Find the Right Pocket Camera

Deciding to buy a point-and-shoot camera is the simple part, but with hundreds of models to choose from, selecting the best one for your needs and budget is no easy feat. Following our seven rules will help bring your perfect camera into focus.

Rule #1: Do your research. Read lots of reviews, and don't buy based on name brand alone.

Big-name manufacturers like Canon, Nikon, Sony, and Panasonic have all produced top-notch compact cameras, but that doesn't mean they don't slip a lemon or two into their lineups every now and then. Even when a major manufacturer partners with another key industry player, such as Sony with prestigious lens manufacturer Carl Zeiss, or Panasonic with Leica, you can't be assured that you'll always get a top-notch camera. So read the reviews before settling on a particular model—the brand of camera you end up choosing might surprise you.

Rule #2: Megapixels mean less than sensor size.

Higher megapixel count doesn't necessarily mean better pictures, it just means larger images. You'd be hard-pressed to find a recent-model camera for sale today with a resolution of less than 8 megapixels, and that's enough to print up to 11-by-17-inch images. If you're just making 4-by-6-inch prints or viewing your pictures online, megapixel count means even less. A better indicator of photo quality is the size of the camera's image sensor. Here, bigger is definitely better. Image sensors range in size from 25mm² (surface area) for inexpensive point-and-shoot cameras, all the way up to 1,977mm² for high-end D-SLRs. Our Editors' Choice high-end pocket camera, the Canon PowerShot S95 looks like a run-of-the-mill pocket camera, but in its tiny body it houses an image sensor that's roughly twice as large as most cameras its size.

Rule #3: Pay attention to must-have features.

Image stabilization, which helps reduce the blur that can come from shaky hands, is an important feature to have. If a camera has digital image stabilization, that's fine, but it should have optical or sensor-shift stabilization as well. Virtually all modern cameras include face-detection technology, which finds and focuses on faces in the frame and improves the image's overall composition and quality by optimizing the color and white balance. Just make sure you turn it on before you shoot portraits or group photos. Optical zoom specs are also important, especially if you plan on taking a lot of landscape photos. The benefits of optical zoom are obvious: The higher the zoom level, the closer you can get to your subject. In this class you're likely to get a 3x or a 5x zoom lens, but we've seen compact models that offer up to 10x. And if you're willing to carry a slightly larger camera, a superzoom camera can provide up to 18x, like the still-pocketable Nikon Coolpix S9100. Now, more about the size of your compact camera...

Rule #4: Size matters, but not for everyone.

One of the major benefits of a point-and-shoot camera is its small size, but thinner cameras are typically more expensive and sometimes sacrifice features. Unless you plan to keep your camera in a jeans pocket, there's no need to spend a premium on a super-slim camera. With a larger camera, it will still fit in a jacket pocket, but you'll likely get a bigger LCD, a longer zoom lens, and easier-to-manipulate controls, especially if you have larger hands and fingers.

Rule #5: Don't overlook the display.

Pretty much all pocket cameras have abandoned traditional viewfinders in favor of LCDs for framing your shots. So it's important to focus on getting the best LCD you can find. For point-and-shoot cameras, LCD sizes start at 2.5 inches and go all the way up to 3.5 inches, but there aren't many 3.5-inchers out there, and the ones we've seen are typically on the expensive side. Currently, the sweet spot for screen size is 2.7 or 3 inches. Resolution on the LCD is measured in dots—the higher the number of dots, the more detail you'll see, and the resolution is independent of the display's physical size. A decent camera LCD should have at least 230,000 dots. On the top end, the $500 Olympus XZ-1 offers an incredibly sharp 3-inch display packed with 610k dots—it's also OLED, rather than standard LCD, which means higher image contrast and less motion blur as images move across the screen.

Display contrast is important too; LCDs that are too bright without equally high contrast will make images appear washed out, and they might also be difficult to see in direct sunlight. Touch screens are making their way onto more and more compact cameras, but before you go that route, make sure the on-screen controls are easy to use. And beware: Touch-screen cameras are notorious power hogs. If long battery life is important to you, skip the touch screen. If you can, it's always best to get your (eyes and) hands on the camera to check out the screen and the controls before you buy it. A camera like the Canon PowerShot Elph 300 HS is very solid overall, but its tiny buttons could make it challenging to operate if you have large fingers.

Rule #6: Go for HD Video.

In addition to still images, almost all of today's point-and-shoot cameras can capture standard-definition video (640 by 480 at 30 frames per second). Models that shoot high-definition video are starting to become commonplace and affordable, with prices starting as low as $150. The resolution and frame rate of the HD video recorded by low-end or midrange point-and-shoot cameras is typically 1,280 by 720 pixels at 30 progressive frames per second (720p30). For most casual users, this is sufficient, especially if you're just sharing your footage on Facebook, YouTube, or other online services. You can find several pocket cameras that capture video in full 1080p HD, but it's a high-end feature that will likely cost you a little more. The $400 Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS3 gives you the option to record in 1080p at various bitrates. Also, if you want to watch your captured videos (or even view a still-image slideshow) on your HDTV, consider a camera with an integrated HDMI connector.

Rule #7: Save a bundle on a great camera—from last year.

While camera innovation often advances at a similar pace to that of computers and cell phones, those products become obsolete at a much faster clip. If a camera took great pictures last year, it will take great pictures now. You might not get some of the cutting-edge features you'd get with a brand-new model, but you can save a lot. Some of our favorite cameras from last year, such as the Editors' Choice Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS2 and the Canon PowerShot SX210 are still widely available, but they're selling for as much as $100 below their original list prices.