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This story was printed from CNET Asia.
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After a long hiatus, we are back with our Top 10. A lot of cameras were unveiled in January at CES and PMA. But it seems readers still prefer functionality and features over the new makes. We observed the same trend at the recent IT Show in Singapore, where despite freebies and tempting packages, most people still went for powerful shooters rather than new models.
In this latest chart release, we are looking at a good mixture of brands, with Sony taking up three slots, its popular T200 in second place. Panasonic's FX33 is also looking good at third, while Canon's IXUS 860 IS dominates the chart for February.
The good: Impressive performance and image quality; optical image stabilization; face detection.
The bad: No manual exposure controls; no optical viewfinder.
The bottom line: While the Canon Digital IXUS 860 IS doesn't have an optical viewfinder or manual exposure controls, it captures beautiful images with its wide, 3.8x optical zoom lens and ranks among the top compact cameras we've seen.
The bad: Very average optical zoom; no real option for switching to manual mode.
The bottom line: If you really crave a literal point-and-shoot capability in a camera, minus the hassles and flaws that come with most compact cameras, the FX-33 would possibly be your best bet so far.
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: 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.
Click here for a feature comparison table.
