Tiny, intuitive and a great performer, the IXUS 85 is the ideal carry-anywhere camera

Canon's reign over the compact digital camera market looks set to continue with this offering.

Beautiful, ultra-compact, super-slick and friendly to use, plus great quality. A winning combination from Canon.

In too many ways, this IXUS isn’t good enough to justify its high price

Superb, stylish, solid... but sabotaged by poor controls

Small but solid. The Ixus 75 is perfect for holiday snappers – just watch out when the sun goes down

The AF could do with being a bit quicker, and a longer zoom would be good, but it’s still a gem

A stylish and capable camera, further enhanced by wireless tech

Are you still confused about what sort of camera to purchase? We take a look at some of the differences between stand-alone video cameras and dual-use compacts that promise to do everything. Are video cameras still even necessary? We've got some answers.

If there's someone in your life without a digital camera, there's never been a better time to get them started. Compact cameras now offer 8-12 megapixels for under $500, and provide large LCDs for easy viewfinding and shot setup as well as automatic face recognition, multiple focal points and more!

With its slim dimensions, the FinePix F700 is almost the odd one out in this test. It’s certainly no IXUS, but the F700 will still fit into your pocket and the brushed metal casing looks the part. But the main reason the F700 costs more than the bigger S5000 is because of the new Super CCD SR. Instead of one photodiode per pixel, this fourth-generation CCD has two: a high-sensitivity one for shadows and mid-tones, and a low-sensitivity one for highlights. Fujifilm claims this gives a greater dynamic range, aiding tricky lighting situations by capturing shadow detail without bleaching out highlights.

In the words of Amy Winehouse: they tried to make us buy this Kodak, but we said ‘no, no, no’

The S51c combines good looks, neat technology and quality images in one reasonably affordable package

The first thing you notice about the Kyocera Samurai 2100DG is the shape of the camera.

Not the slimmest any more, but still amazingly compact. A very capable cam if you don’t mind the menus

In issue 119 of PC Authority, we took eighteen cameras and put their images under the microscope. Now you can too.

A lovely compact cam and a decent HD camcorder in one

A well-built and stylish compact. Only a sluggish menu system lets it down

This well-built compact is a solid point-and-shooter, but it struggles in low light