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Top 10 Digital Cameras

Grab your shades, because the future looks bright for digital camera enthusiasts. Last year's $200 digital cameras offered less than 1 megapixel of resolution, relied on digital zooming, and sometimes lacked an LCD or memory card slot. This year, $200 buys you a 3X optical zoom and 2 megapixels--just what you need for sharp 4-by-6 snapshots. And last year, 4-megapixel cameras cost around $1000; they're now selling for as little as $400, if you're willing to settle for a stripped-down model. Even some decked-out cameras, like the Canon PowerShot G2, are priced under $800.

So as you try to decide on a digital camera, you have more choices. Whether you're a first-time buyer looking for a simple point-and-shoot camera or an advanced photographer upgrading to a more powerful model, you'll find a wide and sometimes bewildering array of cameras to choose from, at affordable prices.

In fact, the hardest part of buying a digital camera is deciding which combination of resolution, features, ease of use, and price best fits your needs. To help you sort through the options, we've divided the 16 cameras that we ran through our Test Center for this roundup into two categories: point-and-shoots and advanced models.

Point-and-shoots, as a group, forgo advanced controls in favor of simplicity, light weight, and low cost. They're ideal as the primary camera for a casual photographer or as a backup or light travel camera for an advanced user. Point-and-shoots typically have a few basic controls, such as exposure compensation (EV) and white balance. Many models also include a number of scene modes--portrait, landscape, and action shot, for example--that you can match to your shooting conditions. All of the point-and-shoots on our chart have an optical zoom lens and movie mode (the capability to capture short video clips); most also include sound. And many have one or two of a hodgepodge of advanced features. The Fujifilm FinePix 2800 Zoom, for instance, comes with a 6X optical zoom and lets you add audio clips to still pictures. So if you're looking for a specific control or option, check the specs carefully.

Advanced cameras are for experienced photographers. Harder to use, often heavier and bulkier, and usually more expensive than the point-and-shoots, advanced models allow you wide scope for creative control. With these units you can override most or all automatic settings. The advanced cameras we tested give you aperture- and shutter-priority modes and full manual exposure control. Only one of them, the Olympus C-720 Ultra Zoom, lacks manual focus. Other high-end features that many of these advanced cameras offer include special effects (black-and-white and sepia tone, for example), image sharpening, built-in histograms (graphs that let you adjust the colors in the camera), ISO sensitivity control, and memory for storing your favorite camera settings. Keep in mind that advanced cameras have full automatic settings, too, so they can function as point-and-shoots when you want them to.

For this roundup, we eliminated very-low-end and extreme-high-end cameras, focusing on models with greatest appeal to average digital camera buyers. Our collection included cameras from Canon, Fujifilm, HP, Kodak, Leica, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, Sony, and Toshiba, at prices ranging from $199 to $895.

Canon's much-anticipated PowerShot G3, the successor to the company's G2, missed the party. According to Canon, the G3 should be released this December and will have the same 4-megapixel resolution as the G2, plus a longer 4X optical zoom, a larger grip, and a nine-point autofocus setting, among other new features. The G3 is expected to cost $799, the same as the G2.

We evaluated each camera for photo quality (we used a range of sample subjects in our tests of all 16 digital cameras, including a portrait, a still life, and a picture taken outdoors), battery life, ease of use, manual control, features, and price, and we ranked the top five cameras in each category in our Top 10 Digital Cameras chart.

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