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

A very quick advanced camera. The 1/10000th of a second shutter speed makes the S7000 very attractive for certain purposes and it is only really let down by a reasonably hefty price tag and poor wide angled shooting.

If you're after an enthusiast camera but don't yet want to venture into the land of SLRs, or just need a backup for your main camera, Canon's PowerShot G9 is a great choice. While there are a few minor issues for the most part, it captures brilliant shots and the feature set and build quality are sure to keep all but the most demanding professional satisfied.

Panasonic's FZ18 is a solid ultra-zoom camera. While the price tag is high, many users would be better served spending that money on an SLR, whereas those after a huge zoom lens and a mass of features along with several beginner-friendly shooting modes may find what they're looking for here.

A great advanced camera that offers almost all the features you'd expect in a sturdy and stylish case.

Wide-angle lens lovers will be thrilled with the shots the Coolpix 8400 can take. It's a powerful, flexible camera; but it's not the easiest or fastest camera to use.

A solid advanced ultra-zoom from Sony that takes high quality pictures and offers a variety of advanced functions that should please.

FujiFilm's FinePix S100fs is a great pseudo-SLR camera. Its 11.1 megapixel sensor and large 28-400mm lens capture great snaps and the manual shooting modes combined with speedy operation make it flexible and powerful.

The Exilim Pro EX-P505's combination of photo and video features sounds promising, but its image quality is mediocre on stills, and its video doesn't measure up.

While the FZ50 is a reasonably strong advanced camera, a combination of its size, price tag and issues at high sensitivities mean it is only suited to certain buyers.

The Kodak P880 would have been a great camera but for problems with image quality, and massive write times for the advanced file formats.

A great compact camera for photo enthusiasts.