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Natalie Hitchins is news editor of What Digital Camera magazine and a former editor of Digital Photographer. Here she picks the best digital cameras to slip in your pocket or handbag Click to view Top 5 Ultra-Compact Digital Cameras.
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Best Party Snapper (Fujifilm Z3) |
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 A true party animal’s choice, the Z3 is designed for the girl on the go. It offers a stylish design, super-compact dimensions and intelligent features finely honed for creating high-quality after-dark snaps. With a 5MP sensor and award-winning technology, it’s a user-friendly gem that will fit seamlessly into your lifestyle.
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The Z3 is clad in an alluring all-metal body available in three colours - pink, blue and silver. But despite its candy-coloured styling, it’s seriously equipped to take the inevitable rough and tumble of a party hard lifestyle. A curved aluminium back-plate gives strength and solidity, whilst the sliding cover protects the lens from scratches, smears and fingerprints. Even its 2.5 inch LCD screen is reinforced to prevent damage.
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Low-Light Performance |
 At the heart of the camera lies a 1/2.5–inch 5.1-megapixel Super CCD HR and Fuji’s award-winning real photo technology, designed to combat the blurry and grainy side effects of shooting in low-light. Described as “one of this camera's strongest features” by Which Digital Camera magazine, low-light functionality is at the Z3’s core, and like us the magazine concluded that, “You can get some impressive detail when light levels are poor.”
Whilst many digital cameras give messy, blurred results when you try to take photographs in darker conditions, the Z3's high ISO 1600 sensitivity helps you to create crisp, ambient images without needing to use the flash. This is backed up with an intelligent flash system designed to balance background and foreground light levels to enhance skin tones in people shots. The camera can also take two consecutive images; one with and one without flash, letting users choose the best.
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Fast and Versatile |
 The image processing power of the Z3 means it’s a speedy performer too, in every area from start up to image recording. It also offers great flexibility thanks to a very sharp 36-108mm, 3x optical zoom lens, which is cleverly built into the camera body so that it does not protrude when you zoom in.
In-built functions offer enough flexibility to let the everyday snapper achieve beautiful results without getting distracted by complex settings. Both focusing and exposure systems are automatic, but there are plenty of options for customising shots, including 14 scene modes. anti-blur, macro, movie and a fully automatic mode are also available, making this a simple camera with all the key advantages of high-quality digital camera.
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Great Reviews |
 But don’t just take our word for it. The Z3 has been widely championed by both the specialist press and main stream experts. The Guardian said, “This five megapixel camera is perfect for storing in a handbag ready for nights out." While the Mail awarded it a Best Buy after concluding, "It’s fast and sharp, with a flicker-free screen and nippy menus. Image quality is superb, trouncing pricier cameras with more megapixels."
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 According to Personal Computer World, “The Fujifilm Z3 is a stylish, ultra-compact camera, with excellent build quality, good low-light performance and well-selected features targeted at producing quality photos without gimmicks." We have to agree. Although an extra megapixel and some additional manual exposure controls wouldn’t have gone amiss, there’s no denying that the Z3 does everything it sets out to deliver with true style, ease and simplicity.
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| TYPICAL PRICES - £149-£210/$295-$415 |
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