The quality of compact digital cameras is still progressing. A wide-angle lens is now pretty much a given for all mid and top range models and screens are regularly larger than 3 inches. There are however notable differences with respect to other functions.

-- Speed: this is no longer simply a question of how old the camera is. Some are very rapid on start-up and focus while others are not at all so. The really slow camera has more or less disappeared however and it is rare to wait more than two seconds at start-up or between two photos. Autofocus usually takes under a second. Note that some models now have continuous autfocus and this means that there is less latency when you shoot. Autofocus time is still a weak point on compacts however.

-- Lens quality: a good lens is expensive. No miracles here, even though some entry level Panasonics and Canons do give surprisingly good results. Some lenses are not as well put together as they could be and others fail to capture fine detail on the edge of the frame.

-- Sensitivity: there has been a remarkable jump forward over the course of the last twelve months from all manufacturers. However, differences do persist. Fujifilm is still leading the pack with its Super CCDs but these are unfortunately only available with some cameras in the F and S ranges: they allow you to go for 800 ISO without a second thought. Canon is catching up, as are Sony and Panasonic. Even makes such as Ricoh, Pentax, Nikon or Samsung now give acceptable results at 400 ISO.

-- Resolution: at the risk of repeating ourselves, WHO really needs 15 Megapixels on a compact? With a maximum resolution of 300 dpi currently the print standard, 15 Megapixels make your print 30x40 cm, or the size of an A3 sheet! Experience shows that 95% of users never print larger than A4 and that on screen viewing, even with radical resizing, doesn’t require this amount of detail for everyday use of photos. 10 Megapixels is now the common standard on entry level models and is largely sufficient for the vast majority of users.

Using our product survey

To facilitate comparison, you can of course still use our camera Face-off. It will help you to judge what developments have been made on older models. The new test procedure brought in at the beginning of 2007 is now well-established and most of the cameras in our survey have been tested according to this procedure.

In our tests, we systematically include images at different ISOs: full size images of photos taken from the lowest to the highest sensitivities. You need to get used to them to judge them properly: some very high res cameras show noise rapidly but the faults are lost in the final image. Nevertheless, this is a good indication of what you can expect from any resizing and the intrinsic image processing capacities of the camera.

While there were over 90 cameras in our previous product survey, this one already includes a lot, a consequence of the fact that manufacturers are producing an ever larger number of models so as to fill the smallest niches. Do go ahead and use the filters below to help you sort through the different models: you can click on the title to sort the list by date, rating or price and eliminate the models that don’t correspond to your criteria.

For previous models (some are still in the shops), you can consult our compact digital camera survey for 2007-2008. For larger but more versatile cameras, you have our survey of bridges and and the digtial SLRs.