While the Ricoh R8 offers a few excellent features such as the 28-200mm lens and the brilliant LCD screen, its images have a few issues that mean it may not be right for everyone.

It’s a slim and simple camera, but Fujifilm’s Finepix Z20fd will only suit amateur users who aren’t overly concerned with image sharpness and quality.

The DSC-W110 is simple to use and perfect to take to parties, but it's a very automatic camera and its pictures tend to look soft.

A decent but not noteworthy compact camera, the Nikon CoolPix S550 sports a 5x optical zoom with image stabilisation but it is let down a little in the image quality and speed departments.

A decent but still somewhat disappointing compact, the FujiFilm FinePix Z100fd produces decent pictures at low ISO settings. It's hampered by an annoying interface and some image quality issues.

Panasonic's Lumix DMC-FX38 is a great compact camera for cashed-up consumers. It combines impressive image quality with a slim, stylish and sturdy design as well as a 25mm wide-angle lens, making it suitable for a variety of tasks.