Pocket digital cameras are ubiquitous. You probably already own one – you know, one of those little plastic wonders that fits in a shirt pocket and can detect when someone is smiling or not. (I'm waiting forfrowndetectors to be introduced – just the thing for the photographic curmudgeon.) You also probably have a small camera built into your cell phone, your MP3 player, or your GPS. Let's face it, little digital cameras areeverywhere!

For all my apparent cynicism, such cameras can be fun to have and use, for family snapshots and those unexpected moments – such as documenting a fender bender. But useful as they are, these cameras don't often offer the serious photographer the controls, features, and image quality that they need and want.

What are these? My criteria for a usable pocket camera includes...

– small size combined with handholdability

– availability of raw mode

– availability of manual focus

– a high quality le...