Pentax Optio W10

Unprecedented possibilities unfold with a waterproof camera such as this one. No need to put away your digital camera anymore in bad weather or underwater. At the beach, or by the pool, you can get closer to the action while taking pictures. What you lose compared to the Fuji F30 is some image quality, battery-life and some flash power.

HP Photosmart R967

This is the most advanced ultra-compact camera. It has a complete set of manual controls and technologies such as in-camera panorama stitching and image analysis. The HP R967 also has various bracketing modes and a built-in help system. On the downside, it shows average image quality, has a limited ISO range, a short battery life and its LCD becomes grainy in low-light.

Canon Powershot SD800 IS

The wide angle lens on this camera is ideally suited for architecture, indoor and landscape photography. It allows to pull-in larger subjects and more elements into your images. There is no other ultra-compact camera with a wide-angle lens, great built quality and ease-of-use. The Canon SD800 IS offers a stablized wide-angle lens, unlimited continuous shooting and an optical viewfinder. What you lose compared to the Fuji F30 is image quality, battery-life and some flash power.

Canon Powershot A710 IS

This camera's stabilized 6X optical zoom lens reaches longer than most compact
cameras without compromising on optical quality. It produces sharp images throughout its zoom range with very little purple fringing and great color
accuracy. Compared to the Fuji E900, it functions better in low-light (in terms of focusing and LCD visibility) but produces visibly noisier images.

Canon Powershot A620

The wide angle lens on this camera is ideally suited for architecture, indoor and landscape photography. It allows to pull-in larger subjects and more elements into your images. There is no other ultra-compact camera with a wide-angle lens, great built quality and ease-of-use. The Canon SD800 IS offers a stablized wide-angle lens, unlimited continuous shooting and an optical viewfinder. What you lose compared to the Fuji F30 is image quality, battery-life and some flash power.

Fuji Finepix S9000

This camera has the same wide-angle to ultra-zoom mechanical lens as the Fuji
S6000fd. The Fuji S9000 increases the resolution to 9 megapixels while still producing superb images, although a touch noisier and softer than the Fuji S6000fd. It also has more external controls, a flash hot-shoe and support for Compact Flash memory. On the flip side, this camera is a bit slower due to its much larger images.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30

Feature wise, this camera is similar to the Canon S3. It has a stabilized 12X optical zoom lens which goes from 35mm to 420mm. This camera handles particularly well, has an excellent EVF and a great build quality. The strength of this camera comes from its sharp and relatively bright lens. On the downside, the Panasonic FZ30 shows above average noise levels and a narrow dynamic range. This is troublesome with high contrast situations which cause it to clip both highlights and shadows.

Canon Powershot S3 IS

This ultra-zoom camera features a stabilized 12X optical zoom lens. It has much more reach than the Fuji S6000fd because its zoom range starts at 35mm and goes to 420mm. Stabilization gives the S3 IS a minimal edge against the S6000fd which has 2 extra stops of usable sensitivity. The main attraction of the S3 IS is an advanced movie mode with stereo sound and wind-noise filter. On the downside, the Canon S3 produces relatively soft images due to noise reduction and its LCD
and EVF do not have good visibility.

Pentax K100D

This camera has every feature expected from a DSLR plus built-in stabilization. This means that every lens placed on the Pentax K100D automatically becomes stabilized. Not only does this feature save money for each lens, it also enables stabilization for lenses which have no stabilized counterparts. The main compromise here compared to the 30D is a shorter continuous drive which runs at 3 FPS. The Pentax K100D is also lighter and not as durable. On the plus side, this camera is one of the least expensive DSLR and it uses standard AA batteries, giving it an advantage in portability and total cost.

Canon EOS 5D

This is the cheapest full-frame DSLR available. This translates into high-quality 12 megapixels images for very large prints. The Canon 5D has a large viewfinder and a durable build. Its image quality rivals that of the 30D but with more resolution and a wider dynamic range. Compared to the Canon 30D, this DSLR has a slower continuous drive which runs at 3 FPS and lacks a built-in flash.

Canon Digital Rebel XTi

Among the crop of 10 megapixel cameras, this is the image quality champion. This resolution advantage over the 8 megapixels 30D is not significant enough to allow for larger print sizes. For reasons only known to Canon, the Rebel XTi lacks a spot metering option. When we consider the price of this DSLR and its great image quality, this is an excellent bargain. This digital camera also has built-in dust reduction to reduce the need for dust to settle while changing lenses. On the negative side compared to the 30D, continuous shooting only runs at 3 FPS, there is no spot metering, the viewfinder is much smaller and the body is neither as comfortable nor as durable.

Nikon D200

The Nikon D200 competes very closely to the Canon 30D. It also has all the
features expected from a DSLR along with a 5 FPS continuous drive. Even though it has a higher resolution sensor, higher than average noise levels and overly warm colors bring the Nikon D200's image quality below that of its peers, including the Canon 30D. What you get in exchange is a weather-sealed body designed to bring the D200 into harsher environments.