Digicam Varieties: The taxonomy of point & shoot cameras.

Peak digicam years started in the early Aughties, say 2002 or 2003, when prices on usable ones got low enough that most consumers could justify one. They ended probably around 2011 or 2012, when cell phone cameras like the ones in the iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy SII started getting good enough for most people's simple snapshooting needs.

Before that you had your basic compact point & shoots. Everybody had one of these for taking pictures to put on MySpace or eBay or send in emails. They usually came in a few different price tiers, and sometimes manufacturers would offer a more fashion-forward line, too.

Then there were the travel zooms, similar to your basic compact in size and form factor, but generally offering longer zoom lenses.

Enthusiast or Luxury compacts had optical viewfinders, manual modes, and allowed for shooting RAW. They usually had physically larger sensors, too.

Adventure cameras were like your basic compact in terms of functionality, but came in ruggedized, waterproof outer shells.

Bridge cameras tended to be almost the size and shape of small DSLRs, with the same array of manual modes available, and usually had extremely long zoom lenses, to make up for not having interchangeable glass.

Nowadays these are mostly all gone except a smattering of Adventure and Bridge cameras, with a few Enthusast compacts that mostly cater to the hipster street photography market.

Cell phones have eaten the rest.

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