If you can put up with the difficult user interface and the not-so-sleek body, the DSC-H50 from Sony is an extremely competent and feature-packed camera.

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.

This is a decent model to choose if you want a long zoom range and versatile controls, yet don't want a bulky digital SLR. It's good for travellers in this respect, despite its soft pictures and slightly underdone colour.

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.