A competant but not oustanding budget offer, the Coolpix L4 will more than suffice for occasional snapshots.

This camera would serve most people's needs, but is not exceptional. We would only really recommend it if you do a lot of macro photography.

If the battery life was a little better this would be an outstanding product, but as it stands at this price for a 5 megapixel model you really can't go wrong.

The UDC-5M is an improvement on Uniden's seven megapixel UDC-7M, but is still just an average camera, offering decent image quality at a reasonable price.

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.

Nikon's diminutive 5.1-megapixel camera is simple to use, and it delivers more-powerful features than you'd expect from a camera priced at under $300.

You might consider this model if you're a beginner looking for good image quality, but there are better buys elsewhere.

Recommended for brand new photographers who are after crisp, clean images.

Kodak's Easyshare V1073 is a good all-round compact combining nice images with some nifty features and a touch-screen interface.

It's small, can take good looking 10-megapixel-sized images and it's easy to use. It'll struggle a little in low-light conditions, as most cameras do, but it's still a decent compact camera for all occasions.