Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZR1

The ZR1 is a genuine engineering feat disguised as a simple point-and-shoot. Panasonic built the world's first 0.3mm aspherical lens element to fit an 8x Leica-branded zoom into a body barely thicker than a credit card, and the result still feels unusual to hold — a proper long lens in a body with no business containing one. Colour comes through with Panasonic's characteristic Leica-influenced rendering: cooler and more restrained than Canon's warmth, with good contrast and accurate skin tones rather than heavy saturation. The 12-megapixel CCD keeps grain manageable in daylight, with the expected softening as ISO climbs, typical of the format. The 25mm wide end is genuinely wide for 2009, and the reach to 200mm — extendable further with Extra Optical Zoom — gives this camera more flexibility than most compacts of its generation. POWER O.I.S. earns its name too; the stabilisation is noticeably more effective than the standard optical stabilisation found on competing compacts, making the telephoto end properly usable handheld. A 1.1-second startup time is fast even by today's standards, let alone 2009's. For anyone who wants genuine zoom range and Leica-adjacent colour in a body that barely registers in a pocket, the ZR1 remains an unusually capable little camera.