One of the biggest complaints from photographers of every hardware allegiance is the color balance of their images. Skin tones are the biggest bugaboo because there are nearly seven billion variations - and for some odd reason - people get very fussy ...

Simple, quick and accurate white-balance calibrations on the fly. Available in neutral and warm versions.

Threaded plastic case is a bit cumbersome.

If you're serious about your pictures but wary of lugging around your SLR, you've had an embarrassment of riches in the last couple years, thanks to an array of plush, full featured point-and-shoots. A rasher of updates has just arrived: The Canon G10 ...

HD video. Awesomely vivid and accurate colors. Gorgeous leather accessories optional. Long warranty. Three aspect ratios (4:3, 3:2, and 16:9). A pop-up flash that's manually deployed: No more unintended bursts. Solid battery life.

A gussied up Lumix at double the price. Fiddly controls in manual mode. Viewscreen less sharp than resolution suggests.

With its high-gloss metal case and giant 3.5-inch, iPhone-like touchscreen, the Nikon Coolpix S60 just begs to be touched. But your lust will turn to disgust once you get to know this camera's internal quirks. In this case, beauty is only skin deep.

Sleek and sexy. Fairly easy to use: Its iPhone-like touchscreen is appealing. Respectable 10 megapixels. Compact and lightweight (just 5.7 ounces).

Images aren't very crisp, unless they're well-lit outdoors shots. Short-lived battery. Overly wide touchscreen leaves no room for your fingers to hold the camera without inadvertently switching settings.

For the past few years Leica has been wading into the point-and-shoot mass-market, where competition is vicious and where the company demands a pricey premium owing to its unparalleled brand. Is the good-looking, tiny C-Lux 3 worth it? Probably not: ...

Sharp, accurate colors. Great white balance. Excellent pictures in bright light. Dead-simple interface and controls. Three aspect ratios (4:3, 3:2, and 16:9). 3-year warranty.

Pricey as hell. No panoramic mode. Limited manual mode only allows exposure control. Decent but not great shots in low light (Our Canon G10 does it better). Did we mention price?

Excellent ergonomics and beautiful images. Only drawback: You have to use Sony's proprietary memory cards.

Big, bright 3-inch LCD. 9.1-megapixel resolution. 10X optical zoom lens goes wide to 28 mm. Shoots HD video at 720p and 30 fps.

WiFi and HD video are $100 premium over otherwise identical TZ5. Supports uploading to Picasa only. All that metal adds up to a hefty load.

Bendable buddy arms adjust easily and hold a surprisingly heavy load, just like Doctor Octopus. The bigger Zoom version supports more than six pounds and is threaded for cameras and pro-level tripod heads.

Excellent ergonomics and beautiful images. Only drawback: You have to use Sony's proprietary memory cards.

Fits comfortably in pocket and hand. Four tiny feet add stability for low-light shots and self-portraits. Pretty, saturated prints.

Startup not the quickest among its peers. Upper-end ISO images are noisy.

Carbon-fiber legs and magnesium castings make this value-priced tripod package both tough and light. The rubber feet come off too easily, though.

Hey, Casio: Time to call Jenny Craig. Your formerly slim, sexy Exilim cameras have ballooned up like William Shatner. Witness the EX-Z150, a chunky, pocket-sagging model that looks like it has a glandular disorder. Fortunately, like the fat guy on the ...

Wide-angle lens just plain kicks ass, and 4x optical zoom gets you close. One-touch video recording and YouTube-upload software make this the perfect camera for Paris/Lindsay/Bigfoot sightings.

Too thick and heavy to leave in your pocket all day. Small, stiff control pad. Snapshot colors lack pop. Battery must be removed for charging.

Divvy up those 60 shots per second in multiple ways: 30 shots per second for two seconds, 20 for three seconds, and so on. Mini-HDMI jack makes for sexy F1/HDTV pairing. Pre-record mode means you'll capture moments you thought you had missed.

12x zoom is slower than a three-toed sloth with an Ambien addiction. Crappy low-light performance only partially forgiven by the camera's zippy flash. No optical eyepiece so you'll have to rely on the tiny electronic viewfinder. Flash doesn't work in ...