Nikon Coolpix S8000

Arguably the first compact from Nikon that qualifies for the 'travel zoom' designation, the Coolpix S8000 offers a 10x zoom lens (30-300mm equivalent) in a very slim body. Announced in February, Nikon is trumpeting the S8000 as the world's slimmest 10x zoom camera, and it certainly feels a lot more compact than most of the other models on the market, helped in no small part by the minimalist, smooth curves of the front plate.

Apart from the lens, the S8000 offers an impressive set of features, including a 3in LCD screen with a class-leading resolution of 921k dots. Unlike a DSLR, where pixel-level image quality is (arguably) fundamental to any assessment of how 'good' a camera is, the most important parameters when looking at compact cameras are the speed and accuracy of its key systems, and whether or not it is pleasant and easy to use. Going by these metrics, the S8000 is a very good compact camera, as long as you don't need to look too closely at the images (or make huge prints).