July 4th is this weekend! Have you gotten your camera ready? If you’re planning to dart out there today or tomorrow and get a new camera, take it easy and do some reading up first (so you don’t regret your purchase decision). Here are four cameras you may want to consider:

Ultra-compact camera – Canon PowerShot SD780 IS Digital ELPH aka Digital IXUS 100 IS

A tiny camera that will fit easily even into your back pocket. The Canon SD780 Digital ELPH packs 12 megapixels of resolution, HD video recording capabilities and most importantly, very good low-light performance. You could take quality photos at full-resolution up till ISO 800 in bright light, ISO 400 in low-light and there are fireworks and long shutter modes at your disposal. Just remember to keep long fingernails so you can operate the mode switch more easily in time for the July 4th weekend and bear with the fact that there aren’t any other manual controls on the camera besides long shutter speed.

Read the full review of the Canon SD780…

Rugged camera – Panasonic Lumix TS1 aka Lumix FT1

Worried that you might drop your camera while fumbling with your tripod or while you’re partying away? Whether the Lumix TS1 falls onto the floor or into your glass of martini, it doesn’t matter – because this waterproof, shockproof and freezeproof camera will take anything your throw at it. Oh, to top things off, the Lumix TS1 is currently the most feature-packed rugged camera in the market and performs well in terms of movie recording, battery life, speed and image quality.

For low-light shooting, there are a variety of scene modes (but no manual controls) to choose from and the camera has a face recognition feature which can pick up the faces/names of your best buddies in the club. Be sure to change the video codec setting to MOV if you hate decoding AVCHD Lite files and be prepared to do some processing if the camera’s redeye removal system misses any redeye in your shots.

Read the full review of the Panasonic TS1…

Compact camera – Fujifilm FinePix F200 EXR

The FinePix F200 EXR is the undisputed leader when it comes to low-light on compact cameras. The camera has 12 megapixels of resolution, a 5X lens with image stabilization and 3 inch LCD. It also packs various high sensitivity settings and has more than usable image quality up to ISO 800, higher if you’re willing to use the camera’s “downsize images at high ISO” mode.

The FinePix F200 has a full-fledged face detection system and support for both xD and SD/SDHC cards. Only thing is, the F200’s VGA movie mode feels so two thousand and late, and with its below average battery life, you might just need an extra battery if you’re gonna be taking lots of pictures (especially if you’ll be using the flash).

Super-zoom camera – Canon PowerShot SX10 IS

Plenty of optical zoom with fast and silent operation, full manual controls and 10 megapixels of resolution, the Canon PowerShot SX10 IS is a great candidate for all kinds of shooting (there’s even a hotshoe for external flash attachments). The SX10’s flip-out and rotate screen comes in handy when pointing the camera upwards into the sky (Fireworks) so you don’t have to physically squat down just to peer at the LCD image.

The Canon SX10 is an all-rounder big zoom camera that’s more versatile than the ‘CCD’ competition and more affordable than CMOS super-zooms (ie Canon SX1 and Sony HX1). The only things the camera lacks are a HD option in movie mode, RAW image mode and you have to shell out extra for rechargeable batteries.

Read the full review of the Panasonic TS1…

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