The most important improvement of the year for compact digital cameras is image stabilization. It used to be Panasonic’s trademark but they are no longer the only one. All manufacturers now use image stabilization at least for one of their camera. For example Canon has released the first Ixus / PowerShot with image stabilization, the 800-IS / SD700. Nikon released two cameras, the Coolpix P3 and P4 which are in fact the same camera at the exception of the Wifi compatibility for the second. About surprising performances, there is the 26 mm thick Ricoh that has 7x optical zoom! Or even the 16 mm thick only Casio EX-S600. Panasonic also improved their products. Their latest FX01 has a 28 mm wide angle.

Behardware.com has tested these cameras and the following ones: Fujifilm F11, for the very good noise level management, Konica Minolta X1, the waterproof Olympus (Mju 720 SW) and Pentax (Optio W10) and Sony’s ultra flat DSC-T9.