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These days you hardly need an exotic budget to kit yourself out with a digital camera, either.

Even a basic device such as the 1.3megapixel Jenoptik JD 1300F is only £27.98 inc VAT and delivery from XLshop.com. It has 8MB internal memory but takes CompactFlash cards too.

Something a little more sophisticated is the 2megapixel Kodak CX7220. With 2.1x optical zoom, it costs £87 from Pixmania. The Nikon CoolPix 2200 boosts this to a 3x optical zoom. £89.90 from Berridge. And gunning the CCD up to 3megapixel, you can buy the Yakumo Mega Image 37 from Amazon for £84.99. And the Packard Bell DSC-400 has a 4megapixel CCD. It costs £94.83 from Dixons.

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Dixons also has the Jenoptik 4.1 Z8. This has a 4megapixel CCD and a massive 8x optical zoom, for just £114.84.

With a 10x zoom, the Kodak EasyShare DX6490 costs just £209.99 from InternetCamerasDirect. This is currently on special offer with a £40 discount.

Pixmania has the HP Photosmart 945 which has a 5megapixel CCD. It costs £274 but also includes a 128MB SD card.

The Fujifilm FinePix S7000 has a 6.3megapixel CCD and a 6x optical zoom. With images of this resolution it's probably worth mentioning the 3.2 digital zoom as well. £348.22 from Nomatica. This store also has the Nikon CoolPix 8700 (8megapixel CCD, 8x optical zoom) for £518.12.