Canon PowerShot G1

The JPEG compression is also superb. We struggled to discern a difference between SuperFine and the next mode down, which means you'll fit around 15 high-resolution images on the 16Mb card supplied, or a whopping 45 at the snapshot size of 1,024 x 768. On the downside, we found a slight pincushion effect, bowing lines at the edges of some shots, and some colour fringing along high-contrast edges and lines in very bright conditions.

The final touches are what really make this camera worth the money, though - in particular, its excellent battery life - although we did have some problems getting the power cable to connect properly. The G1 is powered by a lithium ion rechargeable battery, which will last several days of occasional shooting on a charge of just half an hour.

Add to this a solid software package, which includes Photoshop 5 LE and Canon's excellent ZoomBrowser EX, and it looks like Canon's on to a winner. The only dampener is the price, which at £643 is only £10 less than the Nikon CoolPix 990 on the high street.

Author: Jonathan Bray