ePHOTOzine's Best Cameras Of The Year Awards 2013

Best Budget Camera under £100

Samsung WB150F - Last year our best budget camera of the year offered a 10x optical zoom lens, cost £99, and had compact metal body, this year the Samsung WB150F with a massive 18x optical zoom lens, manual controls and built in Wi-Fi is available for just £89. It's amazing what you can get for your money, and the camera can share images straight to Facebook. 

"The Samsung WB150F is a solid camera with a good range of features including Wi-Fi for backing up images or uploading to the internet. The 18x optical zoom lens performs well and the camera has colourful images, which should mean it produces good results the majority of the time."

Samsung WB150F Review

For more details have a look at our Top 10 Best Budget Cameras 2013.

Best Waterproof Tough Camera

Olympus Tough TG-820 - for the 2nd year running the Olympus Tough TG-820 is our waterproof camera of the year, and it's even better value for money this year, available for just under £200 it offers a tough body that is shockproof from 2m, waterproof up to 10m, and is also dust and freeze-proof. Available in a number of colours it offers full HD video recording and a wide-angle 5x optical zoom lens. 

"The TG-820 does not disappoint, with the latest top of the range Tough camera building on previous results. There is now full 1080p HD video recording, a higher-resolution screen and an extended ISO range. There is very little to fault and some unique features, such as TAP control and LED macro."

Olympus Tough TG-820 Review

For more details have a look at our Top 10 Best Waterproof Cameras 2013.

Best Travel Zoom Camera

Panasonic Lumix TZ40 - The Panasonic Lumix TZ40 is the perfect travel zoom camera, with GPS and Wi-Fi built in and a 20x optical zoom lens, this camera is compact enough to fit in your pocket and delivers good image quality as well as full HD video. The Panasonic Lumix TZ40 is available for £207.

"The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ40 has all the features needed to justify its travel zoom tag. It offers ample optical zoom, great for landscapes and distance objects, as well as built-in Wi-Fi and GPS, all in a pocketable body."

Panasonic Lumix TZ40 Review

For more details have a look at our Top 10 Best Pocket Zoom Cameras 2013.

Best Ultra Zoom Camera

Panasonic Lumix FZ72 - The FZ72 offers a previously unthinkable 60x optical zoom lens, with a 20mm ultra wide-angle lens that zooms all the way to 1200mm. The Panasonic Lumix FZ72 features a massive 60x optical zoom lens, manual controls, raw shooting, 9fps continuous shooting, full HD video recording, stereo sound, as well as accessories that will take the zoom to 102x optical zoom! The Panasonic Lumix FZ72 is available for £329.

"The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ72 packs a number of features that will appeal to many users, highlights including the 60x optical zoom lens, 1cm minimum focusing distance, 9 fps continuous shooting and HDR shooting. There are plenty more features that will help justify the price tag."

Panasonic Lumix FZ72 Review

For more details have a look at our Top 10 Best Ultra Zoom Cameras 2013.

Best Serious Compact Camera

Olympus Stylus 1 - The Olympus Stylus 1 has a bright f/2.8 constant 10.7x optical zoom lens, along with an excellent 1.44million dot electronic viewfinder, and mini DSLR styling. The camera is quick, has an excellent 3inch tilting screen, built in Wi-Fi, and is great to use. The Olympus Stylus 1 is available for £550.

"The Stylus 1 offers a high quality electronic viewfinder, a bright f/2.8 10.7x optical zoom lens, and a larger than standard 12 megapixel sensor, bringing together an enjoyable camera to use, with impressive image quality for such a compact camera. It would be difficult to get a similar amount of zoom and image quality without spending more money."

Olympus Stylus 1 Review

For more details have a look at our Top 10 Best Serious Compact Cameras 2013.

Best Compact Mirrorless Camera

Panasonic Lumix GM1 - The Panasonic Lumix GM1 is a marvel of compact dimensions, offering the image quality of the GX7, it is the smallest Micro Four Thirds camera available, and one of the smallest mirrorless cameras available, yet has access to an excellent range of lenses. The Panasonic Lumix GM1 is available for £629 with lens. 

"Despite being the smallest Micro Four Thirds camera, and also being smaller than other mirrorless cameras, the Panasonic Lumix GM1 doesn't compromise on image quality or features, and delivers advanced features and options in a camera small enough to fit in your pocket even with the lens attached!"

Panasonic Lumix GM1 Review

For more details have a look at our Top 10 Best Mirrorless Cameras 2013.

Best EVF-Style Mirrorless Camera

Panasonic Lumix G6 - Panasonic like to call this the DSLM, with the M standing for Mirrorless. The cameras has a 16 megapixel sensor, 3inch vari-angle screen, Wi-Fi, 7fps continuous shooting, and built-in mic socket. Using the Micro Four Thirds lens mount there is access to a wide range of lenses. The Panasonic Lumix G6 is available for £499.

"The Panasonic Lumix G6 delivers excellent image quality even when using the kit lens that comes in the box, and as its part of the Micro Four Thirds system, there are a large number of lenses available for when you want to upgrade, from both Panasonic, Olympus and many other manufacturers."

Panasonic Lumix G6 Review

For more details have a look at our Top 10 Best DSLR Style Cameras For Beginners 2013.

Best Advanced Mirrorless Camera

Olympus OM-D E-M1

Best Innovation of 2013

Fujifilm X100s - Split Focus Screen - if you've ever used an old film SLR camera with manual focus lenses, then the way to ensure your photo was in focus was to use the split focus viewfinder and line up the image. The Fujifilm X100s (and later the Fujifilm X-E2) re-introduced this feature to digital cameras, and is an excellent way of manually focusing an image. The Fujifilm X100s is available for £899.

"The Fujifilm X100s improves quite dramatically over the Fujifilm X100, with a new 16 megapixel sensor that delivers excellent noise performance and detail in photos. The X100s gives the same familiar controls as the original X100 as well as a higher resolution electronic viewfinder, that when combined with the hybrid optical viewfinder, makes this camera a unique proposition."

Fujifilm X100s Review
Fujifilm X-E2 Review

Best DSLR Entry Level Camera

Sony Alpha A37 - For the 2nd year running the Sony Alpha A37 remains one of our top choices for an entry level Digital SLR - it's an extremely capable Digital SLR / SLT packed full of features including a tilting screen, full HD video, and it produces excellent images with bright saturated colour and very good detail, with quick focusing and great value for money. The Sony Alpha A37 is available for £299.

"The Sony Alpha A37 is an extremely capable Digital SLR / SLT that produces excellent images with bright saturated colour and very good detail. The camera may have a few short comings, and it's a shame that the high speed shooting mode is cropped to 8.4 megapixels, instead of shooting at the full resolution, however the quick focusing and excellent value for money quickly make up for this."

Sony Alpha A37 Review

For more details have a look at our Top 10 Best DSLRs For Beginners 2013.

Best DSLR Mid-range (APS-C) Camera

Pentax K-3 - The Pentax K-3 features a new 24 megapixel sensor without the AA filter giving sharper images, a new focus system, weather sealed body, 3.2inch screen, high speed 8.3fps shooting and improved features for video recording. The Pentax K-3 is available for £1099 body only.

"Pentax has been consistently producing outstanding DSLRs, well specified and rugged. The K-3 continues that tradition, but honing areas that needed attention such as the AF tracking system and the video capability. The increased resolution and the clean images it produces all set off a well-rounded package that comes very close indeed to challenging very much more expensive kit."

Pentax K-3 DSLR Review

For more details have a look at our Top 10 Best Digital SLRs 2013.

Best DSLR - Full-Frame Camera

Nikon D800 / D800E - 2nd year running - The D800 performs extremely well and Nikon have another winning camera on their hands. It is extremely desirable and image quality is stunning. The Nikon D800E offers additional IQ for those that want the highest image quality possible. The D800 is available for £1795 from Amazon UK.

"The Nikon D800 offers unprecedented resolution at an unthought of price point, packed full of features, many from the Nikon D4 that is almost twice the price. Build quality is very good, and the camera gives excellent handling with a solid metal body and weather sealing the camera should be suitable for almost any landscape or outdoors project."

Nikon D800 Digital SLR Review
Nikon D800E Digital SLR Review

For more details have a look at our Top 10 Best Digital SLRs 2013.

And ePHOTOzine's Overall Camera Of The Year 2013:

Sony Alpha 7 - The Sony Alpha 7 is the World's first full-frame mirrorless camera (excluding Digital RangeFinders), and offers the most compact full-frame camera available, with one of the lowest prices as well. The camera can be used with an adapter to use lenses from Canon, Nikon, Leica, and many others, making it an extremely appealing camera for both photography and video. With a full-frame sensor, low light performance is excellent, and the camera shows what is possible with a mirrorless camera. This is a real game-changer, and we look forward to seeing what it is capable of over the coming year as additional lenses are released. The Sony Alpha 7 is available for £1300 body only.

"The Sony Alpha 7 is a very appealing camera, offering a relatively low price, a full-frame 24 megapixel sensor, a compact body, full HD video with microphone, headphone and HDMI sockets. The camera delivers impressive image quality with the lens we've used so far, and has impressive noise performance for excellent low-light performance."

Sony Alpha 7 Review