An expensive and unusually poor Sony product.

Easy to use and capable of good results, the superb range of manual modes makes this a good choice for enthusiasts.

A very slim digital compact that’s capable of taking superb pictures. It only just misses out on a Recommended award.

Taking great photos in most situations, the DSC-W50 is a bargain at this price.

An attractive, light and well-built camera, but it has average image quality.

The L2 has limited shooting controls, but it’s capable of producing some great-quality shots.

The only compact to offer aperture and shutter priority, but overall quality is unspectacular.

Offering good quality images, this highly compact camera is a fine alternative to the award winners.

The Ixus 60 delivers superb image quality and is beautifully designed and built.

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

Cheap, sexy, slim and fully-featured. A dream for ultra-portable photography.

In marketing terms, bigger is better, leadingHP to use a 6.2-megapixel CCD in the newR717. That sounds superior to its predecessor,the R707, but pixel count is largely academicover 4 megapixels unless you want A3 size.

Anyone who used the IXUS 40 mightwonder how Canon could possiblyimprove on it, but that’s precisely whatit has done.

Ricoh's Caplio R1 is unfortunately the underperformer of the lot in this Labs, with final scores below the 100 average. While the scores below may make it seem like it's a very poor camera, the reality is that the scores highlight the deviations and differences in the products compared.

Featuring a compact lozenge-shaped body with a fair bit of weight to it, the Cyber-shot P-93 is a solid camera that implies strength and good engineering. Internally, the camera has a 5.1-megapixel CCD and is capable of taking some excellent photos.

The Nikon Coolpix E3700 is the smallest camera here and by far the most pocketable. It features mag-alloy body, so that even though the camera's small, it's really sturdy. There's no hesitation involved in throwing this camera in a bag amongst your other gear.

Kyocera's Finecam SL400R has the most innovative styling of any of the compact cameras here: it has a swivelled body which cuts the camera in two so you can swing the lens down giving it a cross-like form factor as seen from the side. It's a funky design, and it means that when flush the camera has a slim, pocketable aspect.

This 4-megapixel camera is a good point-and-shooter with a generous 2.2in preview LCD on the back and good one-handed operation. Its auto shooting modes work well, and the menus are extremely user-friendly with large icons and simple choices.

Along with the Sony Cyber-shot P-93, the Canon Powershot A95 is the big lad of this roundup with a pretty decent 5-megapixel CCD. The rest vary from 3-4-megapixel. While this does give the Canon a bit of an edge over the competition in terms of resolution and functionality, it's the camera's other attributes that cemented this unit in the top three.

The slimline HP Photosmart R607 follows on from the R707 in that it shares many of that camera's fine features and styling, including its plastic/magnesium-alloy casing.