(CNN) — That mobile phone in your pocket takes pretty decent photos, so no need to get a separate camera for your travels, right?
Actually, wrong. The latest point-and-shoot cameras are still smarter than smartphones and have loads of fun options and easy-to-use settings good for amateurs and pros traveling light. And most can now wirelessly pair with your phone to get those snaps out quick on social media.
But how easy are they to get to grips with, given that no one wants to spend their vacation with their nose in the manual, bamboozled by jargon?
I played with each of these cameras for a week to create reviews based on how easy it is to learn to use them quickly. For comparison, I put them through the same tests in the same spots.
These include: Wide angle and zoom shots around the Houses of Parliament in London. Detail shots of a decorative London doorknob. Program-mode shots of a horse guard to test the camera's "quick-draw" skills. A face shot in portrait mode. Silhouette shots by Big Ben to test backlighting. A photo of a girl looking at a computer and a city nightscape to test low-light capabilities. A uniqueness test of special features.
And, of course, a selfie test.
Check out the galleries to compare how the photos turned out. We've not done any editing or toning, just cropped them to fit CNN's format. There's also some loss of quality caused by optimizing them for the Internet.
We'll add more soon, but here are six of the best travel cameras available right now:
Fujifilm X-A10
Wide shot: The Fujifilm X-A10 comes with an interchangeable lens. The 16-50mm standard lens is fine for wide shots, but not great for tight zooms.
Standout features on this mirrorless digital include multiple exposures, the ability to shoot huge RAW images, and selective color that makes one shade pop out in a black-and-white photo.
There are advanced filters (including Toy Camera, Pop Color, Soft Focus) and advanced settings (Sunset, Party, Snow, Flower and Text), plus film simulation modes and panorama. For the old-school photographers, you can also set the camera to simulate your favorite type of 35mm Fuji film, such as Provia or Velvia.
The camera comes with a top-quality interchangeable 16-50mm lens that needs to be swapped if you want to zoom beyond its focal length. That meant I couldn't zoom in tightly on Big Ben. You could do this with the interchangeable 50-200mm lens, which costs a couple of hundred dollars more.
Selfies are easy with the 180-degree tilting screen. There's also a smile-detection function that shoots when it recognizes a beaming face (but also seems to capture exaggerated frowns).
The Fuji's Program mode tended to slightly overexpose, but nothing that couldn't be fixed in post-editing. Night mode paired with advanced anti-blur created a super-sharp and colorful evening city scene. Intricate detail, or macro,...
Read More: 6 best travel cameras in 2017