The main thing to consider before buying any camera is if you’ll actually use it. No, seriously. All modern phones take decent pictures and video, and the better phones can take excellent wide-angle and close-up images. The cameras on this list, with the exception of the Ricoh, might be able to take different pictures compared to your phone, but not necessarily “better.”
For instance, the Nikon P1100 has an incredible zoom, so you can capture closeups of faces from the cheap seats, but the images themselves won’t have the detail and sharpness of a good phone camera. However, that phone would need to be significantly closer to the subject to get the same close-up.
The Ricoh, with its excellent lens and big image sensor, can capture better photos than a phone camera. That’s the kind of money you’ll need to spend to get that step up in quality, however.
