Best Compact Digital Camera

What Are The Best Compact Digital Cameras Around?

If you really want to go all out, it's easy to get a great digital camera. A camera with a telescopic zoom lens, video and sound recording, compatible with add ons like lens filters, and even with a GPS and a web browser built in. You'd better be ready to buy a big carrying case for it, though.

If you just want a nice, capable little camera that you can easily slip into your pocket, then whip it out and snap a few shots whenever you please, it's a little tougher to find a good combination of convenience and features.

So, that's why we're here! Below, you'll find three of the best compact digital cameras on the market.

Sony Cybershot DSC Series This camera incorporates a sleek design, a nice big 3.5 inch touch screen display, a zoom lens, and a surprising amount of features such a small little package. Besides taking pictures, you also have four gigabytes of storage space, which should hold at least an album or two. The Sony Cybershot can usually be found between three hundred and four hundred dollars, so it's not exactly a budget option, but it's definitely worth the price, as it's basically a full size camera stuffed into a compact package. You also get face recognition, USB ports and a memory card slot. You might be surprised how far 4GB can go before you need to transfer all those images, though. Click Here to Compare

Canon Powershot SD Series
There is a budget option, sitting between two and three hundred dollars. Some don't have quite as many features as the Sony Cybershot, but it does get beautiful images, and it's about a hundred dollars cheaper. What you get is an optical zoom lens, excellent resolution. The only downside is the lack of manual exposure setting. One very much appreciated feature is the self-adjusting flash, which allows you to take pictures close up without turning the subject into a big blurry white blob.

With the more expensive models you get better face detection, easy interface, a 2.5 inch widescreen LCD display, image stabilization (which comes in handy if you don't have a tripod), and generally just slightly sharper everything. However, they go for around four hundred dollars. Click Here to Compare

The cameras listed above get great reviews, usually ranking at least four stars out of five on most user review sites. If you're looking for the absolute best one, the Canon Powershot SD870 IS is a nice one two punch of high quality and a low price. However, it's always a good idea to give every camera a test drive in the store before you make a purchase. You never really know if it's the camera you're looking for until it's sitting right in your hands. So check out the nearest electronics store and see if they have some test models on display. If they're available, give the above listed units a whirl, and see what you think is the best compact.