Lab

Superzoom cameras

It could be the perfect gift, but a digital camera isn't just for Christmas. Whether you're seriously into photography or just want to point and shoot, you need to find the right model to suit your needs and fit your budget. And this year there are more features than ever to compare before you make your choice.

People use cameras in different ways, and one person's pride and joy might be another's source of bewilderment. That's why we've produced this supertest of the top 40 cameras under £1000, split into four groups: budget compact, premium compact, superzoom and digital SLR. Over the next ten pages, we explain what to expect from each type and rate the best models available.

We've tried to keep the reviews free of jargon, but let's start by explaining a couple of technologies. Everyone knows you have to hold a camera steady to get a sharp photo, but that can be tricky. In low light, your camera (and most digital compacts in particular) will need to keep the shutter open longer to take a picture, and that means more time for the camera to move. If you're zoomed in, every wobble of your hand becomes an earthquake. You can avoid this with a tripod, but when that's not practical, it really helps to have image stabilisation built into the camera. This uses gyroscopic sensors to detect motion, and moves the lens or the sensor chip (the digital 'film') to counteract it. Stabilisation can't promise no shake at all, but it's well worth having.

On the subject of zoom, built-in optical zoom now ranges from 3x to a massive 18x in digital cameras. With a DSLR, the lens dictates the zoom level available. Ignore 'digital zoom' - this just enlarges pixels to make the middle of a picture fill the whole frame, an entirely pointless exercise.

Face detection is another aid that's caught on this year. Faces are often the most important part of a scene, and by recognising where they appear, a camera can optimise focus and exposure so that they come out well. In practice, some face detection systems struggle to identify faces at all, while better ones can spot multiple faces even at angles.

The art of noise

Something else we'll often refer to is 'noise'. A digital camera's sensor chip records the amount of light striking each of its millions of cells, but with a degree of error. Large amounts of light render the errors insignificant, but in dim lighting, with less to record, these errors can swamp the image. The result is a random speckling, similar to film grain but rather uglier, known as 'noise'. Cameras reduce the effect using digital noise reduction, but that in turn can give photos a weird blotchy texture when viewed up close, reducing detail. It's one of the most important things we look at.

As well as taking good pictures, your camera needs to take them fast enough. A short pause between snaps is inevitable, but nobody wants to wait around while a photo opportunity passes them by, so performance is important.

Finally, a word on megapixels. In principle, more pixels mean more detail and the ability to enlarge your photos more, or blow up a small area of a scene, while maintaining good quality. But the quality of the lens, sensor and other factors are just as significant. Seven megapixels will give you sharp A4 prints; look for more if you need it, but don't assume more pixels means better pictures.

Whatever your needs, your ideal camera is here somewhere. In each group we've picked our favourites, some runners-up (and a few models better avoided), and our Best Buy.