Olympus's MJU 820 doesn't capture brilliant pictures, but its combination of a stylish and sturdy design along with some nifty features and funky guide mode make it a reasonable happy-snap camera for novice users.

If you don't need to swap lenses, precisely focus manually or shoot more than three frames at a time, the DSCR1 is a better bet than a budget digital SLR.

A great, compact camera with a stunning design. Perfect for people who want to try their hand at wide angled shooting.

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.

Samsung's i85 tries to do a few too many things at once and falls into the 'jack of all trades, master of none' trap. While it is an adequate still camera, if you're looking for solid travel or media functionality you best look elsewhere.

For those after a small yet powerful camera to capture high-resolution shots, the 12 megapixel Kodak EASYSHARE Z1275 will do the trick. Its pictures aren't the best we've seen, but they should satisfy many users.

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.

FujiFilm's FinePix F100fd is a very solid high-end compact camera. It combines good quality 12-megapixel images with a lot of cool features such as ISO 12,800, a wide angled 5x optical zoom lens and dynamic range options to make an enticing overall package.

Lots of manual controls and great image quality are offset by the C-55's sluggish response time.

It doesn't take the best pictures on the market but they are fine for small- and medium-sized prints and the combination of style, strength and features makes the MJU 840 an attractive all-purpose point-and-shot.