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How to choose the best compact camera
Compact cameras or point and shoot digital cameras have virtually replaced compact film cameras and their arrival on the scene has spawned more budding photographers than ever before. Many of today's compact cameras are capable of rivaling DSLR cameras under certain conditions. The extended feature sets available on compact cameras makes them more adaptable to a large variety of shooting conditions. On a nice bright sunny day there are several compact cameras on the market that will produce images which are almost indistinguishable from a DSLR when they are printed out as large as A4.
The choice available in the market today is immense in terms of size, features, and capability. Where to begin may seem rather daunting and perhaps it is easiest to decide how much you want to spend then start looking at what is available in that price range. Of the thousands of compact cameras out there several compete for the top rated compact camera slot. As of September 2008 are Canon Powershot A580/590 or A720, Sony's cybershot N2 or W120 Panasonic TZ4/TZ5, or LZ8 and Fuji's F40fd were some of the compact cameras which were rated several reviews as being highly recommended or best buy.
Individual camera manufactures often have niches for particular camera ranges. For example Fuji's compact camera range has often been great for having low noise while Panasonic have tried to give you a large zoom in a small camera body in their TZ series. If you are looking for a camera that can take pictures in all conditions the Canon is hard to beat even though it does not have the zoom capability of the Panasonic TZ range. Neither will it be as good in low light conditions as some of the Fuji F range.
Sony although newer to the digital camera market than some of the other names has a huge depth of experience in the digital video camera market. They very much staked how serious they are about the digital camera Market when they tied up with Konica-Minolta.
Most large camera manufacturers bring out new models every year, usually around the end of the summer months. Hopefully their cameras will have good reviews prior to the Christmas buying period. Often these cameras are updated slightly on the previous model by the inclusion of a few additional features or by squeezing in a few extra mega pixels.
So in summary, if you stick with the big camera names you won't go too far wrong in your selection of a suitable compact camera. If you are prepared to sacrifice having the latest bells and whistles on your new camera you can often pick up last years model at knock down prices. Good luck and happy shooting!