You may use your smartphone for casual day to day photography, but even with powerful cameras, smartphones cannot meet the picture quality provided by point and shoot camera. Chosen wisely, Point and Shoot cameras can give you advanced features as well as portability. Nowadays, market is flooded with compact cameras, but here is low down on the cameras which will give you the best bang for your buck:
Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS7: This 12.1 MP camera is packed with features. It provides you with 12 X optical zoom, which coupled with 4 X digital zoom gives you the power of 48 times magnification. The camera has built in memory, which can be augmented by using SD Memory Card. The camera is especially good for people with butterfingers as it has built in optical image stabilization feature. Lumix DMC-ZS7 is currently priced at £229.
Nikon Coolpix P300: This Nikon camera also comes with 12 MP resolution and is capable of recording HD videos at 1080p resolution, along with stereo sound. It lets you take pictures from faraway with its powerful 4.2 X Optical zoom which is made even better with the company's High Refractive Index Glass. P300 has four exposure modes including manual mode. However, it does not provide the feature of capturing images in raw format. You can also use this camera for high speed photography as it lets you capture 7 continuous shots at the rate of 8 frames per second. The camera will cost you £299.
Sony Cyber Shot DSC-HX9V: This plain looking camera from the House of Sony is pretty sophisticated when it comes to features. The camera's obvious USP is its 3D technology. The camera has 16.2 MP resolution and provides 16 times optical zoom. It also has spacious 3.0 inch LCD screen which lets you compose your pictures. Apart from this, it has built in GPS for geotagging of your pictures. For 3D photo capturing, it has a dedicated button. This compact camera weighs only 215 grams and will cost you only £399.
Fujifilm FinePix F550 EXR: This 16MP camera comes with EXR CMOS sensor, which lets you adds more muscles to your photography prowess. It has plenty of zoom with 15 X of optical magnification. The camera is especially good for low light photography. It can capture videos at 1080p resolution at the speed of 30 frames per second. You can also use zoom feature while capturing videos. FinePix's USP is its ability to capture images in JPEG and Raw format simultaneously. This gorgeous camera will set you back by £329.
Nikon Coolpix S9100: This camera has comparatively lower resolution at 12 MP, however, its 18 X zoom more than makes up for the lower resolution. Its 3.0 inch LCD screen comes with anti-reflection coating, and thus is pretty clear and sharp even in the direct light. The camera store pictures in JPEG format, so if you are looking to capture RAW images, you are going to be disappointed. Coolpix also has voice memo function. You can also choose from many preset scene modes such as Close Up, Beach, Back Light and Fireworks. Nikon camera comes with a very reasonable price tag of £299.
