Kodak's Easyshare V1073 is a good all-round compact combining nice images with some nifty features and a touch-screen interface.

With its sleek design and interesting control scheme, as well as a few nifty features, the Samsung NV24HD is a fairly solid compact camera.

Samsung's L110 is a basic and fairly uninspiring compact camera. While it does boast a manual shooting mode and optical image stabilisation, its pictures could use a little work and it is quite slow overall.

If you're after a petite SLR then the Olympus E-420 is a solid performer. It keeps pace with the competition in most areas, while maintaining dimensions that are significantly smaller.

Sony's Cyber-shot DSC-W150 is a fairly decent compact cameras with a few niggling issues. Aside from some purple fringing it captures good shots. The interface and shot taking can be extremely slow at times, which is frustrating.

There is a lot to like about the Pentax K20D. It produces some of the crispest, sharpest pictures of any camera in its class. It also has a stack of features, including live view and sensor-based stabilisation. Some users will want a faster burst mode or better live view implementation. Nonetheless, this is a great option for enthusiasts.