS model is down in price and contracts need not cost the earth and the camera, though a minnow compared to other devices, is still fun to run around with and capable enough of taking a decent shot.

Full of innovative features, navigable layout and interactivity, the handsets are generally bastions of efficiency and look pretty swish these days having lost the chin that footered earlier HTC models.

The Camera

We were irked by the fact that it protrudes slightly from the back of the device which means the phone does not sit flush on a desk or table but aside from that the design is slick.  The HD2 is actually thinner than the iPhone, at only 11mm, and the screen’s small surround means that it doesn’t feel too bulky in the hand.  To quote HTC, the phone is “pocketable” despite its large screen.

Aside from its annoying sticky-out nature, the camera on the HD2 is pretty decent.  There’s a dual LED flash and the camera packs 5 MPs.  It’s a common myth that a higher MP count equals better photos, especially on a phone camera. The lens and the size of the sensor are more important and in this case it translates to some good images, though not exceptional ones.  In many cases the sheer eye watering brightness of the flash is just too much, meaning that photos are flooded.  Another byproduct of this is that your subjects will be hard pressed to keep their eyes open when you’re snapping them, but what’s a little permenant retinal damage between friends?

In autofocus mode you can tap on an object to focus, much like the similar feature on the 3GS.  The settings can be accessed very easily from an on-screen icon, giving you a range of effects and other options to help you optimise your photos.

The zoom is a little disappointing, being digital rather than mechanical.  In layman’s terms this means that the picture is merely enlarged, leading to some noticeable pixilation when zoomed in.

The best thing about the camera on the HD2 is its speed.  The camera application makes it easy to take photos one after another in rapid succession; a vast improvement on the speed of previous HTC and Windows Mobile camera apps. With the video playback, a high screen resolution and a gloriously large viewing surface make for a pleasant visual experience, but we did find that it stuttered on occasion.

The Phone

So a decent camera, and if you’re one of those folk who don’t want to iConform, what else does this intuitive smartphone have to offer?

HTC’s attention to detail is palpable. The screen is massive – in fact one of the largest that we’ve seen on any smartphone measuring 4.3 inches compared to the iPhone’s 3.5.

The HD2 is running on Windows Mobile 6.5 when the company used to favour the Android system.

One way to access your favourite content quickly is via the quick links which you can create to photos, contacts, web pages, apps and just about anything else you can think of.  If you select web one of your quick links, an image of the page appears as the icon.  It’s all very clever and well thought out.

Because the screen is so large the onscreen keyboard also beats that of the iPhone 3GS hands down. In landscape mode it’s a dream, and to top it off, the predictive text makes typing even faster.

The music player on the HD2 is downright lovely and HTC’s media player looks beautiful, with a cover-flow like interface that is extremely easy to use.

When you pick an album in landscape mode, a list of tracks appears at the left of the screen so it’s simple to find the music you’re looking for.  Another massive advantage for me is the integrated FM radio, which uses the headphones as antennae.

The main downside to the HD2, and the reason that many might hesitate to buy is the feebleness of the app store compared to that of the mighty iPhone.  At present the choice of applications in the Windows Marketplace is very limited, and the range pales into insignificance beside Apple’s App Store.

The Conclusion

So does the HD2 beat the iPhone?  The screen is gorgeous, the processor is quick and the user interface is slick.  The app store, on the other hand is woeful, and the browser moves a fraction too slowly.

In the end it all comes down to personal preference.  The iPhone comes with the not inconsiderable draw of the App Store, looks amazing and browses like a dream.  The HD2 can be tweaked and customised to a much higher degree (unless you’re of the jailbreaking persuasion), and has a beautiful screen but we would have preferred an Android version.

If you’ve been saving up for a top of the range smartphone you should definitely look at both devices before deciding.

The Pen F was a half frame camera popular in the 1960′s for its streamlined appearance. The intention was to create a system as simple to use as the humble writing implement.

Relatively cheap at the time, it is now regarded as a classic and highly collectable for camera junkies.

This model boasts the features of a mid-range digital SLR squeezed into a compact body, comparable in spec to the E-30. Its smaller size is made possible by the Four Thirds system first introduced by Olympus and Panasonic in August 2008, which saw the removal of the mirror box. The E-P1 weighs in at just 335g making it extremely portable.

The camera has a contracting 14-42mm standard kit lens in the same retro style. Unusually for a semi-pro SLR there is no built-in flash, but it’s compatible with the FL-14, FL-36 or FL-50.

The 3” LCD screen is the only image framing method available if you opt for the standard lens, but with the 17mm f/2.8 pancake as kit lens, there’s a VF-1 optical viewfinder included.

However, the resolution is a little low, and if I’m being pernickety, the various display screens are a little frustrating. Some information such as the shutter speed and aperture are unavailable in combination with certain features.

On the up side, the E-P1 supports HD video at 30 frames per second and can shoot seven minutes in this mode; very unusual for such a small camera. You can also purchase an MF-2 OM adaptor to allow the use of other lenses.

The nostalgia induced by this camera is undeniable. In both the colour options for the main body are lovely: black and silver or white and tan with chrome accents. Innovative, stylish and compact, this is still a camera that deserves its place.

Best Price link – Dabs.com £519.66

Getting back to basics then, the Diana F+ by Lomography costs around £70, is made completely of plastic and is beautifully alluring due to its sharp retro design and ability to capture wonderful and dreamy images on 120 film.

In the 1960’s, the Diana camera was a cult icon and it’s daughter, the Diana F+ is being billed as a faithful reproduction with slightly better genes.

The twist appears to be that you can take pinhole photos, panoramic images and night shots. It also comes with a flash and a couple of coloured gel filters.

Right, we all know the drawbacks of such a device in a digital world means I can’t slap them straight up on the computer and ‘tag’ all my friends. But sometimes the chic of a camera with such a rich cult look, feel and status is enough to seal the deal. Plus don’t we sometimes hark back for the days when people can’t immediately check your latest snap and enact power of veto over it?

So this camera will not instantly display my photos and, yes, I will have to wait to get my prints developed, but I sometimes hanker for a slower world and the excitement of opening up an envelope of developed prints and seeing what I’ve actually snapped. Once again, sod this world of instant gratification.

Love it or hate it, there is something undeniably charming about this little snapper. For more information, visit the official Lomography site.

Some buy one for the price, some for a particular feature or its exemplary performance in a particular field of photography, but there are great cameras that offer quality as well as value and 2009 was a stellar year for the market.

Top manufacturers had to adapt to the financial climate, so a few spare pennies could – and to this day still can – go quite a long way. Investing in a sturdy camera with an intuitive interface, good features and decent lifespan couldn’t come at a better time.

We’ve compiled a wide-ranging list taking some of the decision making out of the process and have appealed to a range of criteria including budget, performance, looks and the overall package.

So here is the digitalcameras.co.uk list of best cameras in 2009 to suit your wallet or purse, needs, photographic expertise and social and physical pursuits.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ7

The Lumix range of digital cameras is extremely popular with this model trumping both precursors and the competition alike thanks to its ability to record HD video at a 720p resolution. This inviting feature stands shoulder to shoulder with a high resolution 10MP still image capture and even fits in the pocket.

Best Price link – Amazon.co.uk £179.99

Sony CyberShot DSC-H7

This may seem like a serious photographers camera but the model is perfectly accessible for less experienced snappers. With 15x optical zoom thanks to the Karl Zeiss lens and a very moderate online price point it really looks and performs above its class.

Best Price link – Amazon.co.uk from £159

Canon Digital IXUS 100 IS

Another pocket beast that can record in HD, this device features a mega-impressive 12.1 MP image resolution. This is one sexy little model, in a light, slick, slim black case; market masters Canon have packed this one with 3x optical zoom and all the bells and whistles you’d expect.

Best Price link – Currys.co.uk £129

Fujifilm FinePix Z20fd

This is the fashionista’s camera coming in a range of different and outlandish colours but it’s not style over substance. With a 10 MP resolution, the fact this beaut is available for under £100 is a cheeky bonus.

Best Price – Pixmania.co.uk £79.98

Casio Exilim EX-Z29

This model is simple, no nonsense and another budget friendly morsel. This super-portable digital camera boasts a very-impressive 10.1 MP image taker.

Best Price link – Amazon.co.uk £69.99

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT1

Highly regarded by critics and users alike, this is a slick but toned down Lumix model for people who live active lives. It still has a 12 MP sensor and wide angle capturing capability – it’s also available in quirky neon colours.

Best Price link – Amazon.co.uk £275

Fujifilm FinePix Z33WP

The only waterproof entry into our top 10, this camera is also low cost considering its outdoorsy ambitions and 10 MP resolution.

Best Price – Tesco.com £99.97

Samsung WB500

Samsung isn’t a prolific name in the digicam world but the brand has seriously added to their snapping cred with the WB500. This camera packs in a massive 10x optical zoom and 10 MP resolution to shake up the market and strike fear into the pedigree dogs.

Best Price link - GlobalElectricals.co.uk £119

Olympus SP-590 UZ

This camera couldn’t be left out of the list. With a massive, ambitious and high performance 26x zooming capability, this is a camera for serious photographers and ideal for taking pictures of sports events, nature or specialised industry shots. It’s so versatile you’ll wonder where that thing for getting studs out of horses’ hooves is.

Best Price link – Camerabox.co.uk £214.99

Olympus mju Tough 6000

You may have noticed we’ve leaned towards more tough little cameras for travel and leisure owing to the change in social trends and photography. Everyone uses Facebook, everyone likes to snap away and keep them for their records and not everyone needs a powerful zoomtastic beast to do so. This Olympus offering is light, fast and competitive … maybe even outstanding.

Best Price link – buyacamera.co.uk £129.99

The most important question you have to ask when choosing between a digital SLR camera and a compact is what do you intend to use it for? Investing in a superior piece of technology is a costly decision and requires careful thought. Without doubt digital SLRs are a far more expensive choice, despite the increasingly competitive prices of available models on the market.

In simple terms, if you want to record fun memories and carry a camera everywhere with you, you should consider a compact. A dSLR will produce superior pictures, but is heavier and bulkier, and the lens attachments will need to be carried. Ultimately, you will have a better photograph but as a wise friend once pointed out to me, an average photo that you take will always top a brilliant photograph that you didn’t.

Having said all of this, the pros of a dSLR are considerable. The zoom is manual and therefore speedier than the motorised versions on a compact. This means greater speed to capture your image. The image quality is superior as the image sensor can be sizeable enough to have high pixel count without interference. Most importantly, the ability to change lenses means that you can get a wide range of focus, depth of field and angles. The step up in price is worth it for the serious photographer.

Compact Digital Cameras

PANASONIC Lumix DMC-TZ8

Panasonic Lumix DMC TZ10

The wonder of the LUMIX Super Zoom Digital Camera is that the compact casing houses a massive lens. The 25mm wide anle lens equates to 2x the area of field than a standard 35 mm lens. This enables you to capture sprawling landscapes whilst the versatile technology allows for clarity of focus on the close up shot.

Basic features

• 25mm Wide-angle
• 12x Optical Zoom
• f/3.3-4.9 LEICA DC VARIO-ELMAR lens
• Intelligent Resolution Technology and 16x Intelligent Zoom
• iA (Intelligent Auto) Mode with POWER O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer)
• HD Movie (Motion JPEG)
• 12.1 Mp

Pros
This camera has a lot of technology packed into it’s lightweight frame. The image stabilisation allows for non-blurring pictures even in low light conditions. The Leica glass of the lens is suitable for all photographic assignments. The HD movie mode also functions in low light and utilises the 12x zoom. The Intelligent Resolution function produces a high resolution finish to all pictures.

Cons
The only minor gripe with this camera is that changing settings is a lengthy and difficult to navigate proceedure.

Rating
9.5/10

Cheapest Price: Dixons

CANON PowerShot S90

Canon Powershot S90

One of the best compact digital cameras of all time with an unparalleled image quality. Marketed by canon as the camera with creative control and pocketable performance, this compact captures quality images at both high speeds and low-light conditions. The pictures are detailed in ISO settings that far exceed other compacts. There is also a manual setting that can be adjusted via a dial on the back panel and a lens ring on the front. This enables the user to change shooting speeds more rapidly than competitive products on the market.

The price might make a prospective buyer balk, however the magnesium alloy body and high quality build actually seem like a bargain.

Features

• High-sensitivity 10 MP CCD
• f/2.0, 28mm wide, 3.8x zoom lens, with IS
• Compact design & lens Control Ring
• 3.0” LCD
• Dual Anti-Noise System with DIGIC 4
• Full Manual control & RAW
• Smart Auto mode & Servo AF/AE
• Face Detection
• i-Contrast
• VGA movies (30fps) & HDMI

Pros
The high-sensitivity CCD results in superb image quality throughout a wide range of lighting conditions. The f/2.0 aperture is extremely versatile with fast shutter speeds enabling fast -moving subjects to be captured even at low lighting levels. coupled with a Wide angle 28mm lens, anti blur technology and a wide-viewing angle BCD display facilitate the production of stunning pictures and make the S90 a joy to use.

Cons
Sadly there is no HD video mode.

Rating
8.7/10

Cheapest Price: Currys

Nikon Coolpix S8000

Nikon Coolpix L20

The S8000 is reputed by Nikon to be the world’s slimmest 10x optical zoom compact. The 30mm body houses a true telephoto lens that ranges from the 30mm wide angle to 300mm. It does not have the greatest image quality comparative to it’s peers but it is ultimately one of the most portable cameras around.

Features

• 10x optical zoom, f/3.5-5.6
• 114.2 Mp CCD
• 3.0” LCD
• Face Detection, Blink Detection, Smile Detection, Multi-Zone AF
• weight with battery 183g
• ISO 100-3200
• Continuous shooting: 1fps at 14Mp, 3fps at 3Mp
• Vibration Reduction in lens

Pros
Obviously the slim size with the sizeable zoom make this an attractive consumer choice. The 3 frame per second top speed is competitive to many of the low end dSLRs. The image quality is good and the video mode operates at a24 fps rate. Package al of these features with the economic £210 price tag and you would be hard pressed to find a better buy.

Cons
The glass of the lens is not the highest quality and results in a minimal amount of chromatic aberration. However this should not be evident for the general photographic purposes of a point and shoot.

Rating
7.8

Cheapest Price: Warehouseexpress.com