Advantages: compact, fairly lightweight, tilting lcd viewer, excellent microphone
Disadvantages: makes beeps and whirrs when turned on.

...We bought our panasonic video camera, which takes mini dv cassettes, when we knew we were expecting our daughter to capture all her firsts. The camera has lived up to Panasonics good reputation and takes very clear video with excellent sound with good clarity of both audio and visual. The twisting lcd viewing screen is a brilliant feature too, especially for videoing my daughter as you are able to shoot film without holding the camera to your face, so you can interact with her as normal and she's not put off by the camera. It has got 500x digital zoom, which is excellent for taking natural footage of your loved ones while they are playing in the sea, or down the bottom of the garden etc! The camera takes a 7.2v battery, which lasts quite well. The only problem is you have to remember to turn the camera completely off... Read review

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Advantages: Bargains to be had
Disadvantages: Too many to choose from

...for direct printing from a media card or camera is one of the features not listed in the catalogues, and whilst most cameras probably are compatible, the cheaper you go you might find the feature unavailable. My own 2 MP camera whilst being a clone doesn't have DPOF, but other clones of this camera do have it, as well as a TV out which mine omits as well. Both Argos and Index will let you view an item before buying, and the full specs are often on the outside of the box. Most sensors will probably be CMOS under to the £100.00 mark, with the branded makers using CCD's. CMOS sensors, whilst fine in daylight and flash lit indoor shots, can give poorer performance in outdoor night scenes and indoor night clubs where the flash is out of subject range, and night time or tungsten lighted videos may come out red. CCD sensors do not suffer this problem... Read review

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Advantages: Full Night Vision Plus Great Day Vision
Disadvantages: Slight Glow At Night, Slightly Larger Than Some

...PICTURE QUALITY Having a CCD (basically a high quality lens with more TV lines than a CMOS lens, which is just lower quality) lens makes this camera have a superb picture quality. The range is dependant upon the light level and shadows etc. For example you could point it at the sky at night and it will see the stars, but point at a car at the end of your road it’ll probably see the car (distance depending) but it probably won’t make out the registration. However if you had this camera above a door you’d get a great face image of any intruder or visitor and likewise you could put it above the average driveway of a house and clearly read a registration from say five meters away. FEATURES OF THE CAMERA This is where the clever bit comes in. It’s long been known that a colour camera will give you a much better picture during the day... Read review

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Advantages: High MegaPixel, blisteringly fast, great quality, price
Disadvantages: no low-light AF illumination, no picture cradle, plastic tripod screwthread

...the shutter to capture a particular moment and when you check the photos later half the people have moved or have their eyes closed... However the E550 is FAST (have I said this already?) - it's practically 35mm speeds and can hold it's own against many top-end digital cameras. Viewing pictures you've taken is also very quick, in fact the only time when I found myself waiting for the camera was taking pictures with flash - you have to wait for the flash to recharge which takes about 5 seconds, still not a huge amount of time. Quality is extremely good - with 6.3 effective (real) megapixels you can be sure that it will capture all the detail you want, and the Fuji CCD's are famous for their high colour saturation and punchy results which look great on screen or on print. It can also output images at the tremendous resolution of 12 megapixels... Read review

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Advantages: Great features
Disadvantages: Cheap build

...I'm still getting to grips with the 960 having only owned it for four days, but so far my impressions are of an excellent product, well priced with good features and easy to use. The Trust CCD 960 makes my old Panasonic NV-DC1000 look like a real antique (bought in 1997, though I still love it and even bought a second one). With a resolution of 5 MP, a 4cm LCD preview screen, comprehensive menu system for taking pictures, the ability to take good quality audio/video, a 4x digital zoom, space for a 512Mb SD memory card, and a USB connection with no drivers required (Win ME and XP) it not difficult to see why it seems so good. I made a point of reading the manual on the first day. Do this, and the seemingly complex set of menu options available suddenley becomes easy to use. The zoom is childs play (zoom in x4 when taking the picture... Read review

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