The best compact cameras can fit in a coat pocket but still offer the controls, features and even the image quality you'd expect from a DSLR or a mirrorless camera. Sounds impossible? Not at all – and here are the cameras to prove it.
A DSLR camera or a mirrorless camera has a big sensor for the best image quality, interchangeable lenses for flexibility and enough manual control for all kinds of creative photography. Unfortunately, they're just too big to carry around without a separate camera bag or holster.
Clearly, something's got to give, and with the best compact cameras, it's the ability to change lenses. You have to decide on the focal range you need when you buy the camera because there's no going back later.
Some photography purists are happy to not even have a zoom lens! Famous photojournalists of the past managed perfectly well with fixed focal length lenses in the past, and many photographers today are happy to follow in their footsteps.
Panasonic Lumix LX100 II
Perfect for professionals and beginners
The trouble with big sensors is that you need big lenses to go with them, so there goes any pocketability. Panasonic has really hit the sweet spot with the Panasonic LX100 II. It combines a Micro Four Thirds sensor that's not much smaller than the ASP-C sensors in mode DSLRs, with a miniaturised lens assembly that powers down into a camera body slim enough to carry around anywhere. The LX100 II is a brand new version of the original LX100, which was, admittedly, starting to show its age.
The new model has a 16-megapixel ‘multi-aspect’ sensor, which means you can use its native 4:3 aspect ratio, the 3:2 ratio used by most DSLRs and mirrorless models a 16:9 ‘wide’ format without cropping the image and losing pixels. With an external shutter speed dial, lens aperture ring and aspect ratio switch, the LX100 II is a dream compact camera for enthusiasts and experts.
Canon PowerShot G5 X Mark II
Fantastic zoom lens and 4K video
The Canon G1 X Mark III is a great camera, but it has some limitations, notably its 3x zoom with its relatively modest maximum aperture and no 4K video. The G5 X Mark II offers a much broader range of specs, and it's also a little cheaper.
You do have to accept a smaller sensor – a still-decent 1-inch 20MP sensor rather than the 24MP APS-C sensor in the G1 X Mark II, but the payback is a longer 5x zoom with a much faster f/1.8-2.8 maximum aperture, 4K video, a super-fast burst mode and a body genuinely small enough to slip into a trouser pocket. If you really want a bigger sensor, keep reading, but the G5 X Mark II does give you a very rounded set of specs for a pocket camera.
Sony Cyber-shot RX100 VII
Fantastic flip screen for easy 4K video
The Sony Cyber-shot RX100 VII is mad on any number of levels. The plus points include its impressive 24-200mm zoom range in such a small camera, its pop-up electronic viewfinder in a camera that looks too small to have one, and its good-sized 1-inch 20.1MP sensor. It can also shoot 4K video, which is good, but it all starts to get quite strange.
This camera has a super-high-tech 357-point phase-detection autofocus system, a 20fps continuous shooting speed (up to 90fps in Single Burst mode), and 0.02sec AF response with Real-Time AF tracking. It also has Sony's S-Log2 and S-Log3 video modes for high-end video recording and colour grading – all in a pocket-sized camera. All this power is great and deeply impressive, but it pushes up the price considerably and to some (well, us) might seem out of place on a camera like this.
Sony Cyber-shot RX100 III
If you like the look of the RX 100 VII but not the price, this is better
Sony has a strategy of keeping older versions of its cameras on sale for a long time, with prices that keep on going down, so although the RX100 III is four versions behind the brand new RX100 VII, its specs are still pretty good even by today's standards. Its first RX100 model is to get a built-in pop-up electronic viewfinder.
Its flip-up-and-over rear screen is ideal for selfies and vlogging, while its lens has a shorter 24-70mm equivalent zoom range than the newer camera, it has a faster f/1.8-2.8 maximum aperture across that range. If you don't need the RX100 VII's high-powered AF, pro-level 4K video features and super-fast continuous shooting, the RX100 III is ideal. It has the small form factor of the RX100 series and the same good-quality 1-inch sensor but without any of the musclebound madness of the later models.
Ricoh GR III
The latest in a classic line
The Ricoh GR has a long history, both as a premium-quality compact 35mm film camera and, now, as a digital model. However, its specs and performance are now looking a little behind the curve than its latest rivals.
GR fans, or "GRists" as Ricoh call them, will love this update of an iconic camera. But in the world of multi-lens camera phones, the wider appeal of this fixed-lens compact will probably be limited. This is a beautiful-sized APS-C compact, ideal for carrying around in the pocket and discrete street photography. But this is sold at a luxury price that is no longer justified by the build quality or the feature set.