Holiday Gift Guide 2008: The best digital cameras under $200
Okay, let’s get real. A lot of us are just not going to be ready, willing or able to plunk down $500 on a digital camera this holiday season, no matter how much we adore our gift recipients. So for the rest of us, here’s a list of my favorite digital cameras for under $200.
Canon PowerShot SD1100 ISCanon PowerShot SD1100 IS
I’ve always been a big fan of Canon’s Digital Elph point-and-shoots and though this isn’t my favorite of the Canon models, it’s hard to beat the SD1100 IS’s image quality at this price. It’s an 8.3-megapixel model and serves up a 3x optical zoom lens (38-114mm equivalent f/2.8-4.9), optical image stabilization (as with all the Canons that include IS in their names), face detection, an optical viewfinder, and a 2.5-inch LCD.
The SD 1100 IS can detect up to nine faces in a scene and use them to set exposure and focus. It uses face detection to remove red-eye automatically as you’re shooting and to calculate white balance for better skin tones. It can even let you choose a specific face in a scene to track as it moves around the scene you’re shooting. Canon’s Motion Detection Technology also uses face detection to determine if your subject is moving and adjusts settings to prevent motion blur.
Top that with relatively fast performance and minimal shutter lag (not to mention five metallic colors to choose from) and you’ve got a super deal that anyone would be pleased to find under the tree.
Janice Chen Zdnet
