The 6 Best Touchscreen Cameras to Buy in 2017

Even when you set the touchscreen LCD aside, the Canon EOS Rebel SL1 is one of the best DSLR cameras you’ll find at the $500 price point. It’s a time-tested shooter ideal for intermediates and novices looking to enter the world of interchangeable lenses — and it’s got the specs to back it. It’s got an 18-megapixel CMOS sensor, 4 fps continuous shooting, a 9-point autofocus (AF) system, and an ISO range of 100-12,800 (expandable to 25,600), allowing you to shoot in a range of lighting conditions. It also shoots Full HD (1080p) video, has a number of helpful shooting modes and options, and, of course, features a 3-inch touch panel LCD screen.

Ever the competitor with Canon, Nikon’s D5600 is a slightly beefier version of the EOS Rebel SL1. It’s a bit more expensive, but it offers a bit more power and versatility at the same time. For example, the 24.2-megapixel DX-format CMOS is a full 6.2 megapixels larger than the SL1 (but sensor size is not a perfect indicator of quality). The D5600 also has a more robust 39-point autofocus (AF) system, a larger ISO range (100 - 25,600), 5 fps continuous shooting, Full HD (1080p) video recording and built-in WiFi for quick and easy photo sharing. The touch LCD swivels and articulates left, right, up and down, and can also face the camera’s subject for video monitoring.

Samsung has always been the camera brand associated with phone-friendly interfaces. Its background in mobile tech has allowed it to perfect a seamless, social media savvy camera ecosystem with the familiarity and usability of a smartphone or tablet. The Samsung NX mini perfectly encapsulates this hybrid phone-camera design. It features a 20.5-megapixel BSI CMOS sensor with the option of either a 9mm prime lens or a 9-27mm zoom lens. It records Full HD (1080p) video, and features Samsung’s full suite of connectivity options and standards, including built-in WiFi and NFC. The effect of this is a highly intuitive camera system that allows you to quickly and easily share your photos to social media, or to other devices for storage. It’s slim, lightweight and designed for the mobile generation. It may not have the top performance specs you’d expect from a Canon, Nikon or Fuji device, but you can still expect plenty decent images to emerge from it.

If you like what you see in the Nikon DL, but you're turned off by the price, you may want to check out the Panasonic LUMIX DMC-FZ300K. This thing features a lot of the same high-end specs (though not all) for a significantly lower price. The FZ300K features a (somewhat middling) 12.1-megapixel CMOS sensor with a fixed 25-600mm and a full-range (f/2.8) Leica lens capable of an optical zoom range up to 24x. That’s slightly more than the 21x, 24-500mm Nikon DL. The FZ300K also shoots UHD (4K) video. It has a 5 Axis Hybrid Optical Image Stabilization system, a splash- and dust-proof weather resistant body, an improved autofocus (AF) system, WiFi connectivity, an OLED live view finder (LVF), a three-inch free-angle, touch LCD, RAW shooting and a slew of features and shooting modes.

If you’re looking to spend about as much as the Panasonic FZ300K, but prefer something a bit more compact, you may want to look into the Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark II. The G7 X Mark II is in many ways a step up for the compact point-and-shoot category. It features a high-sensitivity, 1-inch, 20.1-megapixel CMOS sensor with Canon’s DIGIC 7 image processor. The 24-100mm (35mm equivalent) features an optical zoom range of up to 4.2, which isn’t much, but this is a camera designed for hand-held close-up shooting. It also features a 3.0-inch tilting touchscreen LCD with a high-speed autofocus (AF) system with an impressive 31 focus points. It records Full HD (1080p) video, has a modifiable control ring for enhanced optimization, and built-in WiFi and NFC for quick and easy photo sharing. This is an impressive addition to Canon’s already substantial family of high-end point-and-shoots.

Design is a highly subjective consideration that may apply to aesthetics as much as feature sets and product handling. Among the top brands in the world of digital photography, Fujifilm always seems to be encompassing the full scope of that field, and its X70 fixed lens point-and-shoot is a case in point. This impressive little shooter features a 16.3-megapixel APS-C sized X-Trans II sensor, a brand new 18.5mm (28mm equivalent) f/2.8 wide-angle fixed prime lens, and six types of high-speed, high-precision autofocus (AF) modes. It’s also got an exposure control and aperture ring. Right off the bat, these specs point to a camera with an advanced level of personalized control, particularly for a fixed lens device. It also features Fujifilm’s proprietary "film simulation” tech, RAW shooting modes, an ISO range of 200-6,400 (extended to 100-51,200) and WiFI connectivity for easy sharing. It also looks great, featuring a classic metal frame, milled aluminum and a highly intuitive interface with a 180-degree titling LCD.