point-and-shoot camera

A film or digital camera in which the focus and exposure is entirely automatic. The user aims the camera and presses the button; the camera does the rest. Point-and-shoot cameras can range from cheap throw-aways to pocket-sized digitals. Even high-end cameras have a point-and-shoot option, in which the camera makes all settings automatically. Although there may be settings for different lighting conditions such as bright sun vs. dusk, point-and-shoot cameras have no options to manually set the aperture, shutter speed and focus. See PhD mode, viewfinder, DSLR and smartphone camera.

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References in periodicals archive

Be careful: many point-and-shoot cameras have both optical and digital zoom.

Point & shoot the sky: just because you don't own a high-end camera doesn't mean you can't take great astrophotos

While small digital point-and-shoot cameras may not have as many features as their high-end DSLR cousins, such as 16-bit RAW format capacity, noise reduction, and long-exposure modes, they enjoy some highly desirable features unavailable in DSLRs.

Digicam astrophotography: although digital SLR cameras are making headlines, you can still do great astrophotography with simple digital cameras

If you're already carrying a smartphone, there are many point-and-shoot cameras and consumer DSLRs with built-in Wi-Fi that can send pictures to your phone.

Hybrid device like a smartphone -- without the phone; Samsung Galaxy camera

The buttons are placed exactly the same way they are in almost every single Canon point-and-shoot camera, so if you've ever used one of Canon's cameras, you'd know almost immediately where everything is.

Canon Powershot SX160 IS

I'm not sure whether the Samsung Galaxy Camera will be a best seller - it's a lot of expensive tech for a point-and-shoot camera category where people are used to prices under $300.

Shooting with the Samsung Galaxy Camera

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