New digital camera Ratings: projecting point-and-shoots, 3D panoramas

With the holiday shopping season in full swing, you may be hunting for a new digital camera for someone in your family, a friend, or even yourself. To help you find just the right model, we've updated our Ratings with more than a dozen new point-and-shoots and more than half a dozen new advanced cameras. Here are some standouts:

Two projecting point-and-shoots. Some of the new cameras in our Ratings include unique features you won't find on other cameras. For example, two subcompacts—the new, but pricey Nikon Coolpix S1100pj, $350, and its predecessor, the Nikon Coolpix S1000pj, $200—capture photos and video like any other camera but can also project an image or video on just about any flat surface. The newer S1100pj projects a brighter image, can shoot HD video, and includes a higher resolution display.

Basic models with 3D features. Want to shoot your holiday decorations in 3D? Two basic subcompacts in our Ratings—the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX5, $300, and the Cyber-shot DSC-TX9, $400—feature a 3D Sweep Panorama mode, which creates a 3D panorama. To view these panoramic photos in 3D, you'll need an HDMI cable connected to a 3D-enabled HDTV.

Choosing an advanced point-and-shoot or SLR-like camera. Our update to our advanced camera Ratings includes three SLR-like models, one from Olympus and two from Sony. We've written quite a bit about the two Sonys, the NEX-3, $600, and NEX-5, $800, in part because they've packed a lot of features (including the same 3D Sweep Panorama mode found in the Cyber-shots mentioned above) into a slim camera body at a decent price.

If spending more than $500 is beyond your budget, though, consider two advanced point-and-shoots we've just added: the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ100, $400, and Lumix DMC-LX5, $450. Both include hot-shoes and can capture RAW files, though neither accepts interchangeable lenses, as an SLR-like does. Both have wide-angle capability, but the FZ100 also has a very long, 24x optical zoom.

You can check out how well the latest models fared on our Ratings pages (available to subscribers).

—Terry Sullivan