Best Camera 2016.

Best camera 2016 - Buying guide | 2 | Expert Reviews
Camera will have five basic choices:
- compact ultra-zoom,
- ultra-zoom,
- premium compact,
- compact system camera (CSC) and
- Digital SLR.

MEGAPIXELS - Ignore this specification!
APERTURE - More light, please
SENSOR SIZE - Lighting up

ZOOM - A big stretch
Compact ultra-zoom cameras have zoom ranges from 12x to 24x.
A compact ultra-zoom camera's lens retracts entirely into its body, making them easy to fit in a pocket.
Larger ultra-zoom models look more like digital SLRs, with a big, fixed, protruding lens, but these can have zoom ranges up to a massive 42x.
That extra zoom range is very useful for sports and wildlife photography.

Premium compacts are more concerned with wide apertures than big zooms, and so usually have modest zoom magnifications.
DSLRs and CSCs both have large sensors, and so this limits their zoom range.
Most such cameras will be supplied with a 'kit' lens, typically with just a 3x zoom.
Bigger zoom lenses can be bought, but cost around £500 for a 10x zoom.

Zoom ranges on compact cameras are often listed, as we have, in shorthand using multiplication factors;
while digital SLR cameras and CSCs list the zoom range in mm, referred to as the focal range.
The latter is usually normalised to the focal depth of a traditional 35mm stills camera, as these measurements make sense to photographers.
For example, 28mm is wide angle, which is good for landscapes; 35-50mm are good for all-round use; 70-90mm are best for portrait work; and beyond that you're into telephoto zoom territory for distant subjects.

For most cameras, you can find out the 35mm equivalent zoom range.
A long zoom for distant subjects is great, but we think this should be balanced by a wide angle at the short end of the lens.
For example, a 10x zoom with a 28-280mm range is more versatile than a 10x zoom with a 35-350mm zoom.
A typical 'kit' lens for a DSLR or CSC has an equivalent 28-90mm range.

CONTROLS - Controlling nature
Many CSCs, all DSLRs and the larger ultra-zoom cameras tend to have more physical controls.
Some people are put off by this, but there's no need to be.
These cameras still have fully automatic modes, so you don't need to understand every single control in order to use them.
Most larger ultra-zoom cameras also include an electronic viewfinder (EVF), and they are often a clip-on option for CSCs too.

SIZE - Pocket cam
...occasional users, actually prefer smaller, more convenient designs.
A compact ultra-zoom is the obvious choice if you want something you can slip into most pockets, as its zoom lens retracts.
The same goes for most of the premium compacts, though some have permanently fixed, if small, protruding lenses.

CSCs - Compact marvels
The lenses are smaller than SLRs' lenses, but CSC zoom lenses are still too big to make these cameras pocket sized.

DIMENSIONS - Size matters
...if an enormous zoom isn't necessary, then go for an SLR or CSC with a 3x zoom kit lens.
CSCs look more stylish (if that sort of things bothers you) and are generally a lot less imposing, some subjects will be less intimidated by such a camera than a big, black digital SLR.

After all that is said, SLRs still come top for image quality.
...the available ranges of compatible lenses are vast, for both Nikon and Canon models, plus there are third-party lens manufacturers.
If you plan on expanding your camera's capabilities with different lenses over time, then a digital SLR will be far, far cheaper in the long term.