The PowerShot A590IS is another great entry-level unit from Canon. It is fully featured, with manual shooting modes and optical image stabilisation. Its 8-megapixel sensor captures impressive pictures.

While the pictures could be a little sharper, the Digital IXUS 75 excelled in all other areas and is a brilliant choice if you're after an all purpose camera to throw in your pocket and forget about.

Another great compact camera from Canon, the IXUS 70 excels with a tiny design and good quality pictures, making it ideal as an all purpose happy snap camera.

Another strong entry into the compact camera market by Canon, the A560 produces similarly high quality pictures to its sister model, the A550, and this time around they have packed in Face Detect, which will be a big selling point for some users.

Another brilliant IXUS unit, the Canon IXUS 80 IS packs image stabilisation and good image quality into a compact and sexy body. A great package for users looking for a new point and shoot.

Another great compact camera from Canon, the PowerShot A550 won't compare to some more high-end units, but considering the price tag and the features on offer, it's an excellent value-for-money product.

A solid entry-level camera, the Canon PowerShot A580 takes good shots and offers most of the features a beginner needs at an affordable price.

FujiFilm's FinePix J50 doesn't do anything to separate itself from the pack. However, the 5x optical zoom will appeal to users who want a budget camera that can get in that little bit closer.

An incredibly cheap but basic camera. It is worth paying extra to buy something better quality with more options.

As a budget compact camera, the FinePix A500 is a fairly competant model. It doesn't offer the best image quality in the world, and has some noise issues, but for this price tag it is hard to complain.

A low end six megalpixel camera, the F470 is a decent but not outstanding model that fails to differentiate itself from the myriad of compacts on the market.