Top 10 digicams of February 2008

The good: Compact, sturdy body; produces very good photographs.

The bad: Slow; strong barrel distortion at wide angle. Be prepared to use the small optical viewfinder instead of its LCD outdoors when the sun is shining.

The bottom line: Despite its image-quality strengths, sluggish performance tarnishes the appeal of the otherwise well-equipped, compact Nikon Coolpix P5100.

The good: Attractive new display; great performance and pictures.

The bad: Small buttons can sometimes feel awkward.

The bottom line: With a shiny new interface, fast performance, and great pictures, the DSC-W80 sits on the top of the budget snapshot heap.

The good: Intelligent Auto mode was spot on most of the time; solid build; good overall performance.

The bad: No hotshoe; no flip-out screen.

The bottom line: Its ease of use is of note for a user who isn't prepared to delve into a camera's manual exposure settings, but who wants something better than a point-and-shoot.