Digital Camera HQ's 2008 Holiday Gift Guide: Best Ultracompacts

Cameras keep getting smaller and smaller while their feature sets get bigger and bigger. This year's batch of ultracompact cameras is pushing the envelope with more megapixels, more power, more of everything. If you're looking to find the perfect holiday gift for a loved one (or as a treat for yourself), these sleek beauties are sure to incite plenty of excited screaming once the gift wrap is torn away.

Outfitted With 14.3 Megapixels Panasonic FX150 from $293.95	The Panasonic FX150 was the first 14.7-megapixel digital camera announced this season, but it wasn't content to rest on that staggering number and give the competition a chance to steal the spotlight. The FX150 also features a high-definition movie mode that records video in 720p. These clips are made especially for viewing on your home HDTV. Also, this camera has a manual mode, giving users access to advanced settings like shutter speed for greater control, while also including no-brainer automatic functions like Intelligent Auto mode and Face Detection Auto Focus when you just want to point and shoot. The FX150 is a versatile, dynamic camera, ready to take on all comers.
Canon's Flagship Ultracompact Canon SD990 IS from $299.88	The SD990 IS is Canon's flagship digital camera this holiday season, leading off with the tremendous 14.7 megapixel sensor that can yield photo-quality poster prints and extraordinarily detailed digital photos. It may not have the flashy accents of the FX150, but the SD990 IS is an excellent approachable ultracompact camera, perfect for casual or novice photographers interested in taking great photographs without having to fuss with confusing settings or extraneous features. Style is a major point in the SD990's favor: its curvaceous body is quite eye catching, and it's the first Canon ultracompact available in jet black.
Touchscreen, 5x Optical Zoom Sony T77 from $259.95	Sony's Cybershot T77 may not have the extra pixels of the previous two cameras (the 10 megapixel sensor is more than enough for just about everybody), but it does beat them when it comes to one important factor: size. The Sony T77 is only 0.62 inches thick, compared to 1-inch thick for the FX150 and 1.1-inches thick for the SD990. Additionally, it has the longest-range zoom of these ultracompacts, an astounding 5x optical zoom lens. How they fit it in this tiny body is anybody's guess. The T77 also takes time to throw in some innovation, as well, with a 3.0-inch widescreen, touchscreen LCD display spanning the back of the camera. Available in a variety of attention-grabbing colors, the T77 is a forward-thinking digital camera with lots of pop.