Olympus E-P1
There are enough digital cameras and camcorders out there to make the clued up, keen-eyed technophile wince. So, we've narrowed down the field a bit to make your Father's Day gift shopping a little bit easier.
Bewilderment abounds in the compact camera scene. It's all about the most features you can get in the smallest form factor. Our favourites for point-and-shoot dads include the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZR1, which packs an 8x optical zoom lens into a teeny tiny body, great for beginners. For the father who likes to keep up with the latest tech, you can't look past the deliciously retro Olympus E-P1 which has interchangeable lenses, but isn't technically an SLR. The Canon PowerShot SX1 IS doesn't look like a compact camera, but it sports a 20x optical zoom and HD video recording.
It's never been easier to get so much bang for your buck, with a huge array of digital SLRs appearing that are both easy to use and easy on the back pocket. We chose the Nikon D3000 and the Canon 500D for the best of both worlds: the Nikon is ideal for a beginner, without too many confusing bells and whistles but still takes great pictures, while the Canon has HD video recording and a great feature set to keep just about anyone occupied with the instruction manual.
The storage war between hard drives and flash memory has finally reached crunch point in 2009, with most camcorders on offer sporting one, the other or both. We've chosen the Sony Handycam HDR-XR200V as it's high definition, with the added bonus of a very effective image stabilisation system. The JVC Everio GZ-MS120 uses flash memory with two SD card slots, and is a pretty compact standard-definition camcorder. It's also got 35x optical zoom.
Olympus E-P1
Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZR1
Nikon D3000
Canon EOS 500D
Canon PowerShot SX1 IS
Sony Handycam HDR-XR200V
JVC Everio GZ-MS120
