Top Point & Shoot Digital Cameras 2023

The Panasonic LUMIX FZ1000 II is great for sport and wildlife photography. It has a long focal length that's great for capturing far-off subjects. It also has great image quality that's well-suited to low light conditions, as there's little visual noise at higher ISO levels, although you may lose some sharpness as you raise the ISO. It has a quick continuous shooting speed, especially in its silent shooting mode, which is great when you don't want to scare away wildlife. Its autofocus system is good for tracking moving objects, but unfortunately, it does a poor job of tracking faces.

The Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark III is good for vlogging. It has a great screen that you can flip up to face you when the camera is pointed at you. It's also exceptionally portable, and footage taken while walking should remain smooth and stable. It can shoot in 4k and FHD without a crop; however, it does incur a reduction in your field of view when its stabilization feature is set to High. It's also okay at tracking faces, though it struggles to capture clear and sharp footage free of noticeable visual noise while shooting in 4k and FHD. Unfortunately, its battery performance is poor and frequently causes the camera to shut down from overheating, especially when shooting in 4k. This can make it hard to record long videos in 4k, so it may be best to stick to recording in FHD.

The Olympus OM-D E-M1X camera features a truly rugged, professional build, but its Micro Four Thirds image sensor lags behind the full-frame competition.

Leica's M11 digital rangefinder camera offers several ergonomic improvements over its predecessor and packs a head-turning 60MP sensor while staying true to its manual focus roots.

The Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark IV is good for travel photography. It delivers impressive image quality and performs well even in low light. It's also very lightweight and portable, though it may be too small for those with very large hands. Its approximate advertised battery life is okay, though this can vary with settings and usage habits. The camera supports USB charging, but you can't use it while it charges. While its autofocus system is excellent at tracking moving objects, it struggles to track faces. It also isn't weather-sealed.

The Sony RX10 IV is good for sport and wildlife photography. The camera feels incredibly comfortable to use, although it's bulky. Its built-in lens also has a remarkably long focal length range, so you can zoom in on very far-away subjects or take extreme close-ups. Its continuous shooting speed is very fast, as it can shoot at an outstanding 21 fps when using its electronic shutter and a still excellent 11 fps when using its mechanical shutter. The autofocus is also effective, though its tracking feature can sometimes struggle to keep up with faster subjects. While its buffer empty time is quite long, it has a big capacity, so it's unlikely you'll fill it in regular use.

The Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III is good for travel photography. It's small and lightweight, making it easy to take with you wherever you go. It also has excellent image quality, with photos that look sharp and relatively noise-free even at higher ISO levels. Unfortunately, its battery life is mediocre, although this can vary depending on your usage habits and choice of settings. That said, it feels well-built, and the screen gets bright enough to overcome glare in sunny conditions.

The Canon PowerShot SX740 is okay for travel photography. Its out-of-camera image quality is decent, and photos don't have a lot of visible image noise at low ISO settings, but they aren't very sharp. Its autofocus is okay but isn't very consistent when tracking moving faces. The battery life is also disappointing. That said, the camera is very portable and easy to take wherever you go, but it can be a bit uncomfortable because of its compact size, especially if you have larger hands.

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX7 has a larger than average image sensor and fast zoom lens, but it's best to keep the ISO set on the low side.

The Canon PowerShot SX70 HS is good for sport and wildlife photography. It has a good continuous shooting speed and a relatively quick buffer empty time, meaning you can capture moments of fast-moving action with minimal interruption. The built-in lens has an incredibly long focal length, great for capturing far-off subjects, and the optical stabilization does an excellent job of steadying the image, even at slower shutter speeds. You may still need a tripod when using the full focal length. Image quality is okay; that said, raising the ISO introduces significant noise and loss of detail and sharpness, so it's not well-suited to shooting in dim lighting conditions. It also doesn't have an autofocus tracking function when shooting continuously.