Cheapest Cameras

How much camera can you get for about $100?

Bargain-priced, competent digital cameras that sell for around the $100 mark are few and far between. "At that price point," says Cliff Smith of TrustedReviews.com, "most of them are badly made models from no-name brands that frankly aren't worth buying." When PCMag.com tests eight of these low-end cameras, only one of them proves good enough to earn an Editors' Choice award -- the Panasonic Lumix DMC-S3 (Discontinued) .

"The DMC-S3 offers a compact design, fine photos and video, and an impressive LCD -- all for a low price," PCMag's Jim Fisher says. PhotographyBlog.com calls it "perfectly competent ... Sure, it doesn't have too many bells and whistles, but that could well be seen as a benefit by prospective owners." CNET (U.K.) likes that it's "refreshingly easy to operate" and ranks it "head and shoulders above most other budget compact cameras." Owners like it, too: The DMC-S3 gets uniformly strong ratings at Amazon.com.

The key, according to PhotographyBlog.com, is the 14.3-megapixel image sensor -- the very same one you'll find on Panasonic cameras costing twice as much. Images are noise-free through ISO 200. Dim-light photos don't fare so well, with "quite visible noise, smearing of fine detail and colour desaturation" at ISO 800, but that's true for just about all budget cameras.

You won't sacrifice too many major features: Just like many other budget cameras, the ultra-cheap DMC-S3 includes a 4x optical zoom, a 2.7-inch LCD screen, a rechargeable battery and the ability to shoot 720p HD video. "Video quality looked high," says Jim Fisher at PCMag, but testers at CNET (U.K.) "weren't that impressed by the S3's take on 720p high definition. Motion is jerky and wobbly. Colours are unpredictable, edges aren't terribly sharp and you can't zoom while you're filming." However, both the DMC-S3's photo and video quality are rated very good by a leading consumer testing organization.

At just over 4 ounces, with a plastic body about the size of a credit card and less than an inch thick, the DMC-S3 is the smallest cheap digital camera recommended by our sources. That makes it pocketable, but "with its rounded edges and lightweight plastic casing, the S3 feels more like a toy than a serious piece of photographic kit," says Nik Rawlinson at CNET (U.K.). PhotographyBlog.com says it feels solid and "fairly sturdy ... although the retracted lens does rattle alarmingly when you shake it." We found no owner complaints about its sturdiness, though.