If you’re shopping for a digital camera, chances are it isn’t your first. And if you’re like many camera buyers, you’re looking for a top rated digital camera model that addresses the biggest gripes about your current digital camera. The five beefs we cite were distilled from 13,000 responses from Consumer Reports readers to an online survey.

Many new point-and-shoot cameras--compact digital camera models and the growing crop of pocket-sized subcompacts--have made progress on problems including sluggish shooting and profligate power consumption.

SLRs, the digital descendants of single-lens-reflex film cameras, avoid those and other problems we flag. But don’t join the SLR stampede too quickly. There’s no escaping the convenience of pocket-sized subcompacts, the sports cars of cameras, or the value and versatility you’ll find in midsized compacts--akin to the family sedans of photography.

Whatever you’re seeking, you’ll find help in our point-and-shoot and SLR digital camera Ratings (available to subscribers) of more than 70 models and of photo software, SLR lenses, and some camera phones.