Our new Best Buy, the Canon PowerShot G6, gives you lots of advanced features such as aperture-priority and shutter-priority settings. If you want the ultimate in camera control, though, consider an SLR like Canon's EOS 20D or Nikon's D70.

Cameras for Serious Shooters

Both the Canon EOS 20D (left), a digital SLR, and the Olympus C-8080 Wide Zoom, an advanced point and shoot, include lots of controls.

If photography means more to you than family mug shots and vacation snaps, a new digital camera is a significant investment--not only in dollars, but in the time required to find the model that best matches your photographic talents and needs. Fortunately, with the recent arrival of consumer digital SLRs and fixed-lens advanced cameras with 8-megapixel resolutions, 10X zoom lenses, and loads of professional controls, your choices have never been better.

We tested three new models this month: one fixed-lens camera from Canon, the PowerShot G6; and two digital single-lens reflex units, or SLRs, the Canon EOS 20D and the Nikon D70. All three newcomers deliver excellent images and offer a wealth of creative controls for experienced photographers, but they satisfy very different needs. We also got an early taste of two new 8-megapixel Nikon cameras: the Coolpix 8400 and the Coolpix 8800.

(Go to story: "Powerful Cameras for Serious Shooters.")