As with the majority of IXUS / Digital ELPH cameras, the Canon IXUS 300 HS is stylishly designed with appealing rounded edges, an elongated width and a smooth-to-the-touch finish. The IXUS 300′s faceplate is an exercise in cool minimalism, its smooth surface broken only by the mirrored circular detailing of the lens surround, a small round window for the AF assist/self timer lamp above the lens, and to the right of this a narrow sliver of a window for the on-board flash. As this is positioned at the far right edge of the faceplate, it does tend to fall prey to being obscured by your fingertips when gripping the camera with both hands to take a shot. Tiny holes either side of the lens house the built in stereo microphone, with the speaker on the camera’s left flank (if viewing from the rear).
The rear of the Canon camera houses a 3-inch widescreen LCD, which has a resolution of only 230k dots. On its right are the playback button, scroll wheel which doubles as a four-way D-pad, and the menu key. You’ll notice the absence of labels for macro or flash usually mapped to the D-pad for most compacts. For the Ixus, you just have to rest your finger on the D-pad and the options will appear on the LCD. Some users may prefer physical labels, but it’s a minor tradeoff for a cleaner design.
The 10-megapixel Canon 300 HS is another step up for pocket-sized photography – a small, beautifully-designed camera with stonking image quality and a massive feature list. And, with an f/2.0 lens and maximum ISO of 3200, it promises excellent low-light performance. We’re big fans of the design. As we’ve come to expect from Canon’s glamorous Ixus line, it’s svelte, at 54mm high, and its 100mm width makes it easily pocketable.
Folder number one provides the ability to activate the digital zoom, call up grid lines or a 3:2 format ratio guide on screen, activate Canon’s exposure adjusting i-Contrast, image stabilisation modes (continuous, shoot only, active when panning, or off), plus face and blink detection. The second menu folder contains the Set Up menu, offering the chance to tweak various sound and start up options, plus format the optional but essential SD or SDHC card in use. The more experienced user can also turn off the aforementioned ‘hints and tips’ speech bubbles if they prove too much as well as manually adjust the LCD brightness or reset all settings if someone else has been playing around with the camera.
Leaving the back plate, the right hand flank of the IXUS 300 HS – if viewing it from the rear – features two covered ports, the top housing the mini-HDMI connection, the bottom a dual purpose AV out/USB connection. The base of the camera meanwhile features a standard metal screw thread for attaching it to a tripod, plus a sliding door protecting both the SD/SDHC/SDHX card port (with no internal memory to fall back on) and rechargeable lithium-ion battery. Battery life is around 250 shots from a full charge, which is adequate rather than class leading.
The Sony DSC-T2 features an eight-megapixel sensor which is coupled to an internal Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar branded 3x optical zoom lens and a 2.7-inch touch panel LCD display. The DSC-T2′s 38 to 114mm equivalent lens incorporates Sony’s Super SteadyShot optical image stabilization to minimize blur caused by camera shake at slow shutter speeds. The lens is protected by a sliding cover which nicely retracts flush with the surface of the camera body when closed, making the T2 more pocket-friendly. Other T2 features include ISO sensitivity to a maximum of ISO 3,200, a Memory Stick Duo/PRO Duo card slot plus a truly whopping 4GB of built in memory, and power from a proprietary NP-BD1 InfoLithium rechargeable battery.
The PowerShot G7 ($599) is the latest model in Canon’s flagship series of fixed-lens cameras. A year ago I was told that the PowerShot G6 would be the last in the series, which was sad, as I’ve been a fan of the G-series cameras. Then, earlier this summer, I was in for a surprise: the “G” was back, in the form of the G7.
The Canon IXUS 300 HS (also known as the SD4000 IS Digital ELPH) is a premium compact camera with some advanced features that grab the attention of any discerning photographer. These include a back-illuminated 10 megapixel CMOS sensor, a 3.8x, 28-106mm lens with a fastest aperture of f/2.0 and optical image stabiliser, 3.7 frames per second burst mode at full resolution, 720p HD movie recording with stereo sound and a HDMI port, 240fps movies, a 3 inch LCD screen, and Aperture and Shutter Priority exposure modes. Available in blasted steel silver, matt black, glossy white or high gloss red, the Canon IXUS 300 HS costs £379 / $350 / €419. 
Do you own a pair of Speedos that you love wearing simply because you can strut your well-sculpted body? Well, the company has come up with something slight different this time around, where it will not cause any disputes with international sporting bodies and at events simply because it will not break any world records. After all, we’re talking about the Aquashot camera with Speedo branding, letting you capture anything and everything that goes on underwater as long as you do not go lower than 3 feet below the surface of water. Even better is the fact that this floats on water, so you won’t need to worry about trying to retrieve it from the deep end of your pool. The Speedo Aquashot will feature a 5-megapixel sensor, 4x digital zoom, a 2.4-inch LCD display, an SD memory card slot as well as the ability to shoot VGA-quality video at 30fps. If you can stomach green and pink colors, the Speedo Aquashot can be yours for around $138.