Confessions of a Compact Camera Shooter: Get Professional Quality Photos with Your Compact Camera

Foreword: Full-Featured Compact Digital Cameras

"Not a digital SLR" can mean superb image quality with a lot of capability.

by Rob Sheppard

For a while, the digital SLR was the ultimate imaging gear. The small, compact digital cameras had good features, but they still seemed like substitutes for the "real thing."

Compact cameras had limitations with viewfinders, restricted focal lengths, challenges with autofocus and slow responses to real-world photography.

Today, these small cameras are a distinct and important choice for any photographer. They can provide a great option for photographers who need a small, high-quality back-up camera, for photographers who need to travel light but don't want to sacrifice quality, and for photographers who just want to keep their gear simple, compact and lightweight. These cameras are well worth considering for many types of photography.

Point-and-Shoot is a Different Category

A lot of people call any camera that is not a digital SLR a "point-and-shoot." I want to be clear: I am not talking about point-and-shoots here. A true point-and-shoot is a camera that you literally point ... and shoot; and it can do nothing else.

Full-featured compacts have all of the controls of a digital SLR: full choice of exposure modes, both auto and manual; auto and manual focus; ...