By Brian Jones

This Sony digital camera is a great little point and shoot model that takes sharp, bright photos. The body is nice and compact as well. We were amazed by the sweep panorama mode, which let us create a panoramic shot by pressing the button and sweeping the camera around. For a relatively inexpensive $90, this camera has enough special features to get a lot of versatile out of it. The shutter speed is not as fast as it could be, making it hard to capture objects in motion where you want them, but blurriness is at a minimum. Overall, its compact size and picture quality make this a valuable camera purchase.

Quick Specs

• 3 Colors Available
• 2.7-inch LCD screen
• 16.1 MP
• 5x wide-angle optical zoom
• 8.6 ounces
• 4.3” x 3.2” x 2.4”

Brian Jones has had a passion for photography and anything related for the majority of his life. One photography class in high school was all it took to get hooked on everything to do with the subject. He became more focused on learning about camera equipment as he experiemented with everything available… See more about Brian

Prices

By Brian Jones

This is one feature rich camera. And a big improvement over previous models. It is a slim, lightweight digital camera with a 16 MP sensor. The twist on this Samsung digital camera is the additional LCD screen on the front for easy self-portraits. Some of the new features are built-in wifi, easy sharing to Facebook and other social networks, and compatibility with other Samsung All Share devices like Smart TVs. The variety of special lens effects are fun to play around with. There’s a miniaturizing feature and vignetting feature, for instance, give a unique artistic effect to your shots. For $118.99, this Samsung camera has a host of convenient and fun features, and its two LCD screens enhance the picture-taking experience.

Quick Specs

• Color: Black
• 3-inch LCD screen
• 16 MP
• 5x wide-angle optical zoom
• 7.2 ounces
• 6.1” x 5.2” x 1.9”

Brian Jones has had a passion for photography and anything related for the majority of his life. One photography class in high school was all it took to get hooked on everything to do with the subject. He became more focused on learning about camera equipment as he experiemented with everything available… See more about Brian

Prices

By Brian Jones

Nikon’s Coolpix L series is aimed at beginners and those familiar with cameras alike. The L820 digital camera produces sharp pictures at 16 MP, even from far away with the amazing 30x optical zoom. On the opposite end of the spectrum, you can focus on objects 2 inches from the lens with macro mode. Even if you’re not sure which scene mode to select, this camera features an auto mode that will set the best scene mode for you. Smart portrait technology focuses clearly on faces, fixes red eyes, and detects smiles for the best shot. With 19MB of built-in memory, you don’t always have to have a memory card handy to take some pictures. For around $250.00, everyone can be an excellent photographer with this Nikon camera.

Quick Specs

• Colors: Black Red
• 3-inch LCD screen
• 16 MP
• 30x wide-angle optical zoom
• 2.1 pounds
• 4” x 6” x 6”

Brian Jones has had a passion for photography and anything related for the majority of his life. One photography class in high school was all it took to get hooked on everything to do with the subject. He became more focused on learning about camera equipment as he experiemented with everything available… See more about Brian

Prices

By Brian Jones

The Olympus SZ-15 compact digital camera has an impressive optical zooming spec of 24x. This means you can get super clear shots from very far away. It really blows a lot of the other cameras out of the water in this respect. Even some of the digital zoom specs can’t touch it. This iteration also has a 25mm lens, so you can go just a bit wider than before. You to point and shoot rapidly without a lot of lag time in between shots too. This is important for those who like to snap away. It is fairly slim and lightweight, the curved handle is easy to grip and the 3-inch screen provides a sharp preview of your images. The 720p HD video mode is quite smooth and clear, but there’s no zooming available. For a sleek, high quality camera with excellent zooming, $190.99 is a reasonable price.

Quick Specs

• Colors: Black, Red
• 3-inch LCD screen
• 16 MP
• 24x wide-angle optical zoom
• 8 ounces
• 1.6” x 4.2” x 2.7”

Brian Jones has had a passion for photography and anything related for the majority of his life. One photography class in high school was all it took to get hooked on everything to do with the subject. He became more focused on learning about camera equipment as he experiemented with everything available… See more about Brian

Prices

By Brian Jones

An easy-to-use digital camera from Canon with excellent HD video recording capabilities and wifi built in, this model is amazingly priced at $199.99. 1080p HD video recording combined with optical zoom is sharp and smooth. You’ll be impressed. Throw in an optional HDMI cable you can hook it up to your HDTV in seconds. This is one of the slimmest cameras we’ve seen around, just 0.9 inches in depth. It is easily going to fit in any pocket, purse, or backpack. The stabilizing feature reduces shaky, blurry shots, and the HS system allows you to shoot in the dark with no flash and no grainy noise. Overall, this Canon offers a ton of special features for such a great price.

Quick Specs

• Available in 3 colors
• 3-inch LCD Screen
• 12.1 MP
• 10x wide-angle optical zoom
• 5.1 ounces
• 3.8” x 0.9” x 2.2”

Brian Jones has had a passion for photography and anything related for the majority of his life. One photography class in high school was all it took to get hooked on everything to do with the subject. He became more focused on learning about camera equipment as he experiemented with everything available… See more about Brian

Prices

By Brian Jones

Canon has a great reputation for beginner digital cameras. This is a perfect example. You get a sturdy, durable, and compact digital camera that features a 3-inch LCD screen. Having to manually lift the flash is a nifty feature because there are many times when we don’t want the flash to automatically fire. Its 16.0 MP and 16x optical zoom produces sharp, clear pictures whether you’re close up or far away from your subject. The dedicated movie button is big and another convenient feature. This makes it so you don’t have to go searching through menus for the option to start recording. For $149.95, this is a superb all-purpose digital camera with great speed and intuitive controls.

Quick Specs

• Colors: Black and Red
• 3-inch LCD screen
• 16 MP
• 16x wide-angle optical zoom
• 10.2 ounces
• 1.7” x 4.4” x 2.9”

Brian Jones has had a passion for photography and anything related for the majority of his life. One photography class in high school was all it took to get hooked on everything to do with the subject. He became more focused on learning about camera equipment as he experiemented with everything available… See more about Brian

Prices

By Brian Jones

With 10.1 MP, the Panasonic LUMIX DMC-LX7K compact digital camera produces superbly sharp photos. You are going to see minimal noise and/or blurriness all sorts of photographs. We liked the really fast f/1.4 Leica lens for low light photography. That also lets you create a great deal of depth in images with a very shallow depth of field. All the special features it offers include full HD video recording, 9 frames per second shooting, light speed auto focus, intelligent digital zoom, and a host of shooting presets. It really doesn’t take long to figure out all the controls and menus once you being to experiment. The rechargeable battery has a long life as well. You can also feel confident using the Auto mode to achieve the best settings. This way you’ll know it will take great shots even when you’re not sure how to set it yourself. For around $300, it’s an impressive, sleek camera.

Quick Specs

• Colors: Black, White
• 3-inch LCD screen
• 10.1 MP
• 3.8x wide-angle optical zoom
• 10.6 ounces
• 4.4” x 1.8” x 2.6”

Brian Jones has had a passion for photography and anything related for the majority of his life. One photography class in high school was all it took to get hooked on everything to do with the subject. He became more focused on learning about camera equipment as he experiemented with everything available… See more about Brian

Prices

By Brian Jones

This relatively low-priced ultra zoom camera acts as a bridge between point and shoots and an DSLRs. It has a powerful zoom for a compact camera at 15x. The 16 MP sensor is going to make very sharp images as well. A ton of preset modes built into the camera include typical options plus special settings like fireworks, snow, and museum. The high dynamic range feature optimizes the exposure to restore color and vibrancy to light and dark shots. The panorama mode is a cool feature, as is the electronic viewfinder that helps you aim the camera just right. Overall, this bridge digital camera has a lot of great features and can be found for around $150.

Quick Specs

• Colors: Black, White
• 2.7-inch LCD screen
• 16 MP
• 15x wide-angle optical zoom
• 1 pound
• 5.5” x 6.7” x 3.9”

Brian Jones has had a passion for photography and anything related for the majority of his life. One photography class in high school was all it took to get hooked on everything to do with the subject. He became more focused on learning about camera equipment as he experiemented with everything available… See more about Brian

Prices

Back To Top 10 Compact Cameras

Many digital cameras include both digital zoom and optical zoom. It’s helpful to understand the difference between these two zooming features when you’re trying to get a close-up view of something far away.

Optical zoom maintains a high clarity as it zooms in on an image, changing its focal length and magnification. The optics, or lens, of the camera pull the subject you’re shooting closer. APS and 35mm cameras commonly use optical zoom.

Digital zoom came along with digital video cameras. When you take a photograph with digital zoom, the camera crops a selected portion of the image and then enlarges it to fill the full frame again. Some picture quality is lost in the process. Digital zoom is not a useless feature, and practically every digital camera offers it, but you can achieve the same effect yourself with an image editing program like Photoshop.

Is one better than the other?

Frankly, yes. Optical zoom will give you the better quality picture, which is especially important if you like blowing up your photos into 5”x7” and 8”x10” prints. If you usually just print 4”x6” photos, then digital zoom may not have much of a noticeable effect on the picture quality.

Remember when you’re shooting photos that you can take a shot without digital zoom and later edit the photo yourself with image editing software. You can crop whatever section of the image you wish and enlarge it as much as you want, and the original photograph on your camera is still high quality. If you take the shot in digital zoom, then you’re stuck with a blurrier picture from the get-go.

Look for options when you’re buying a camera

As you browse through digital camera options, look for those that alert you when it uses digital zoom. Most also let you disable digital zoom. Camera manufacturers have recognized that digital zoom degrades image quality and have come up with “smart” or “intelligent” zoom. This feature avoids interpolating, or negatively altering, the image when you choose to save it in a smaller size than the full size your camera offers.

For example, if you own a 10MP camera and you choose to save an image as 7MP, you would normally lose 3MP of image data taken from all over the picture. However, with a smart zoom feature, the camera offers to extract the pixels from the outside edges of the image first. The result is a smaller image, similar to a zoom, but without the degraded picture quality. Because you’re saving it as 7MP, it won’t be enlarged back to 10MP as it would with traditional digital zoom.

This feature is handy because it doesn’t force you to throw away the precious image data you want to keep. You just have to remember that with your smaller image size, you’re limited to how much you can enlarge it without it getting fuzzy and pixelated again.

In short

Ultimately, optical zoom is going to give you the best picture quality. Digital cameras with intelligent zoom are preferable to ones with regular digital zoom, but always consider optical zoom first and foremost.

Brian Jones has had a passion for photography and anything related for the majority of his life. One photography class in high school was all it took to get hooked on everything to do with the subject. He became more focused on learning about camera… See more about Brian

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By Brian Jones

As we chose the top 10 compact digital cameras, we considered a number of factors that set the winners apart from the rest. These qualities include:

1. Number of megapixels to produce sharp, detailed images
2. Optical zoom that doesn’t degrade the picture quality
3. Lightweight, slim, portable design
4. Large and bright LCD preview screen
5. Easy-to-operate buttons and menu controls
6. Little to no lag between shots
7. Battery life and ease of recharging
8. Minimal noise or graininess in low-lighting shots
9. Various preset modes including an easy auto mode
10. Face recognition feature that optimizes focus and exposure for portrait shots
11. Value for the price

You’ll find a selection of digital cameras here, from basic point and shoots for beginners to more advanced bridge cameras for the serious photographers.

Compact Cameras Buying Guide

Understanding Pixel Count in Your Digital Camera

When you look at a photograph taken with a digital camera, you see a clear, crisp image. What you don’t see are the millions of pixels that make up the image. Pixels are the miniscule blocks of color that put together make up a picture. Each pixel has a numeric value from 0 to 255 and comprises three colors: red, green, and blue. Those three colors, each assigned a number from 0 to 255, blend together in unique combinations to make up any color you can imagine. Think of it like mixing paints.

Digital cameras are distinguished by their pixel count. The greater the pixel count, the sharper the image and the more you can blow up the picture without losing its clarity. Pixel counts in cameras range from 1 million, or 1 megapixel (MP), to 14 million. If you have ever tried to print or develop a low-resolution image, say from the Internet, then you know it turns out pixelated with the blocky pixels visible.

How many megapixels do you need in your digital camera? If you like developing a lot of your prints, decide what size photos you prefer:

• If you’re a casual photographer or you like making prints of family photos, you’ll be happy with a 3MP camera, which makes sharp 4”x6” and 5”x7” prints.
• If you prefer large 8”x10” photographs, then a 4MP or 5MP camera will yield a clearer image at that size.

Some cameras give two pixel counts. There’s the total pixel count, which includes all the pixels on the sensor surface. The pixels on the edges are typically dropped in the final image. The effective pixel count measures all the pixels in the image after the edge pixels are taken away.

Brian Jones has had a passion for photography and anything related for the majority of his life. One photography class in high school was all it took to get hooked on everything to do with the subject. He became more focused on learning about camera equipment as he experiemented with everything available… See more about Brian

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By Brian Jones

A slim, lightweight digital camera with 14 MP, this Samsung digital camera has an additional LCD screen on the front that makes it easy to take self-portraits. The variety of special lens effects are fun to play around with. There’s a miniaturizing feature and vignetting feature, for instance, give a unique artistic effect to your shots. For $104.99, this Samsung camera has a host of convenient and fun features, and its two LCD screens enhance the picture-taking experience.

Quick Specs

• Color: Black
• 2.7-inch LCD screen
• 14 MP
• 5x wide-angle optical zoom
• 3.8 ounces
• 3.7” x 0.7” x 2.2”

Brian Jones has had a passion for photography and anything related for the majority of his life. One photography class in high school was all it took to get hooked on everything to do with the subject. He became more focused on learning about camera equipment as he experiemented with everything available… See more about Brian

Prices

By Brian Jones

With a classy retro design, the Fujifilm X100 combines all the great traditional aspects of film with modern digital advancements. Its APS-C CMOS sensor and large aperture F2 lens allows you to take pictures similar to those of a 35mm, soft and out-of-focus if you choose. The hybrid viewfinder is unlike any other you’ll find in a compact digital camera, switching between optical and electronic modes. The HD movies it records are sharp and smooth, and we appreciated the built-in miniature HDMI connector to hook it up to a TV. A unique, sophisticated camera for the serious photographer, the Fujifilm X100 costs $1,189.46 and delivers advanced features.

Quick Specs

• Color: Black
• 2.8-inch LCD screen
• 12.3 MP
• 15.7 ounces
• 5” x 2.9” x 2.1”

Brian Jones has had a passion for photography and anything related for the majority of his life. One photography class in high school was all it took to get hooked on everything to do with the subject. He became more focused on learning about camera equipment as he experiemented with everything available… See more about Brian

Prices

By Brian Jones

Creating sharp, clear, blur-free images, this Casio digital camera has convenient mix of automatic and manual controls that make it highly functional for both beginner and amateur photographers. Its controls are not too complicated, including both a dial with easy and best shot modes, and digital menus with more options. We were satisfied with the lack of lag between shots, and the auto macro feature that automatically adjusts the settings to focus on up-close subjects. While it could have used a larger LCD screen, for the amount of features it provides, $179.95 is a fair price.

Quick Specs

• Color: Silver
• 2-inch LCD screen
• 7.2 MP
• 3x wide-angle optical zoom
• 0.33 pounds
• 1.1” x 3.5” x 2.4”

Brian Jones has had a passion for photography and anything related for the majority of his life. One photography class in high school was all it took to get hooked on everything to do with the subject. He became more focused on learning about camera equipment as he experiemented with everything available… See more about Brian

Prices

By Brian Jones

A low-priced bridge camera, a stepping stone between a point and shoot and an SLR, this GE digital camera has powerful 15x optical zooming and sharp 16 MP images. Its preset modes include the standard options plus special settings like fireworks, snow, and museum. The high dynamic range feature optimizes the exposure to restore color and vibrancy to light and dark shots. The panorama mode is a cool feature, as is the electronic viewfinder that helps you aim the camera just right. Overall, this bridge digital camera has a lot of great features for a low $138 price.

Quick Specs

• Colors: Black, White
• 2.7-inch LCD screen
• 16 MP
• 15x wide-angle optical zoom
• 1 pound
• 5.5” x 6.7” x 3.9”

Brian Jones has had a passion for photography and anything related for the majority of his life. One photography class in high school was all it took to get hooked on everything to do with the subject. He became more focused on learning about camera equipment as he experiemented with everything available… See more about Brian

Prices

By Brian Jones

An easy point and shoot, this Nikon digital camera produces sharp pictures at 12 MP, from far away with the optical zoom to 2 inches from the lens with macro mode. Even if you’re not sure which scene mode to select, the auto mode sets it correctly for you. Smart portrait technology focuses clearly on faces, fixes red eyes, and detects smiles for the best shot. With 19MB of built-in memory, you don’t always have to have a memory card handy to take some pictures. For just $91.49, this Nikon camera offers high quality at a refreshingly low price.

Quick Specs

• Colors: Black, Blue, Red, Silver
• 3-inch LCD screen
• 12 MP
• 3.6x wide-angle optical zoom
• 9.3 ounces
• 3.9” x 1.2” x 2.4”

Brian Jones has had a passion for photography and anything related for the majority of his life. One photography class in high school was all it took to get hooked on everything to do with the subject. He became more focused on learning about camera equipment as he experiemented with everything available… See more about Brian

Prices