Choosing a camera for mum

If your mum's like mine, she adores her photos; framed photos of the grandkids are dotted around the house, family portraits hang on the walls and there's a cupboard in her room full of old albums.

Any camera you choose for her needs to be small, smart and, unless your mother is particularly tech-savvy, it needs to be really easy to use.

A style-conscious mother will appreciate a flashy little camera - something she can proudly show off to family and friends. You're sure to find plenty of models to choose from, most available in a variety of pretty pastel colours.

However, these cameras don't sit at the budget end of the spectrum. If you want something compact and lightweight, expect to pay between $250 and $400. This will buy you a camera that weighs little over 100 grams, so mum can slip it into her handbag and forget she's even carrying it.

One thing to look out for on a compact camera is the size of the buttons and dials. These can be positively minuscule, making it cumbersome to change camera settings and navigate menus. If your mother has arthritis or other issues with her hands and fingers, tiny little buttons can become a nightmare and render the camera next to useless. Try the buttons yourself before you buy. Look for buttons that are slightly raised and spaced far enough apart that you're not accidentally mashing more than one at a time. Also look for intuitive button placement; the power button on one camera in this round-up was placed so close to the shutter button that we inadvertently switched the camera off while trying to take a photo.

Mums with problem eyes could benefit from a camera with a bright, good-quality LCD, preferably one with an anti-reflective coating. Most compact cameras don't have viewfinders, so you'll need to frame your photo on the screen. LCD screens that are 2.7 inches (diagonally) are generally enough for a good image and for comfortably reading the on-screen menus.

If mum's not too steady with her hands, look for a camera with an optical image stabiliser to help prevent blurry shots due to camera shake.

All the cameras we tested here are eight-megapixel models. Generally the more pixels, the more detail the camera can capture. Eight-megapixel models should have no problems producing images that can be enlarged to at least A4 size without looking grainy.

Zooms are another important consideration - the bigger the zoom factor on your camera, the closer you can get to your subject. Compact cameras typically come with a 3x optical zoom, though the slightly chunkier FinePix J50 comes with a powerful 5x zoom.

Most mums aren't interested in fiddling about with camera settings - at least not when their main aim is taking family photos, so look for a camera with a good selection of auto shooting modes. On auto, the camera decides on the best focus, shutter speed and lighting for each shot. Many cameras now offer a range of preset modes including night mode, portrait mode and landscape mode. Setting the camera to landscape mode, for example, should set the focal length to better capture long-distance shots and switch the flash off to make the most of a scene's natural lighting.

Make sure the various auto modes, along with important settings such as flash controls and video mode, are easy to select and aren't buried deep inside a menu.

Finally, look out for any special offers as Mother's Day approaches. We've seen stores bundle attractive camera bags with cameras in the lead-up to Mother's Day and one manufacturer is now offering a free makeover and photo shoot for mum with every camera purchase.