Point & Shoot Camera Reviews

Ultimately, with a point and shoot digital camera, it's all about image quality. Avoid point and shoot digital photography cameras that Buzzillion reviewers say offer poor image quality or poor quality and that are poor in low light.

While you're on Buzzillions, click over to our Best Point and Shoot Digital Cameras page to find the most popular reviewed cameras. Keep in mind that most point and shoot digital camera customers prefer digicams that deliver great picture quality, a large LCD, and that are easy to use and offer easy set up.

To find the best point and shoot cameras on Buzzillions, judged by customers like you, check out our Top 10 best point and shoot digital camera page. By default, it's sorted from best-rated to lowest-rated.

While you shouldn't buy any of these point and shoot digital photography cameras, you can learn a lot about what to avoid by reading customer reviews of worst rated compact digital camera reviews. To jump right to the bottom of the barrel, browse our bottom rated point and shoot digital cameras.

A few point and shoot digital camera models from Samsung have dual LCDs . One small LCD is on the front of the camera, with a traditionally sized LCD on the back. Using the small screen on the front, you can see yourself, making it a snap to take a self-portrait or even a small group shot.

The majority of new digital point and shoot cameras also let you record video, but some go a step further, offering high-definition video recording . Some of Cisco's Flip pocket camcorders also shoot high-def video but don't use removable storage cards, as point and shoot digital cameras do. So once you've filled the Flip's internal memory, you can't shoot any more footage unless you delete clips to make room.

Look for point and shoot digital cameras that have a 10x optical zoom or even a 12x optical zoom. These lenses add to the weight and size of a digital camera. But they bring distant subjects up close without relying on digital zoom, which can cause zoomed images to look fuzzy.

A small but growing number of point and shoot digital cameras are waterproof , which is great for snorkeling and other adventures on, in, or near water.

A growing number of point and shoot digital cameras provide improved low-light image performance, such as the Canon PowerShot S90 . This means you can often avoid using the camera's flash when taking pictures at night or indoors, and yet still get great looking pictures.

If you look at the Top 10 point and shoot digital cameras, you'll see that two brands dominate: Panasonic and Canon. For example, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 is Buzzillions' Reviewers' Choice Winner for 2010 and is a top rated point and shoot digital camera.

Use our Point and Shoot Digital Camera brand Compare Tool to see the top five brands according to Buzzillions reviewers. All these brands have above-average aggregate ratings and are laid out for easy comparison.

Chosen your point and shoot digital camera? Great. On every product detail page, you'll find a "Where to Buy" section. You can choose a retailer by their reputation, listed through BizRate merchant ratings, or you can pick a retailer by price or brand name recognition.

You're going to be taking your new point and shoot digital camera to a lot of places. Make sure you buy a case to prevent the lens or LCD from scratches. Don't forget to travel with the camera's recharging power plug adapter, as many point and shoot digital cameras have expensive batteries that you can't simply buy at a drug store. If you'll be on a long trip, consider buying extra SD or SDHC memory cards for your camera to store all your pictures.

When taking pictures of people outdoors in bright daylight, always have your back to the sun. If your point and shoot digital camera has a low-light setting mode, use it instead of the flash when taking photos at night. The flash on most point and shoot digital cameras tends to bleach out everything in the foreground, while the background remains dark. A low-light setting mode will even out the light, making images look more natural.

While a growing number of point and shoot digital cameras offer high-def video recording, not all of those cameras let you use the optical zoom when recording high-def video. So if capturing great video is a priority, consider investing in a high-def digital video camcorder with an optical zoom.

When shooting video of a person speaking, try to keep out of windy areas. The microphones on most point and shoot digital cameras simply aren't powerful enough to capture the best audio quality.

Before you buy a point and shoot digital camera, always check the terms of the manufacturer's warranty. Find out what the retailer's return policy is as well. Some charge a restocking fee if you return a digital camera and other electronic item for reasons other than a shipping error or faulty product. And don't assume you need to buy a retailer's extended warranty. Some credit card companies, such as American Express, will automatically double a manufacturer's warranty at no charge to you.

The venerable U.S. camera company offers a number of Kodak-branded point and shoot digital camera models. But as a brand, Kodak has a 4.0 rating on Buzzillions, which is lower than the product category average of 4.2, so none of their cameras ended up on our Top 10 list.

Though no Sony point and shoot digital camera models made it into the top 10 on Buzzillions, Sony as a brand has a 4.4 rating on Buzzillions, above the category average of 4.2.

Our Point and Shoot Digital Camera Compare tool aggregates reviewer feedback by brand. Under the User Personality section, users who consider themselves casual photographers favored Sony point and shoot digital cameras among the top five ranked brands.

Buzzillion reviewers who consider themselves semi-professional photographers gravitated toward Panasonic and Canon point and shoot digital cameras.

Apple's iPhone and iPad have fueled consumer interest in portable gadgets with touchscreens. Some point and shoot digital camera models feature touchscreen navigation, which helps users select settings and flick through images. Keep in mind, however, that touchscreen displays can consume battery power more quickly than standard LCDs. Also, fingerprints tend to show up all too well on LCD screens in bright sunlight, so you'll want to carry a cleaning cloth on photo shoots.

There are a small number of point and shoot digital cameras with Wi-Fi built-in. You'll most likely see more of these cameras in the future. The benefit is that you can wirelessly transfer pictures from the camera to your computer over your home wireless network. But it's just as easy, in most cases, to simply pop your digital camera's SD or other memory chip into your computer's memory card reader and transfer pictures that way.

Even if your camera doesn't have built-in wireless networking, you can still add that capability. The Eye-Fi Share Video Wireless 4GB SD card stores your pictures plus adds Wi-Fi capability to your camera. The cards are inexpensive (the 4GB card is about $60) and easy to use.

Two solar-ready digital camera products are currently reviewed on Buzzilions. Both are wildlife/hiking trail cameras. As solar technology improves in the future, however, you're likely to see point and shoot digital camera models powered by solar panels.