Digital camera Ratings: Good choices for every budget

Our digital camera Ratings (available to subscribers) has just been updated with some of the latest subcompacts, compacts, and superzooms. There are many good buys among those we tested, but I noticed that among compact digital cameras, in particular, there were models priced from $90 all the way up to $500.

What could possibly make a compact worth considering for $500 or so?

Three such cameras—the Canon PowerShot G10, $470, Panasonic DMC-LX3, $500, and Nikon Coolpix P6000, $450—are loaded with special features. For example, they all can shoot RAW files, which gives you tremendous creative control over your images. Also, each has a hot shoe for attaching an external flash, which can improve your photos. Both features are very rare on point-and-shoots.

Although these cameras share many other features, they also differ in certain ways. For example, the PowerShot (Click on the image at right for a closer look.) features the greatest zoom, 5x. The Panasonic includes just 2.5x optical zoom, but it starts very wide, at 24mm (35mm equivalent). The Nikon includes an on-board GPS feature that tags photos with the geographic location at which they were shot.

For more details on how this trio and all the new point-ands-shoots performed, see our Ratings of digital cameras.

—Terry Sullivan

Comments

[Jim]

I too would like to see the Panasonic LX3 included in the ratings. Many sites I've visited selected it over the Canon G10 due to its putative optical superiority.

[Dave Lambert]

The Panasonic DMC-LX3 isn't included in the digital camera ratings. Will you be adding it? I'm interested in seeing how it stacks up to the Canon G10.

[earl]

please give me the price for the nikon coolpix p80 camera kit