A real enthusiast's camera, the Olympus XZ-1 offers the final compact step before the jump to a DSLR or compact system camera (CSC).

Price: £399.99 | Olympus

Sporting image quality up to 10 megapixels the XZ-1 boasts a wide-angle, 28-112mm lens with 4x optical zoom and an impressive aperture of f/1.8, allowing for shallow depth of field effects with low light.

As well as offering an impressive array of specs, the Olympus XZ-1 pleases aesthetically with a classy and minimalist look and concealed, pop-up flash – a hotshoe allows for flashgun expansion.

The 3-inch, 610k-dot OLED display is a doozy as well, and 720p HD video recording is possible. Further adding to the XZ-1’s bag of tricks, boot-up times are clocked at an impressive one second.

A top tier compact, capable of sharp pictures, this is another very worthy candidate.