The ideal camera has a wide angle, little noise in high sensitivities, a big screen, and is stabilized and fast. This type of little gem does indeed exist. The other good news: there are are good compacts at low prices.

Between compacts and reflex digital cameras, there is an intermediate category, the bridge. Bodies are larger than compacts, but we find all the manual functions, better quality and brighter lenses. And now, there is more often a big zoom.

This year starts with the arrival of Deca-megapixels. So, should we be tempted by the Canon EOS 400D, Nikon D80 and D40X, Olympus E-400, Pentax K10D or Sony Alpha 100? Or how about the D40? Is it enough with its 6 million pixels?