8 new ones from Nikon

Let's start at the top.

New to the "performance" range is the P5000. You get 10 million pixels, vibration reduction and ISO 3200 which should give you sparkling shots in anything short of total darkness. The vibration reduction system is quite clever. It has "optical lens shift VR" (that's proper VR to you and me) and it also activates high ISO and Nikon's best shot selection. This lets you shoot up to 10 frames and have camera automatically select the sharpest as if by magic.

Something that will interest the more creative photographer is the hot shoe with full support for Nikon's i-TTL system for the SB-400, SB-600 and SB-800. Unfortunately it doesn't look like the camera supports the creative lighting system which would allow use of multiple wireless flash guns and is found on most of Nikon's DSLR range.

It's great to see an optical viewfinder on the camera too. The P5000 is on the chunky side for a compact but there are few compacts with an optical viewfinder at the moment. There's also this season's must have gadget - face recognition. Or Face Priority AF as Nikon like to call it.

Available end of March, RRP £330.

In Nikon speak, "L" stands for "Life" and the L series is designed as a "lifestyle" camera - small and shiny but getting great results no matter where you take it. Parties and holidays if the adverts are to be believed.

The L12 gets you 7.1 million pixels, VR and up to ISO 1600. So presumably if you go to really dark parties you may prefer the P range. There's also a handy "one touch portrait" button which engages face detection, red eye reduction and Nikon's D-lighting system which should give great people pictures. The LCD is a healthy 2.5 inches so you should be able to see what you're doing.

The slightly chunky handgrip gives away one of the under the bonnet secrets - the L12 takes AA batteries which should mean you can find replacement batteries anywhere from Ibiza to Falaraki. Though take our tip and run it on NiMH rechargeables and you'll save a bundle.

Available beginning of April, RRP £150.

Spot the difference time. The L10 to the left may look exactly like the L12 above. Look hard and you'll see that the focus assist light and microphone have moved a bit. What you won't see is that it looks exactly the same as the L11. In fact it's so similar that Nikon only supply one picture. Think of them both as detuned L12s. The L10 has a 2 inch LCD and a modest 5 million pixels, the L11 beefs it up to a 2.4 inch LCD and 6 million pixels.

Other than that they are pretty similar to the L12 except that you don't get VR and the ISO only goes up to ISO 800. They even take AAs. The £150ish market is extremely competitive at the moment but if the RRPs are good guidelines then on paper our tip would be to forget the L10 and L11 and spend an extra £20 on the L12.

Both available from the end of February, RRP of the L11 is £130 and the L10 is "TBC". My guess is that they will try to sneak it in for a street price of £99.

And now it's time for the special editions. The picture on the right is again not one but 2 cameras. The S50c will be exclusive to Amazon and the S50 will only be sold through "DSG International" - Dixons, Currys etc. All things being equal I'd buy the one from Amazon. It's the exact same camera as the S50 but with built in Wi-Fi. Apparently this opens up a world of new possibilities. Presumably the same ones as the Wi-Fi equipped S6. As long as you have Wi-Fi internet access you can snap away and upload your pictures to the web. You can automatically email your mates to tell them you have new snaps too.

Apart from all that, when you think of the S range think "style". Slim and stylish with the back dominated by a huge 3 inch LCD screen and a cool rotary multi selector (err, "dial"). You can also get the S50/S50c in a bunch of colours - gloss silver for the S50c; gloss silver, matte black and (bizarrely) gloss beige for the S50.

Of course you also get 7million pixels, VR and face detection and a small Lithium Ion battery to keep the camera nice and small.

No clues on when you can get them or how much - I'd guess Spring time for £300ish.

Imagine taking an S50 (the one without Wi-Fi) and making it slightly less gorgeous. That's pretty well the S500. None of your fancy colours, just a 2.5 inch screen and slightly boxier. Under the bonnet it has many of the same toys - 7.2MP, ISO 2000, VR, one touch portrait, face detection etc.

There's a similar rotary multi selector and Nikon are also making a big deal of their improved graphic interface. This should make it even easier to ignore the 15 scene modes which most people don't use anyway. There's a handy help button and a choice of 20 languages.

Available end of March, RRP £250.

Curvier and sexier than the S500 is the S200. From its model number and price this is clearly designed to be a step down from the S500 ut the S200 would be our pick of the new "S" models. 18.5 mm thick and made of aluminium - it will go in your pocket and look great every time you want to take a snap.

7.1MP (like you're really going to miss the 0.1 more than the S500 gives you) and only 1000 ISO with a 2.5 inch screen. You still get VR, face detection, portrait mode and all the other good stuff from the rest of the range. However, you should know that the VR in the S200 is electronic VR rather than the big boys lens shift of the S500. If this bothers you (and tests show lens shift VR to be superior) or you need higher ISO then you may find the S500 a better buy.

Available end of March, RRP £200.

And just for fun, here's a comparison with my old faithful Coolpix 900.

The 900 had an amazing 1.3 million pixel CCD (so about the same as a mid range phone). ISO was fixed at 64. There was no VR and it used an optical viewfinder to spare some of the drain on the 4 AAs that powered it. I don't remember what I paid for it but I'll bet it was the heavyweight contender in the £250 - £300 market. It came complete with a 4MB card - my only real regret about it was that I didn't get the "s" edition which came with a whopping 8MB card and a free copy of Duke Nukem.

For real nostalgia geeks, on the right is the first Coolpix camera - the Coolpix 100 from 1997. 0.3 MP (actually they called it "330,000 pixel" - mega pixels hadn't been invented). It had a fixed 52mm equivalent lens, took 4 AA batteries, has a 1MB memory and no option to add any more memory. You had to plug the whole camera into an ATA slot on your computer to get at the files.

Yep, Nikon have come on a little in the past 10 years.