This year we’ve seen a flurry of ultra-compact cameras with 10x zoom lenses and Wi-Fi. The Canon Ixus 255 HS is our favourite – it also happens to offer the best image quality we’ve ever seen from an ultra-compact camera. It costs around £200, but if that’s beyond your budget, the Ixus 140 might be a better fit.

Its 8x zoom is a little smaller, with slightly less extension at both the wide-angle and telephoto ends of the zoom range. Battery life is down, too. 190 shots is worryingly low, especially as use of the Wi-Fi functions will take an added toll on the battery.

It looks just as smart with its slim, curvy body and 3in screen. It was only when we picked it up that we realised it's made from plastic rather than its pricier sibling's metal shell. On the upside, it's a few grams lighter and 2mm slimmer.

Their controls and menus are identical, including the same set of Wi-Fi functions. It offers straightforward browsing and transfers in the accompanying iOS and Android apps, and can also transfer to desktop PCs across a home network. There’s no option to operate the camera remotely from a smartphone app, though – a common feature among other Wi-Fi cameras.

Videos are limited to 720p resolution, and the same 10-minute clip length applies. There are lots of cameras at this price that can record 1080p for 20 minutes or more. It's a shame because, in most other respects, the video mode worked well in our tests. The focus, exposure and white balance reacted smoothly to changing lighting and moving subjects, and colour reproduction was excellent.

The Ixus 140 uses Canon’s older Digic 4 processor rather than the Ixus 255 HS’s newer Digic 5 chip. This took its toll on performance, with 2.5 seconds between shots. It’s not a disastrous result but it’ll be frustrating for people who like to capture a quick string of shots to make sure they get one without camera shake or people blinking. Continuous mode ran at 0.7fps, which equates to a shot every 1.4 seconds. The Sony WX200 is faster than this in its normal shooting mode, and its continuous mode runs at 10fps.