Cameras to reward your favorite grad with

Whether your grad is a budding enthusiast or a fan of full-auto, the ZS100 delivers the upgrade in image quality a 1-inch sensor affords with enough of a zoom lens for a lot of framing flexibility and it's sufficiently fast to capture life in action. Plus it supports 4K video for the sharpest capture possible.

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If your grad's really into photography, this compact is one of the best you can get without breaking the bank.

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Any grad downsizing from a dSLR or upgrading from a compact will find this a great interchangeable-lens model. With the image quality and performance of a dSLR, the A6000 is a couple of generations old, but that just means it's inexpensive enough to make an affordable yet terrific gift. If you can spend a little more, its successor, the A6300, is good as well. (The current A6500 is best, but it's also a budget-buster at over $1,000.)

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The FZ1000 is a good fit for grads who want the look and feel of a dSLR, better image quality than a point-and-shoot and a long zoom lens they don't need to worry about changing whether they're shooting landscapes, portraits, birds or sports.

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A small dSLR alternative, one of the best things about the Micro Four Thirds interchangeable-lens cameras is that the lenses are tiny -- you can throw five in your bag and barely feel them. The E-M10 Mark II is fast, with solid photo quality and a useful feature set, plus Olympus' policy of adding features via firmware upgrades makes this one a long-term choice.

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If you're looking for the best overall GoPro to get your student videographer, the Hero5 Black is what you want. However, the cube-shaped Session is a favorite, too, for its small size, waterproof body and single-button operation. Its $300 price helps as well.

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This is perfect for grads who like to show the big picture. With a single button press the Theta S instantly captures a spherical photo that you can send to your phone and upload to Facebook or Twitter to for the ultimate 360-degree selfie. Oh, and it takes video, too, if you want to really capture your surrounding for people to explore.

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If your someone likes to spend more time capturing life and sharing it than sitting behind a computer editing, you'll want to get the Bandit. Sensors built into the camera are able to sense when something exciting is recorded and tag those sections of video. You can then wirelessly connect the camera to a smartphone and, simply by shaking your phone, make the camera stitch those moments into a video to share with friends and family instantly.

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This model might be a little old, but that just means you can get someone a great general-purpose camera, with lens, for less than $700.

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A nice general-purpose camera that's a step up from a phone or compact and much improved over its predecessor for the same price, the T7i is sure to please the grad who wants a first dSLR.

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A great choice as a first camera drone, you can navigate it with your phone and take in the view with its VR goggles, and it's not overly expensive for a 4K model.

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For the outdoorsy type who wants to do drone photography but needs it to fit in a backpack, the foldable Mavic Pro is the most travel-friendly of the bunch. It's not a cheap gift -- $999 is at the top of my usual gift-suggestion price range -- but it will surely be appreciated.

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