Sony puts the compact back into compact cameras with their 10.1 megapixel Cyber-Shot W180. It weighs a mere 118 g and easily fits in the palm of your hand (and we’re not talking about Bakkies Botha’s). If you look at the features on the camera, you are left in little doubt that it is squarely designed for first time photographers. With no fancy shooting modes apart from a macro that can be enabled, the W180 is about as point-and-shoot as point-and-shoot can be.

A number of features make shooting with the W180 a breeze. The SteadyShot image stabilisation helps with decent shots even in bad light, while the W180 includes face-detection that helps with focusing and exposure of your subjects.

For us though the stand out feature, and conversation starter, was Smile Shutter. The camera only snaps when it detects a smile, and we must say it works fairly well. You can even set its smile sensitivity down from a fair grin (SABC comedies) up to a full set of teeth (the Boks lifting the World Cup). After snapping with the W180 round the office it was excellent to see all smiley faces on the replay.

The Sony Cyber-Shot W180 has a RRP of R1699.