9. Canon Rebel XS (with 18-55mm lens)

The good: Excellent photo quality for its class; solid performance.

The bad: Maximum ISO of 1600; no spot meter; annoying, in-viewfinder, focus-point display.

The bottom line: The Canon EOS Rebel XS is a good entry-level dSLR, but only its photo quality stands out among the competition.

8. Fujifilm FinePix F200EXR

The good: Excellent photo quality; lots of useful features; very good dynamic range and high ISO performance in EXR modes; takes SDHC and xD cards.

The bad: Basic Movie mode for its price; limited aperture settings; menu systems take some getting used to.

The bottom line: Don't let its new sensor technology scare you off: the Fujifilm FinePix F200EXR is an excellent compact camera with shooting features for just about every type of user.

Read the full review.

7. Nikon D5000 (with 18-55mm lens)

The bad: Small, dim viewfinder; middling video quality; too easy to accidentally change focus points.

The bottom line: Though it falls short in its design, the Nikon D5000 delivers a nice feature set, speedy performance, and great photo quality for the money.

Read the full review.

6. Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H20

CNET rating: 8.0

The good: First-rate design; simple operation; excellent feature-to-price ratio.

The bad: Narrow lens; lens cap is a pain.

The bottom line: If you don't mind its extra bulk and narrow lens, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H20 is an otherwise excellent compact megazoom camera.

Read the full review.

5. Canon EOS Rebel T1i (with 18-55mm IS lens)

The bad: Annoying viewfinder; video capture is its only better-than-basic feature.

The bottom line: A solid, slightly better-than-basic dSLR, the Canon EOS Rebel T1i delivers photo quality and performance that adequately compensates for most of its annoyances.

Read the full review.

4. Canon EOS Rebel XSi (with 18-55mm lens)

The good: Excellent photo quality for its class; better-than-average speed.

The bad: Maximum ISO 1,600; huge spot-for-spot metering.

The bottom line: It doesn't stand out for its feature set or design, but the Canon EOS Rebel XSi delivers on performance and photo quality.

Read the full review.

3. Nikon D90 (with 18-105mm lens)

The good: First-rate performance; solid, well-constructed body with nice viewfinder; video capture capability; great photo quality.

The bad: Middling kit lens; poor HDMI output implementation.

The bottom line: Like the D80 before it, the Nikon D90 delivers an excellent dSLR for the money.

Read the full review.

2. Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W290 (blue)

The good: Terrific design, interface, and controls; wide-angle, 5x zoom lens; excellent price-to-feature ratio.

The bad: No optical zoom while recording video; soft photos.

The bottom line: The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W290 is an excellent, well-balanced compact camera.

Read the full review.

1. Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3

The good: Long and wide-angle zoom lens in a compact body; 720p movies; lens can zoom during movie capture.

The bad: Very few manual controls.

The bottom line: As long as you don't want much in the way of manual features, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 is a very nice camera that can handle a variety of shooting situations.

Read the full review.

RIP: Canon PowerShot SD880 IS

Oh, how I miss the Canon SD880 IS. It was a great sub-$300 compact camera that is long gone, but so popular that people try to sell them at more than double the original price. All through the 2008 holiday gift-giving season, if anyone asked what the best point-and-shoot to buy was, it was the answer.

Both the gold and the silver versions were viewed so much on CNET that they each ranked in the top 10; the gold at No. 2 and the silver at 6.

RIP: Canon PowerShot SX10 IS

A wide-angle 20x megazoom camera, the SX10 IS ranked as the fifth-most-popular camera viewed on CNET in 2009. It has since been replaced by the SX20 IS. The key differences are a bump in resolution from 10 megapixels to 12 and 720p HD-quality movie support as well as HDMI output for easy connection to an HDTV.

RIP: Canon PowerShot A590 IS

It might not have been much to look at, but the A590 IS had a lot of fans. It was the last A-series PowerShot to have both an optical viewfinder and manual controls in addition to running on AA-size batteries. Though released in 2008, the A590 ranked as the eighth-most-popular camera viewed in 2009.