This is the first in a series of articles that will highlight individual products by presenting reviews, by the people who bought them and are actually using them daily. We will present the reviews of three similar items and give you a general overview of each, as well as, the approximate street price. We are not by any means endorsing any specific item. The products are being chosen from current Hot Products or Top Sellers.

Today's Topic: Small Compact Point & Shoot Digital Cameras.

Canon PowerShot SD1000 7.1 Megapixel Digital Camera
Street price around $170.00

Pros: Compact, Bright LCD, Comfortable controls, Good value for the money, user friendly, durable, good quality pictures,

Cons: Cannot adjust the speed fast enough for low light pictures.
Does not come with a case. Small Memory card.

Biggest complaint seems to be that Canon should have included a 1 or 2gb SD card. It comes with a 32MB memory card. With cards being so inexpensive it would not have made an appreciable difference in the cost and would have probably made this a true "5" rating.

A buyer from Philadelphia, PA 6/8/07
"In the past I've owned a Canon SD400, 500, 600, 630, and Rebel xti. The SD1000 is a good value for what you get. Only thing I don't like about the Canon SD series is that the optical/digital zoom isn't that great, but for the price, it's a good deal. Especially now that SD1000 is 7.1 mp. The SD1000 has more of a box look compared to other cameras in the SD series but still nice, with a large LCD screen. Overall good camera."

A buyer from Beavercreek, Ohio 5.26.07
"The camera is easy to use, takes great pics and is very user friendly. there are many options that you can set so it may take some time to get very familiar with all the functionality...but well worth the price."

Fujifilm FinePix A800 8.3 Megapixel Digital Camera
Street price around $140.00

Pros: Quality compares to the higher rated Fujifilm F31fd. Easy to use. Comes with 1gb memory and carrying case. Good for a beginer.

Cons: No viewfinder. Low light shooting could be better, Slow lag time. Not the best for fast shooting.

Buyer: D7t3, 8/10/07
"Impressive photos from a cheap camera (130USD). Basically equivalent quality to the highly-rated Fujifilm F31fd, only it has 8 megapixels (not 6). Noise reduction eats away at edges and details, but overall a great performance unsurpassed by other compacts. Startup, lens zoom, autofocus, and image review zoom especially are s-l-o-w. Not the best for fast shooting."

Buyer: kurupt71, 6/20/07
"It's a great camera for this price if you're going to be outdoors in the daylight, no complaints from me except the use at night. Video far better than what I excpected, not a bad camera at all."

Sony Cyber-shot W55 Digital Camera, 7.2 Megapixels
Street price around $150.00 - $180.00

Pros: Excellent Macro feature. Has a viewfinder.* Sturdy. Long battery life.

Cons: You have to buy a memory card. Low light/indoor pictures could be better.

*Although it has a viewfinder which is a plus, unfortunately it is not that accurate for close ups.

Buyer: karasmith 8/29/07
"The Sony DSC-W55 is truly a gem in the sub-$200 class of digital cameras! It outperforms many cameras that cost quite as much especially it's macro function which is mind blowing. You can just about put the lens on top of an object, focus in, and shoot and capture every single tiny little detail to perfect precision!..."

Buyer: arkramer71 12/13/07
"This camera is great compared to the one I purchased 3 years ago for about $100 more. It takes decent pictures and is a Sony so you have brand-name reliability. The down side is having to buy a memory card if you want to take more than a few pictures at a time with the internal memory..."

Prices on digital cameras have come down considerably while the quality has improved. It wasn't too long ago that a 2-3 megapixel camera was the norm.
Now 7-8 is about average.

Selecting the right camera for you is dependent upon what you want out of the camera. If you just want to shoot family, or, vacation snap shots you probably cannot go wrong with any of these. However, if you into much more sophisticated photography, then you should probably consider SLR type cameras.