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Editor's choice: 8 best compact cameras for your summer break

James Rivington — 1210855076

If you're planning on going abroad this summer, you'll be needing a solid compact camera to take with you. Camera phones just aren't good enough, and DSLRs are both bulky and too expensive.

The great thing about the compact market at the moment is that there is something to be found for absolutely everybody.

There’s a multitude of good products at every price point. Whether you're looking for cheap and cheerful or pricey and performance-led, you'll always be able to find something that suits your needs.

Here are eight great compact cameras, with all budgets, tastes and needs catered for amply. Be sure to check out the following reviews if you need a new digital compact camera this summer.

Panasonic Lumix LZ8 - £140

At £140 the Panasonic Lumix LZ8 is an absolute bargain.

It's fairly basic as far as compact cameras go, but what it does do is cover all the bases. It's got an 8-megapixel lens and a standard 2.5-inch LCD screen.

But the LZ8 defies its budget price and the modest feature list by producing some absolutely fantastic pictures.

And when it comes down to it, if you want to take a compact camera on your holidays this summer.

That's all you really need, isn’t it? Read our full review

Fujifilm FinePix F50fd - £140

This 12-megapixel compact camera from Fuji is possibly even more of a bargain than the Panasonic one above.

When it launched it cost around about the £300 mark.

But now it’s priced online at less than half that amount. The big bonus with this one is that Fuji engineers spent a lot of time trying to improve its low-light performance.

And wow, it certainly works. It's also a very solid all-round camera, a steal at £140. Read our full review

Nikon CoolPix P5100 - £175

The dream of most amateur photographers is to own a stonkingly good DSLR.

But sometimes it's just not practical to take one of those away on holiday. What if it breaks? What if you lose it?

Aside from that, the sheer size and weight of them make them a but unsuitable for taking away with you.

So how about taking a digital compact which thinks it’s a DSLR, yet has the size and weight of a standard compact?

The 12-megapixel Nikon CoolPix P5100 is just one of those.

It weighs just 200g and yet packs some awesome features. Read our full review

Casio Exilim Card EX-S10 - £180

The Exilim Card EX-S10 was born to be taken abroad.

It's very compact and weighs just 140g – ideal for making sure your suitcase isn't overweight when you get to the airport.

When it came out, it was the world's smallest 10-megapixel camera – it's just 15mm thick. And despite being impossibly thin, it manages top pack some seriously good features.

The LCD screen measures 2.7-inches across.

But the controls can be a bit fiddly so if you've got clumsy fingers like us, you may find it a bit frustrating at times. Read our full review

Canon IXUS 90 IS - £200

The IXUS 90 slots comfortably into the midrange of Canon's line-up. It’s a pretty good choice too.

It looks great, and produces some really fantastic images.

There's a new button layout style on this camera which some people might not like though.

It can be a bit fiddly until you get used to it.

But at £200 it's good value and has that perfect balance between features and price. Read our full review

Canon Powershot A650 IS - £210

For a measly £10 more than the IXUS 90, you could get your hands on a Canon Powershot A650 IS.

This compact camera is very good at capturing high-detail photographs in variable lighting conditions.

A It performs just as well indoors as it does outside too. It's slightly larger and more heavy than the IXUS, but still this camera is absolutely fantastic.

A bit like the CoolPix at the top of the page, this compact offers a lot of the features you'd only normally find on a DSLR.

And for that reason alone it's a must-by for anyone lusting after DSLR-like quality from a compact. Read our full review

Ricoh Caplio R8 - £230

Ricoh hasn't exactly always been known for being a maker of brilliant cameras.

But with every new generation of Caplio R-series cameras, it gets better and better.

The R7 was a revelation after a rather poor predecessor, and the R8 has taken things once again to the next level.

It's a very powerful compact camera and produces some incredibly fine images.

There's something special about this camera – it puts the magic back into digital photography. Read our full review

Sigma DP1 - £610

The Sigma DP1 is currently the Rolls Royce of the digital compact world.

It's more of a concept camera than anything else, because it has an enormous image sensor which you would never normally find in a compact.

The image processing technology is also vastly different to other cameras – and it works very well.

Image quality is unbelievable, and you'd hope so too because this camera is very expensive. Read our full review

Sony's financial year: our verdict

Marc Chacksfield — 1210778460

Sony’s financial results for the last 12 months are in and TechRadar's had a look at what the company has got up to in the last year. And we must admit that it’s had a pretty good run of things.

Electronics

Sony saw an increase in sales in its electronics range thanks largely to Bravia LCD TVs.

An 8.9 per cent increase was shown in the sales of Bravia LCD TVs, VAIO PCs and CyberShot digital cameras, equating to 6,613.80 billion Yen (£32.3 billion). A slight decrease was seen in the sale of LCD rear projection TVs.

Operating income for the year was more than double FY06 for electronics, up from 160.5 billion Yen (£0.8 billion) in 2006 to 356 billion Yen (£1.7 billion) in 2007.

However, mobile phones were among the worst performers in Sony’s electronics portfolio, the only decreasing factor in Japan and Europe.

Music and film

Sony BMG, the music strand of Sony, saw a small decrease in sales (down four per cent) but a massive increase in income before taxes, up a whopping 90 per cent to $257 million (£132 million).

The company cites a $67 million restructuring process and lower marketing costs as a reason for the increase.

Girl power was the order of the day when it comes to Sony BMG’s best-selling albums of the year. Music from Alicia Keys, Leona Lewis and Avril Lavigne all helped to bring in the cash.

Film-wise the company saw an 11 per cent drop in sales, down from 966 billion Yen (£4.2 billion) FY06 to 858 billion Yen (£4.2 billion) FY07. The company has cited a decrease in films being released in the year as a reason for the drop.

As with the Electronics sector, Sony did see a big increase in operating income, this time of 26.5 per cent.

Games

Although the PS2 is still outselling the PS3, sales of the console have dropped 7 per cent, while both the PSP and the PS3 have seen increases of 46 per cent - something the company is looking to increase next year - and 156 per cent accordingly. PS3 software sales have increased a massive 335 per cent.

And while there’s been a 26 per cent increase of sales – from 1,016 billion Yen (£4.9 billion) to 1,284 billion Yen (6.3 billion) the company is still operating a loss of around £0.6 billion in its gaming sector.

Vado Pocket Video Cam: does what it says on the tin

Marc Chacksfield — 1210696920

Creative has announced the release of a new video camcorder that’s aimed at on-the-go videomakers.

The Vado Pocket Video Cam is just that, a video cam that’s small enough to fit in your pocket or purse. The reason it’s so small is because Creative has done away with removable recording media. In its place is 2GB of built-in memory which will record up to two hours of video footage at 640x480 VGA resolution.

Don’t expect any manual controls on the Vado, as all you get is an on/off button. It is slim and lightweight, though, weighing in at a feather-like 90 grams.

Quick YouTube access

The cam also comes with its own pre-loaded software that allows easy updates to YouTube and Photobucket and is powered by a recharchable and removable battery. Getting footage on to your PC is simple too, just plug the cam in like a USB drive and away you go.

Mark Grover, European Brand Manager with Creative, had this to say about the diminutive shooter: “When people are having a really great time the Vado is always there, ready to capture those once-in-a-lifetime moments that just happen when you least expect them.”

The Vado Pocket Video Cam is available in both silver and hot pink, and is out now to buy in the US for $99. It will be available in the UK through computer stockist PC World soon.

Olympus E-520 revealed

Marc Chacksfield — 1210676940

Launched last year the E-510 was a 10-megapixel delight that came with a pack of features, including an anti-shake facility, anti-dust mechanism and Live View instead of a traditional viewfinder.

Its successor was announced by Olympus today, the E-520, which may not a radical overhaul of the E-500 range, but it is a worthy update.

Feature focus

Even though the chassis is unchanged, under the bonnet sees some significant tweaks. First up is an improvement with Live View. This feature has been given autofocus capabilities, making it easier to take picture-perfect images - this was first seen on the E-420. Olympus has also added face detection to Live View.

The E-520 now houses a 2.7in LCD screen, up 0.2in on the E-510, and the camera’s continuous shooting speed has been upped 0.5fps to 3.5fps.

Lastly, there’s been an update to the processor which brings the ISO rang up from 100 to 160, cutting visual noise to an absolute minimum.

The E-520 is out in June and will cost £479.99 (body only). You can also buy the camera with a ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 14-42mm 1:3.5-5.6 lens for £529.99.

Hands on: Casio Exilim EX-F1

James Rivington — 1210346338

We were visited by a well-known highstreet Camera retailer today, which came down to show off all the brand new cameras it’ll be selling this summer.

Among the cameras they brought with them were compact models including the Canon 82 IS, the Panasonic DMC-TZ5, the Sony Cyber-shot W170 and the Olympus Mju 850.

But what we were most pleased to see was the Casio Exilim Pro EX-F1.

While not a DSLR, it’s still one of the most astounding digital cameras we’ve ever laid our hands on.

High res shooting

Because while this aims to be a top-notch 6MP (that’s a max resolution of 2,816 x 2,112) digital camera, it’s also masquerading as a semi-professional video camera – and doing a damn good job of it, too.

It can shoot video at up to 1,200 frames per second, which frankly, is astonishing. At that speed though, the images produced are severely compromised in terms of resolution, but even at 300fps (still very quick) the videos look fantastic.

The Exilim EX-F1’s high speed CMOS sensor is capable of snapping full-resolution photos at a rate of 60 every second. That means it’s almost impossible to not get a perfect snap of your baby’s first smile or your kitten jumping in the air.

Never miss a shot

The pre-record setting is handy for this also. We tried it out and when this feature is turned on, it will capture a burst of still photos before you’ve even pressed the shutter button. And that means that even if you’re slightly late hitting the button, you’ll still get that perfect pic.

We did a few test shots and found these two modes absolutely idiot proof. It’s very hard to not get the shot you want, which is both reassuring and immensely satisfying at the same time.

The EX-F1 also has a 12x optical zoom which is great for getting in nice and tight. Plus it’s got all the latest must-have camera features like face recognition, and a 2.8-inch LCD view screen.

Everyone on the TechRadar team thought it was a fantastic camera. But it’s not without its drawbacks.

Very heavy and bulky

For a start, it’s one of the biggest, most chunky digital cameras we’ve seen in recent years. It weighs nearly 700g and we measured it at 128x80x130mm. Anyone with particularly small hands will struggle to weird this shooter with any real skill.

So while we’d all love a brilliant digital camera like this one, that can also record video at full HD resolution, its back-breaking weight and awkward dimensions make it a bit of a dilemma. The price of over £500 only makes it an even tougher call.

Stay tuned for a full review soon.

How Kodak invented the digital camera in 1975

Audley Jarvis — 1210343688

A Kodak engineer credited with inventing the digital camera has revealed how bewildered company executives couldn’t understand why anyone would ever want to look at images on a TV screen when he first proposed the idea of a ‘filmless camera’ to them in 1975.

The hefty device was the brainchild of Kodak engineer Steve Sasson and his team from the Kodak Apparatus Division Research Laboratory. According to Sasson the finished article resembled “a rather odd-looking collection of digital circuits that we desperately tried to convince ourselves was a portable camera.”

Both hands required...

Although Sasson’s account of how his invention came into being was originally written late last year, it’s only now that the usual suspects from the online tech and gadget worlds are picking up on his revelations, helped no doubt by the rather striking pictures of the original camera that accompany it.

This so-called ‘portable’ digital device apparently borrowed its lens from a Super 8 movie camera, while a portable digital cassette recorder served as the equivalent of a modern-day memory card.

Rudimentary processor...

The device also sported a highly temperamental new type of CCD imaging area array, and an analogue-to-digital converter that was effectively “stolen from a digital voltmeter application”. To operate on the go, the device required no fewer than 16 nickel cadmium batteries.

According to Sasson, the camera used the CCD to capture a digital image and then stored this on the attached digital tape cassette recorder. The transfer process reportedly took 23 seconds to complete.

World’s first digital photo frame?

Once the image had been stored the cassette could be removed and transferred to a custom playback device – itself the size of a small suitcase – incorporating a custom frame store able to interpolate the 100 captured lines to 400 lines, thereby generating a standard NTSC video signal which was then sent to a TV set.

To call all of this ‘portable’ was indeed a creatively generous use of the term, however there’s no denying that Sasson and his team were well ahead of their time.

Indeed, when company executives at the ill-fated presentation asked Sasson how long it would be before his invention had a consumer potential, the inventor applied Moores Law and said 15-20 years.

The secrets behind Sony's new foam ad

Dan Grabham — 1209658712

When Sony came to dream up its new ad campaign, it knew it had to do something impressive. After all, these are the guys who produced the ads featuring millions of bouncing balls as well as the exploding ‘Paint’ and the ‘Play-Doh’ rabbits.

Sony asked the same agency that came up with the ideas for those Bravia ads. Directed by Simon Ratigan, the shoot involved the Downtown area of Miami being transformed into a foam-filled playground. And, while it doesn’t quite have the same visual beauty as when Sony released 300,000 bouncing balls onto the streets of San Fransisco in 2005, the new ad is still highly memorable.

Whole streets were filled with the foam, consisting of bubbles created by the world’s largest foam machine. Built especially for the advert, it produced an unfathomable two million litres of foam every minute. The machine itself is 2.8 metres in diameter and used 460 million litres of foam during the shoot.

Inhabitants of Miami were invited by Sony to take part in the ad – some were even asked to ride bicycles through the foam. "A lot of my work to date has focused on people’s honest experiences and emotions," said Ratigan.

"The final ad will show natural, real life emotions and reactions to a city full of foam." Ratigan worked with 150 crew and over 200 local residents to film the footage. Some 16 hours of film were shot to create the final 90-second ad.

Sealed up drains

This time though, Sony hasn’t looked to promote its Bravia TV range. Instead, the mess made by pumping foam across Miami was to promote Sony’s imaging kit - Handycam, Cyber-shot and its Alpha dSLRs.

Interestingly, Sony was keen to stress to us the lack of environmental impact of the foam ad. The foam produced was non toxic and biodegradable, and it was "broken down quickly using a special spray (used in catering processes) to ensure minimal impact on [the] local environment." All drains were apparently sealed off to ensure the foam didn’t get into the water supply. Aaah.

Special music was composed for the ad unlike ‘Balls’ and ‘Play-Doh’ which featured music from Jose Gonzalez and The Rolling Stones respectively. ‘Paint’, shot on a Glasgow housing estate in 2006, used classical music from Rossini.

'Paint' took 10 days and 250 people to film, with a further 5 days and 60 people to clean up the mess afterwards.

Lollipop ladies get videocam headsets

Adam Hartley — 1209631687

Britain’s army of lollipop ladies are set to get video ‘headcams’ to combat the growing problem of road rage attacks.

Additionally, lollipop sticks will be kitted out with in-built cameras to capture any problems for use as evidence in court, reports the Daily Mail.

According to the report, around 1,400 incidents of road rage attacks on our beloved lollipop ladies were reported last year, with numerous lollipop staff even requiring hospital treatment after being hit by irate drivers.

Kids at risk

"It's unbelievable that we have to take this action, but the lives of children are at risk from increasing numbers of drivers," said David Sparks of the Local Government Association's transport board.

"Drivers are so selfish that they are willing to put lives at risk by refusing to stop for 30 seconds at a school crossing…. Motorists need to be made aware that they are committing a criminal offence and we hope this new technology will prove an effective deterrent."

The camera poles, costing £890, have been developed by Oxfordshire-based company Routesafe.

Canon predicts flashy 'freecording' future

James Morris — 1209381767

Alongside last week's launch of the HF10 camcorder, Canon is planning a marketing campaign revolving around the concept of ‘freecording’ - using a camcorder to record and share video for websites such as YouTube and Google Video.

At the HF10 event in Marrakesh, Morocco, TechRadar asked a top Canon executive to tell us more about freecording and what Canon has planned for camcorders in 2008.

"The camcorder market has been stagnated for years", explains Yuichiro Asano, Canon’s deputy group executive for Video Products.

"Annual sales have been around 15 million units for the last decade. We predict only modest growth to 17 million units in 2008, and 18 million by 2010. Compare that to the digital camera market, which has reached 125 million and is still growing fast."

Rise of the YouTube generation

Despite the camcorder sales stagnation, there has been an explosion of video sharing, mostly thanks to online sites.

YouTube, for example, has consistently placed in the top five most popular websites over the last couple of years. But whereas camcorders have traditionally been aimed at preserving family memories – weddings, holidays, parties and the like – this is not the lion’s share of content online.

Instead, YouTube is filled to the brim with the most eye-catching moments of everyday life – comic antics, pranks, courageous moves in extreme sports, and skits which tap into the zeitgeist of popular events.

"This is what freecording is meant to represent," says Asano. "It’s all about fun, and sharing experiences."

Flash will win the format war

Canon sees Flash memory as a key enabling technology for this new kind of camcorder usage because it allows camcorders to be both smaller and more durable.

With capacities now approaching those of mobile hard disks, Flash is emerging as the potential winner of the current camcorder format wars. Canon predicts 36 per cent of the market to be Flash memory-based models by 2010, and 35 per cent overall to be High Definition.

Witness the introduction of the Canon HF10, which successfully taps into both trends.

But is the HF10 the right model to lead this revolution? Aren’t mobile phones, with improved video capabilities, the more likely YouTube freecording device of choice? And what about digital cameras? Why buy a camcorder at all?

According to Canon’s Yuichiro Asano, "the HF10 is just the flagship model. Our standard definition FS series also uses Flash memory, and will be part of the freecording marketing campaign. We expect digital cameras and camcorders to merge in the future, but that’s still a few years off."

Why face recognition is just a gimmick

Aside from Flash memory, Canon is also hoping greater ease of use will help it achieve its target of 40 per cent of the global camcorder market by 2010.

The first steps towards this goal are the Easy mode found on the HF10, and Instant Auto-Focus. The latter calls upon a secondary range-finding sensor beside the lens. This provides faster response than the traditional system operating through the main lens, although isn’t quite so accurate.

However, Canon remains unconvinced by the friendly features currently being added by its competitors – particularly face recognition.

"It’s terrible!" Asano argues. "Face recognition is great when your subjects don’t move, in photography… But [it] is very unreliable when people keep moving their heads, which is exactly what happens with video."

Camcorders will embrace wireless technologies

Canon does plan more consumer-oriented features in the future, including wireless technology, but refused to comment on precisely what form this would take.

Canon also hinted that Flash memory was destined to arrive in its professional products in the near future, too.

Again there was no comment about when this would occur or what form it would take. But it will not involve the AVCHD recording format, unlike Panasonic’s recent launches at the National Association of Broadcasters show in Las Vegas. It’s only a matter of time before Flash memory takes over the full range of the camcorder market.

Canon has clearly placed a huge bet on Flash memory as the camcorder format of the future. At the same time, Sony and Panasonic are sitting on the fence and JVC is sticking with hard disks.

Whether or not you buy into the freecording concept, camcorders are getting smaller and lighter, and without sacrificing features or image quality. Flash memory is the main reason for this. But the question still remains if that will have more of us picking one up to capture our everyday experiences on video.

Nikon steals the show at TIPA awards

Audley Jarvis — 1209139049

Nikon executives will no doubt be feeling jolly pleased with themselves after Nikon came top in two of the most prestigious categories at the annual Technical Image Press Association (TIPA) awards.

Topping the ‘Best DSLR – Expert’ category was Nikon’s flagship, full-frame D3 model. The judges deemed that the camera was a “milestone” for Nikon that offers “incredible” low-light performance – even at when used at ISO 6400. The judges also praised its nine-frames-per second.

Nikon also scooped top prize in the ‘Best DSLR – Professional’ category, with its D300 model. Noting its “solid design, excellent handing and robust build quality” the judges went on to praise the “fast, responsive autofocus system” and “stunning results” it is capable of producing.

Best advanced DSLR

Despite seeing their nearest rival take top honours it wasn’t all bad news for Canon as their recently launched EOS 450D (known as the ‘Rebel XSi’ in some markets) claimed top honours in the lucrative ‘Best DSLR – Advanced’ category, no doubt at the expense of Nikon’s recently released D60 model.

Sony can also be pleased with the good showing by their Alpha range with their Alpha 200 winning ‘Best DSLR – Entry-level’.

Elsewhere, there were wins for Samsung, Panasonic and Fuji in the ‘Ultra-compact’, ‘Compact’ and ‘Superzoom’ categories respectively.

For more details on this year's big winners have a look at TechRadar's in-depth reviews by clicking on the links above.