The Sony DSC-F707 looks unusual: attached to the camera like an oversized appendage is the very large Vario-Sonnar lens, providing the F707 with excellent image magnification via the 5x optical zoom and 38-190mm variable focal length, coupled with 10x digital zoom.

A favourable choice for the megapixel-focused buyers on a budget

We have seen digital camera technology mature in the past few years to produce good quality photos with a range of features to satisfy all levels of photography.

The iDshot from Sanyo is the latest digital still-cum-digital video camera in a package that can capture still images between 640 x 480 and 1,360 x 1,024 pixels.

Sony is no doubt a technological behemoth, an innovative market leader in everything electrical, and fun. For Sony, digital photography is no exception, the DSC-S70 being the 3.3 megapixel entrant in the highly successful Cyber-shot range.

DIGITAL CAMERA

If there was an award for functionality in this comparison, Sony's CyberShot DSC-F505 would win it hands down, not least contributed by its use of the new Sony Memory Stick technology.

Ever since the dawn of the digital camera age Olympus has graced the market with a series of excellent products. Its C-800L may have had a lukewarm reception, but the C-820L soon rectified that.