Top 3 Budget Digicams of 2006

2006 was an amazing year for technology in general. Gadgets that was considered to be premium a year back have become household names. Even in cameras, where the 5 to 6 megapixel range was considered as high-end, are now in the starter-level range.

Speaking at starter level, let's take a look at our choice of three cameras that gave the best bang for your buck this year. Starting with the —

Second Runner-Up Kodak Easyshare C663

The Kodak C663 is a great option for someone who's looking for minimum fuss, and is more concerned with getting respectable quality without having to jump through a whole series of option. It has a 6 megapixel camera resolution along with 3x optical zoom, which is quite a handful for a starter-level camera.

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The C663 has landed in our top 3 budget cameras of the year purely because of it's simplistic, yet dependable performance; namely—fast shot-to-shot time, decent edg-to-edge sharpness for a camera of this price range and the perfectly saturated colors it produces on your images.

If you think this all this sounds good, wait till you check out our first runner-up.

First Runner-UpSony Cybershot DSC-S500

Definitely the most pocketable out of the three, the S500 offers a slim ultra-compact body and specs that impress. If the 6 megapixel resolution and the 3x optical zoom does not raise an eyebrow then, its 2.4" LCD display, 25MB internal memory and Pict-Bridge support should at least get you curious if you're in the market for a new budget compact cam.

When it comes to pure performance, the S500 delivers the colors and image sharpness that make it great as a general-purpose family camera. It's price tag of Rs. 11,450 is well worth it, but if you're looking for more than just point and shoot from your digital camera, no matter what the price then you should definitely take a look at our top budget compact camera of 2006 on the next page.

Budget Camera of the Year

Canon Powershot A530

Now, this is the camera I can safely recommend to just about anybody with and under Rs. 12,000 budget, and I know that they'll thank me for it later. The Canon A530 holds no punches in giving you every extra feature that makes it worth your money and more.

While the image quality of this 5 megapixel camera is arguably the best in its range, it also offers some great shooting modes and manual exposure features that will please everyone. Of course, if you don't mind spending a couple of 1000's extra, then go for it's bigger brother—the A540, but besides that, the A540 is definitely our favorite budget camera release of 2006.

Do let us know if you agree/disagree with our choices or have an opinion on this topic. Speak out in the comments below or in the forums.