Update: We've added the latest great CSCs and updated the listings with current selling prices, including Australian market prices.
The popularity of compact system cameras (CSCs) has exploded over the last year, due to the quality images and flexibility of use they deliver.
If you like to keep up with the latest advances in camera technology, you will have had your hands full for the past year, since the popularity of compact system cameras has resulted in even more new models being released and more manufacturers jumping on the bandwagon, including Nikon and Fuji.
Although choice is generally a good thing, the vast array of CSCs on the market today can make choosing the right one a daunting prospect.
The popularity of these cameras can be put down to a number of factors. Being able to change lenses increases creative possibilities, plus the large image sensor (when compared to compact cameras) in many helps to improve noise levels at high sensitivities and boost dynamic range.
Recent advances in sensor technology have also helped to close the gap in image quality between these cameras and bulkier DSLRs.
Above all else, the compact size means that compact system cameras are not left at home due to their bulk, which, for many, can bring the fun back into picture taking. Models range from those best suited to snap-shooters, right through to cameras with professional-level controls and features.
We've taken a good look through the CSC ranges each manufacturer has to offer and taken each model's strengths into account, to help you to find the camera best tailored to your particular requirements.
Prices listed are typical selling prices for standard packages with a basic zoom lens included, in the UK, Australia and the US. We've grouped the best compact system cameras by brand and ranges, to help you to find your way around the best CSCs on offer now.
This year has been a very exciting year for those lusting after a full-frame DSLR, with several new cameras either being announced or becoming available in 2012.
Nikon has introduced two full-frame cameras, the first being the 36 million pixel Nikon D800, which was revealed in the early part of the year.
More recently, the company unveiled the Nikon D600, which at the time of launch was claimed to be the world's smallest and lightest full-frame DSLR.
Featuring 12 fewer megapixels than its older sibling, the Nikon D600 has significantly lower recommended retail price. So, the question on many people's minds will be which camera to invest in. Here we take a look at the key differences between the two to help you make that decision.
Nikon D800 vs Nikon D600: sensor
While both are full frame CMOS sensors, only the Nikon D800 offers a whopping 36 million pixels. It's important to remember that more pixels isn't necessarily a good thing, however.
More pixels increases the chance of noise, and our lab tests show that the Nikon D600 is actually a better performer in terms of signal to noise ratio and dynamic range.
At the lowest sensitivity settings those extra pixels really come in handy, though, if you're looking to crop into the image and still retain quality. Or if you're shooting landscape or studio shots where low light isn't generally an issue.
Nikon D800 vs Nikon D600: autofocus
Both the Nikon D800 and the Nikon D600 use phase detection autofocusing when images are composed in the viewfinder, but the D800 offers an extra 12 autofocus points. Because on both cameras these autofocus points are all clustered towards the centre of the frame, it's likely that the average user won't feel disappointed by fewer points.
Nikon D600 vs Nikon D800: memory
Dual memory card slots is something we're used to seeing in high-end DSLRs. Whereas the Nikon D800 uses one CF card slot and one SD card slot, the Nikon D600 features dual SD slots.
Although CF cards generally perform better than SD cards, it's likely that those upgrading to a Nikon D600 from DX (APS-C) format cameras in Nikon's line will already have a stash of SD cards ready to go.
Nikon D600 vs Nikon D800: Wi-Fi connectivity
Unlike the Canon EOS 6D, neither the Nikon D800 nor Nikon D600 have inbuilt Wi-Fi connectivity. However, this is one area where the D600 trumps the D800, since it is compatible with the low-cost Wu-1b Wi-Fi transmitter that can pair the camera with a smartphone for internet access and remote control.
Nikon D600 vs Nikon D800: construction
As you might expect from the more expensive model, the Nikon D800 has a more premium construction, having an all-metal body. The Nikon D600, meanwhile, uses a magnesium alloy for the top and back panel, with plastic elsewhere. Both the cameras will be fairly rugged, but the D800 is likely to be just that little bit better protected.
Nikon D600 vs Nikon D800: weight
Both the latest full-frame offerings from Canon and Nikon claim to be the world's lightest DSLRs. The Nikon D600 does indeed weigh significantly less than the Nikon D800, at just 760g (850g with battery and memory card), compared with 900g (1kg with battery and memory card). It may not sound like a huge difference, but if you're looking for a relatively light camera that still offers high quality images, the D600 would probably be the best option.
Nikon D600 vs D800: verdict
Choosing between these two cameras can be a little tricky, especially since the now established Nikon D800 has been around for a while and the price difference isn't too marked. However, as the Nikon D600 settles into the market and the price drops, it will be a much more significant difference.
In some respects, probably due to the lower resolution, the D600 performs better in our lab tests, so it may come down to what you wish to shoot with your camera. It's also worth bearing in mind that you need to tighten up your shooting technique - use a tripod and mirror lock-up for example - to get the benefit from the D800's extra resolution.
If you're looking for a general camera for shooting a wide variety of subjects, and are looking to save a little money, the D600 is probably the more sensible choice.
However, if you're looking to step into the professional arena, have a particular hankering for that high resolution or need a slightly more rugged camera, the D800 wins out.
The wait for Samsung's Galaxy Camera may soon come to a close as the manufacturer has finally found a home for the Android-powered snapper.
AT&T will offer the Galaxy Camera in the U.S., though at the moment there aren't any details on where international customers can get their hands on one.
Revealed in August, the Galaxy Camera runs Android's latest OS, Jelly Bean, and comes with a 16MP lens, a 4-inch screen and 21x optical zoom.
4G-network enabled
In addition to offering Wi-Fi compatibility, the Galaxy Camera will also be able to connect via a 4G connection.
Strangely, it won't be via AT&T's LTE network, but rather the carrier's HSPA+ network.
Even though the camera will work across the AT&T network, the carrier hasn't revealed any data pricing plans for the Galaxy Camera just yet.
In fact, AT&T hasn't discussed pricing for the camera of any sort, promising to reveal such information in the coming weeks.
TechRadar learned the Galaxy Camera should come in around £399 when it hits the U.K. in mid-October, putting it at about $630 (AU$615), but AT&T hasn't confirmed that pricing as of yet.
As for data, there's more than a slight chance the Galaxy Camera will follow suit with its smartphone brethren the Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2, and work within AT&T's shared data plans.
TechRadar has reached out to AT&T, and will update this story if and when a request for comment is returned.
The wait for Samsung's Galaxy Camera may soon come to a close as the manufacturer has finally found a home for the Android-powered snapper.
AT&T will offer the Galaxy Camera in the U.S., though at the moment there aren't any details on where international customers can get their hands on one.
Revealed in August, the Galaxy Camera runs Android 4.1: Jelly Bean, and comes with a 16MP lens, a 4-inch screen and 21x optical zoom.
4G-network enabled
In addition to offering Wi-Fi compatibility, the Galaxy Camera will also be able to connect via a 4G connection.
Strangely, it won't be via AT&T's LTE network, but rather the carrier's HSPA+ network.
Even though the camera will work across the AT&T network, the carrier hasn't revealed any data pricing plans for the Galaxy Camera just yet.
In fact, AT&T hasn't discussed pricing for the camera of any sort, promising to reveal such information in the coming weeks.
The Galaxy Camera was believed to fall in the $630 (UK£399, AU$615) range when it was first announced, but AT&T hasn't confirmed those prices as of yet.
As to data, there's more than a slight chance the Galaxy Camera will follow suit with its smartphone brethren the Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2, and work within AT&T's shared data plans.
TechRadar has reached out to AT&T, and will update this story if and when a request for comment is returned.
Olympus is running a new promotion, giving customers purchasing an advanced compact system camera a free 45mm lens.
Customers purchasing an Olympus OM-D in the UK will qualify for a free 45mm f/1.8 portrait lens.
Both the OM-D and the 45mm lens have gained great critical success this year, with the OM-D being launched at the CES trade show in January.
Featuring a 16 million pixel Live MOS Four Thirds sensor, a tilting touchscreen and a high resolution electronic viewfinder, the OM-D sits in the premium compact system camera market.
Olympus was one of the first companies to produce a compact system camera and shares the Micro Four Thirds format with Panasonic.
Portraits
The 45mm f/1.8 lens gives an equivalent focal length of 90mm in 35mm terms. With a wide f/1.8 aperture, the lens is particularly useful for shooting portraits but is also good for a variety of other subjects.
To claim the lens, which is worth around £250, customers need to purchase an OM-D between October 15th and December 31st 2012.
The offer will only be valid in the UK and Ireland through authorised Olympus sellers. Customers can reserve a camera for pick-up on the 15th to qualify for the promotion now.
The purple flare that appears on some iPhone 5 camera shots is perfectly normal, according to Apple.
A Gizmodo reader complained to Apple about the purple fringing that was appearing on his shots, and received a response from AppleCare representative 'Debby', who told him it was perfectly normal behaviour.
"Dear Matt," the response reads. "Our engineering team just gave me this information and we recommend that you angle the camera away from the bright light source when taking pictures. The purple flare in the image provided is considered normal behaviour for the iPhone 5's camera."
Debby then gave her contact details if Matt wanted to follow up the matter.
Replacement handsets
But Apple hasn't been consistent on the matter. One user complaining in a thread on Apple's Support Communities webpage was offered a new handset in return for his old one. Though it's not known if Apple will make good on this promise for all affected.
This purple fringing was suspected to be caused by the new sapphire lens cover found in the iPhone 5. But it's more likely a normal distortion of light caused by a chromatic aberration. This skews towards shorter wavelength violet light, which is tricky to correct with larger prime lenses, let alone the smaller ones found in the iPhone 5.
Apple marketing supremo Phil Schiller previously responded personally to another iPhone 5 owner who complained of scuffing on his black handset. Schiller replied that the marks were to be expected.
"Any aluminium product may scratch or chip with use, exposing its natural silver colour," he wrote. "That is normal."
Sigma's recently announced USB dock is intended to enable Sigma lens owners to adjust the accuracy of the autofocusing and upgrade the firmware of your lenses via a computer, but it could also enable you to customise the focus distance and how the optical stabiliser (OS) operates.
Speaking to TechRadar at Photokina 2012, Sigma CEO Kazuto Yamaki explained that the details of the USB dock have yet to be finalised, but it may enable Sigma lens users to choose whether the OS operates full-time to create a steadier view through the viewfinder, or at the point of capture to enable maximum correction.
Using your computer, you may also be able to specify the distance range that the AF system operates within. This could prove useful in a wide range of circumstances.
Macro photographers could set the lens to only focus very closely, while sports photographers could specify a fairly restricted, but more distant range. This would reduce the chance of the lens focusing on the wrong subject when something passes across the frame and having to refocus on the subject again. It should also reduce the amount of lens hunting with close subjects.
Size matters
Using the USB dock enables Sigma to give its lenses extra functionality without the need to add switches on the barrel, and thus keep the optic's size and weight down.
According to Yamaki, front and back focusing - when a camera and lens combination results in the focus being just in front or behind the intended target - is a significant issue for manufactures.
This is something that needs to be corrected for individual lenses and camera bodies, and it's why some cameras such as the Canon EOS 6D and Canon EOS 5D Mark III enable AF micro adjustment.
The new Sigma USB dock will enable you to adjust the lens to correct any focusing inaccuracy experienced with your camera. However, since the adjustment is made to the lens, photographers with two camera bodies may find that you need to correct the focusing each time you swap cameras, which is hardly ideal.
Perhaps in the future the lens firmware will be capable of storing two or more sets of adjustments, and will recognise which to use depending on the camera that the lens is mounted on.
As yet the price of the dock hasn't been set, but Yamaki says it will be kept low and is considering including it in the box with some of the more expensive lenses. The availability date has not been decided yet either.
The Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-W690 was announced in February as part of a trio of stylish and slim compact cameras.
Although it's not quite as slim as the Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-WX100, the Sony W690 is no porker, cramming in a 10x optical zoom lens in its 21.7mm deep body. Not only that, it also has a 16 million pixel 1/2.3-inch CCD sensor.
That lens starts at an equivalent focal length of 25mm and rises up to 250mm at the telephoto lens. Unlike some of Sony's other compact cameras, it doesn't feature Clear Zoom technology to digitally boost the zoom capability of the camera.
Other features on this tiny camera include a Bionz processor, face detection, smile shutter and an in-built guide to using the camera.
Pretty squarely targeted at casual users, a number of creative options have been included to attract the Instagram crowd.
First up we have four digital filters, or 'Picture Effects', to use Sony's parlance, such as Toy Camera, Pop Colour and Partial Colour.
Secondly, Sony's Sweep Panorama enables super-wide images to be captured by sweeping the camera across a scene and then stitching the resulting images together in one picture.
There's not a great deal of manual control available on the Sony Cyber-Shot WC90, though a Program mode does give some flexibility.
HD video recording at 720p is available, with minimal control over recording settings. Videos can also be shot in VGA mode, which is more suitable for uploading quick videos straight to the web.
A 230k dot resolution, 3-inch TFT Clear Photo screen can be found on the back of the camera, on which you can watch slideshows of your images accompanied by music that you load into the camera.
Scene Modes including High Sensitivity, Night Scene, Night Portrait, Landscape, Soft Snap and Pet Mode are also available, as is Intelligent Auto for automatically detecting the optimum shooting settings.
The Sony W690 has a full retail price of £149 in the UK or $179.99 in the US, putting it in the same price bracket as the Nikon Coolpix S6200, Canon IXUS 220HS and the Panasonic SZ1.
Over the next four or five years Sigma plans to refresh its entire lens range, according to CEO Kazuto Yamaki.
Speaking exclusively to TechRadar at Photokina 2012, he explained that the new design philosophy and new categorisation, which is intended to make it clearer what each lens is best suited for, will be rolled out across the lens lineup.
Photography tips
He went on to explain that the company has developed a new MTF testing machine that uses a 46 megapixel Foveon sensor, and this will be used to measure the sharpness and resolving power of every new lens that Sigma manufactures.
This machine has a much higher resolution than the two older machines that Sigma uses, and it therefore enables Sigma to better assess the quality of its optics. Some of Sigma's current lens lineup already out-resolve the existing machines, so they don't test the lenses fully.
Yamaki believes that the new machine is the highest (or one of the highest) resolution MTF measurement machines in the industry.
Launch trio
Sigma's new design philosophy was unveiled at Photokina 2012 with three new lenses from each of its new categories, Contemporary, Art and Sport.
As a Contemporary lens, the Sigma 17-70 f/2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM is designed for general purpose photography and gives the equivalent focal length range of 25.5-105mm on a 35mm camera.
Sigma introduces new lens lineup
The first lens in the Art category, the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM, has a very wide maximum aperture for extensive control over depth of field. And the Sports category's Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 DG OSM lens is dust and moisture-resistant, and covers what Sigma has found to be a popular focal length range for sports photographers.
All three lenses have a high quality feel and a more minimalist black and white livery than Sigma's earlier optics.
