Panasonic's Lumix DMC-LX3 is an impressive high-end compact camera with a wide-angle 24mm lens and a host of manual features.

Kodak's EasyShare Z1085 is a decent but not outstanding advanced compact camera. It has some nifty features, but the images aren't quite up to scratch and it can get slow when the small buffer fills up.

A solid advanced ultra-zoom camera, FujiFilm's FinePix S8100fd offers an 18x zoom lens with sensor shift stabilisation and captures good but not outstanding photographs.

FujiFilm's FinePix S1000fd is a decent ultra-zoom with a small body, but its lack of image stabilisation makes the large lens much less useful and the sluggish performance will irritate many users.

Olympus' SP-570UZ continues the trend of its past ultra-zooms, offering an enticing package for users looking for a larger lens. It isn't perfect — at times it can be sluggish and the pictures have some minor issues — but on the whole it does a solid job.

The P80 from Nikon is an advanced camera with a very capable zoom lens. It’s not as fast as the majority of other advanced cameras we’ve looked at, but the images it captures are rich and sharp.

This camera has a big zoom for its size, and features some useful program modes and manual setting possibilities, but if you want super-crisp photos at a resolution higher than 1600x1200, you'll want to look elsewhere.

Sigma's DP-1 is a very interesting camera. On one hand it captures some of the best shots we've ever seen from a non-SLR camera, making it great for enthusiasts. However it also has slow performance, an annoying interface and lacks a viewfinder. The price will also buy you a good, entry level digital SLR.

Kodak's EasyShare Z8612 IS has a few things going for it, including a large zoom that is backed up by optical image stabilisation. However, its images exhibit a fair bit of fringing and it can at times be quite slow.

Nikon's CoolPix P60 is a good all around enthusiast compact which packs in a basic manual shooting mode with good image quality and a fairly petite design.