The Pro815 is a good first attempt by Samsung, but it is missing a few things that would allow it to compete with the big guns. The most practical feature is the 15X zoom, and if that is important to you then this may be a consideration

The Olympus SP-550UZ is a great camera that will suit people after a little more zoom in their life. The images could have used some minor improvements, but the huge zoom and fantastic design make this a worthwhile choice for some buyers.

A strong choice if you're after an ultra zoom camera, the Cyber-Shot DSC-H9 sports a 15x optical zoom and captures some good shots, however it does have issues with haloing and purple fringing, which will be irritating for many users.

Panasonic's FZ18 is a solid ultra-zoom camera. While the price tag is high, many users would be better served spending that money on an SLR, whereas those after a huge zoom lens and a mass of features along with several beginner-friendly shooting modes may find what they're looking for here.

While not a perfect camera, Olympus' SP-560UZ is an excellent choice for users after an ultra-zoom. It combines good pictures with a robust feature set and a fantastic design.

The P80 from Nikon is an advanced camera with a very capable zoom lens. It’s not as fast as the majority of other advanced cameras we’ve looked at, but the images it captures are rich and sharp.

A solid advanced ultra-zoom camera, FujiFilm's FinePix S8100fd offers an 18x zoom lens with sensor shift stabilisation and captures good but not outstanding photographs.

Olympus' SP-570UZ continues the trend of its past ultra-zooms, offering an enticing package for users looking for a larger lens. It isn't perfect — at times it can be sluggish and the pictures have some minor issues — but on the whole it does a solid job.

This is a decent model to choose if you want a long zoom range and versatile controls, yet don't want a bulky digital SLR. It's good for travellers in this respect, despite its soft pictures and slightly underdone colour.

If you can put up with the difficult user interface and the not-so-sleek body, the DSC-H50 from Sony is an extremely competent and feature-packed camera.