1. Canon PowerShot G9
$460, street
www.usa.canon.com
Canon's top-of-the-line compact packs 12.1 megapixels, a small (but bright) optical viewfinder, optically stabilized 6X zoom (35–210mm equivalent), RAW capture, and Canon Speedlite-compatible hot-shoe into a tidy little brick that'll please most DSLR users. Throw in time-lapse and high-resolution video (1280x768 pixels at 15 frames per second), and up to 2 hours of audio capture, and you've got a pocket multimedia device.
2. Nikon Coolpix P50
$230, street
www.nikonusa.com
Behind its sleek, timeless exterior, this 8.1MP Coolpix, available in black or silver, offers ultramodern features, including face-detection autofocus and Nikon's D-Lighting, in a truly budget-minded package. It sports a wide 28–102mm (equivalent) 3.6X optical zoom, goes up to ISO 2000, runs on AA batteries, shoots time-lapse movies, and weighs just 6 ounces. And for control freaks, there's manual exposure. That's an awful lot for such a little price.
3. Ricoh Caplio GX100
$599, street
www.ricoh-usa.com
This luxe 10MP is perfect for iconoclasts. Made of magnesium alloy, it's solid as a tank. With or without the removable shoe-mounted electronic viewfinder ($170, street; $100 with the camera), its distinctively retro style will turn heads. Sensor-shift image stabilization lets you forego a tripod in low light, and in macro mode you can focus from as close as 0.4 inch. The 24mm (equivalent) wide angle on the 3X zoom can't take it all in? Add the optional DW-6 converter lens ($185, street, with required HA-2 adapter) for an extreme 19mm view.
4. Samsung NV20
$310, street
www.samsungcamera.com
The NV20's cool, minimalist design fronts a maximum-capacity sensor: 12.1 megapixels. On the front: a 3.6X Schneider-Kreuznach zoom (34–102mm equivalent), hideaway flash (it's behind the badge), and just a hint of the exposure dial. Turn it around for the innovative "Smart Touch" button/slider alongside the 2.5-inch LCD -- it's elegant, once you get the hang of it. You can create GIF animations and pause while shooting video to keep your takes in a single clip. Plus, you can recharge it from either an electrical outlet or your computer (via USB 2.0).
5. Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H3
$300, street
www.sonystyle.com
Telephoto fans, rejoice! This 8.1MP from Sony may be chunky, but that's because it has an incredible 10X Carl Zeiss zoom (38–380mm equivalent) and a powerful pop-up strobe. More classic features: shutter speeds up to 1/2000 sec, manual exposure control, and a huge screw-in lenshood. But there's no optical viewfinder. Totally new school? Face-detection AF, optical image stabilization, ISO up to 3200, dynamic-range optimization, HDTV output, and music-synced slide shows on its 2.5-inch LCD.
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