Best compact cameras: five picks for every kind of shooter

If you want one small camera that covers as much as possible, buy the Sony Cyber-shot RX100 VII. It has a 24-200mm zoom, a pop-up viewfinder and fast autofocus, and it still drops into a coat pocket.

If your priority is something you can carry every single day, the Ricoh GR III is the one — an APS-C sensor in a body barely bigger than a phone. For the pleasure of shooting with proper dials and a hybrid viewfinder, the Fujifilm X100VI is the enthusiast's choice. Vloggers should look at the Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark III, and anyone who spends their holidays zooming into distant detail wants the Panasonic Lumix TZ200.

None of these are cheap, and none of them beat a modern phone on convenience. What they give you is optical zoom, better low-light files, real controls and a screen you can actually see in sunlight.

These two tables cover the specs that actually change how you shoot — sensor size, lens range, viewfinder and video. Everything else is detail.

Beyond the spec sheet, three things separate a camera you love from one that sits in a drawer:

• Handling. Small is good until it is too small. Try the grip and the dials in person if you can.
• Battery life. Compacts run on small batteries and there is no bigger one to fit. Buy two spares and a small charger.
• Charging. Most current compacts charge over USB, which means one cable for your phone and camera on a trip — worth checking before you travel.

Ignore megapixel counts. Anything here is more than enough for prints and social media; sensor size and lens quality matter far more.

A fixed lens is not a limitation so much as a design choice. By building one lens and one sensor around each other, Ricoh and Fujifilm can fit a much larger sensor into a much smaller body. That means cleaner files indoors, more control over background blur and, in the Fujifilm's case, a viewfinder you can actually see through.

The price is flexibility. With a 28mm or 35mm equivalent lens you cannot reach across a street or pull in a detail on a hillside. You either move, crop, or accept a different photograph. Many photographers find that constraint makes them better; plenty find it maddening. Be honest about which camp you are in before you spend the money.

Zoom compacts work the other way round: the RX100 VII and TZ200 give you range, but they use smaller sensors and lenses that slow down as you zoom in. If most of your photography happens indoors, in the evening or in British winter light, the fixed-lens cameras have a real advantage.

Think about your last hundred photographs rather than your ideal ones.

• Mostly days out, holidays and family — the RX100 VII covers the widest range of situations without asking you to choose.
• A camera in your bag every day, city streets, documentary — the Ricoh GR III is the one you will actually have with you.
• Slow, deliberate photography and a love of dials — the Fujifilm X100VI rewards that, and its film simulations mean you can share JPEGs straight from the camera.
• Talking to camera, tutorials, travel vlogs — the Canon G7 X Mark III is designed around exactly that.
• Coach tours, wildlife from a safe distance, big landscapes — the Panasonic TZ200's long zoom earns its place.

One more consideration for UK buyers: compact cameras hold their value reasonably well, particularly the Fujifilm and Ricoh, so buying carefully and selling on later is a realistic option if you change your mind. Check that the model you are looking at is the current version before ordering, and buy from a retailer with a clear returns policy so you can test the handling at home.