A decent camera, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX50 is held back by less-than-decent photo quality.

A decent camera, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX50 is held back by less-than-decent photo quality.

The Olympus Stylus 730 has some great design points, but its slow performance and noisy images seriously hurt its overall rating.

The Nikon D40 is a great transition camera for going from point-and-shoot to your first dSLR.

The Sony Cyber Shot DSC-N2 is small and fast, but compression artifacts and an awkward touch screen hinder its use.

This small 10-megapixel shooter can produce great shots if the scene is well lit, but watch out for noise at about ISO 200.

Panasonic’s Lumix DMC-L1 is a nice first attempt at a dSLR, but a clunky design and noise at higher ISOs destroy its chances for dSLR superstardom.

The Fujifilm FinePix F650’s 5X optical zoom and good LCD screen doesn’t make up for its average image quality and limited low-light capabilities.

The Nikon Coolpix L5 mixes simple operation with a couple of cool features, but slow performance and iffy image quality make this camera a poor choice.

The Coolpix L6 doesn’t offer much control and is quite slow, but in good light, it can take nice photos.

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX2 is a good choice for an enthusiast looking for a powerful camera that can fit into a jacket pocket.

The Fujifilm FinePix S6000fd is a solid superzoom that captures high-quality images with its wide, 10.7X optical zoom lens. Unfortunately, the camera lacks true image stabilization.

The Canon PowerShot G7 is a solid enthusiast camera for those who’ve ruled out a budget dSLR.

If you can get past its large size, Panasonic’s DMC-FZ50 is a decent choice for a superzoom.

If you can get past its large size, Panasonic’s DMC-FZ50 is a decent choice for a superzoom.

Nikon’s Coolpix S9 has an attractive price, but its feature set and image quality could be better.

Nikon’s S10 has some decent features, including a really nice lens, but it doesn’t live up to its potential and can’t compete with similarly priced superzooms.

Kodak’s Z710 has some nice features and a good lens, but slow performance, no image stabilization, and a limited ISO range drag it down.

The Sony Cyber Shot DSC-T50 keeps the better features of the DSC-T30, but adds a touch screen interface we could’ve lived without.

Its small size makes it an attractive pocket camera, but its speed and image quality issues are too great to ignore.

Its small size makes it an attractive pocket camera, but its speed and image quality issues are too great to ignore.

Its small size makes it an attractive pocket camera, but its speed and image quality issues are too great to ignore.

It’s not great in low light, but the A640 has plenty of features photographers will love.

Though it’s not a great choice for low-light shooting, the Canon PowerShot A630 is a solid, feature-rich digital camera.

Canon’s A series continues to deliver tons of bang for the buck, this time including optical image stabilization, 6X optical zoom, and solid image quality in a midsize compact camera with a stylish design update.