A pocket camera with many eyes

The best digital cameras today are SLRs (single-lens reflex cameras), which use a movable mirror to guide the same light rays that fall on the sensor into the viewfinder. These cameras normally have precisely ground glass lenses and large, high-quality image sensors. In the right hands, they can shoot amazing pictures, with brilliant colors and pleasing lighting effects, often showing a crisply focused subject and an aesthetically blurred background. But these cameras are big, heavy, and expensive: A good digital SLR (DSLR) with a decent set of lenses–including a standard 50 mm, a wide angle, and a telephoto, for example–can easily set you back thousands of dollars.