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.

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.

This camera feels and sounds like a beast. And it is a beast. It'll produce very good images at a 14.6Mp size, with practically no noise up to ISO 800. However, its Live View feature is worthless.

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.

Olympus' E-520 is a great D-SLR that is more than capable of competing with the big guns from Canon and Nikon. Its images are impressive and the feature set is robust enough to satisfy all but the most demanding photographer.

While the Ricoh R8 offers a few excellent features such as the 28-200mm lens and the brilliant LCD screen, its images have a few issues that mean it may not be right for everyone.

Panasonic's Lumix DMC-FX38 is a great compact camera for cashed-up consumers. It combines impressive image quality with a slim, stylish and sturdy design as well as a 25mm wide-angle lens, making it suitable for a variety of tasks.

Nikon's CoolPix S610 would have been quite an impressive unit if it wasn't for its extremely slow shutter speed and shot-to-shot lag. As it stands it still captures fairly good snaps and has some nifty features, but can be irritatingly slow at times.

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.