Not all point-and-shoot digital cameras can live up to the scrutiny of a DSLR-toting pro, but an often gets the nod as a pro shooter's secondary, more-portable camera. These cameras have manual controls for setting the aperture, shutter, and ISO, letting you fine-tune your shot more granularly than you can with a basic point-and-shoot.

Their lenses also tend to have wider maximum apertures than most fixed-lens cameras, meaning that you can shoot at faster shutter speeds, get good shots in low light, and achieve shallow depth-of-field effects to give macro shots and portraits a more artistic look. Although you don't get the zoom range of a pocket megazoom, image quality is often better; you don't end up with the distortion you sometimes see with a high-zoom lens.

Strengths: Immune to drops, water, freezing, and sand

Weaknesses: Usually has fewer features than a standard point-and-shoot camera; sometimes has subpar image quality