Focal Points

I'm about six months behind on getting my wife a birthday present.

OK, I did get her some flowers and took her out to dinner. So I'm not a complete jerk.

But the main present I planned to give her was a digital camera. Instead, I gave her a rain check.

I had my reasons. I hadn't done enough research, for one. Also, I knew a whole new crop of cameras would start hitting the shelves about a month or two after her birthday. Gadget freak that I am, I was eager to see and test out what was in store.

My wife and I already own one digital camera, one of the early "prosumer" cameras. But it's heavy, a bit slow and, at about 4 years old, getting outdated.

We also have a 2-year-old son who is our frequent subject, so I wanted to find a camera that my wife and I could take with us on our family outings and be able to manage when one of us ended up inevitably carrying our son as well.

So I was looking for something new, something much lighter and smaller than my old camera, and preferably one that could take higher-quality pictures more quickly. As a bonus, I was hoping to find a camera that allowed for manual exposure of pictures, or at least some advanced shooting modes, so that my wife -- who has studied photojournalism -- could have more control over the photos she took.

Fortunately, there are a bunch of cameras out there that meet these criteria. And sure enough, camera makers unveiled a new batch of them earlier this year.

So a couple months, six test cameras and about a thousand pictures later, I'm finally ready to make the purchase. But I've got to say that even now it's going to be a tough choice; either of the cameras I liked best (read on) would make the perfect gift.

The Full Exposure

The models I compared were Casio's Exilim EX-Z850, Sony's DSC-W100, Hewlett-Packard's Photosmart R927, Pentax's Optio A10, Olympus' Stylus 810 and Nikon's Coolpix P4.

These six are the top of the line when it comes to compact digital cameras: They all have 8-megapixel sensors or better, weigh less than half a pound (even with batteries), have telescoping lenses and could easily fit in a shirt pocket.

	Sony DSC-W100

Those similarities aside, the offerings from Casio and Sony clearly stood out from the rest. Indeed, I liked these two so much that I shot infinitely more pictures with them than any of the other cameras that I tested out -- they were just more fun to play with.

Part of that had to do with speed: Both cameras were extremely fast at taking pictures.

Famous photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson talked about the ideal in photography of capturing "the moment." Let me tell you, when you have an energetic 2-year-old, that moment goes by very quickly: A major frustration with my sluggish old digital camera can be seen in my large gallery of blurry pictures.

	Casio Exilim EX-Z850

I generally didn't have that problem with either the Casio or the Sony. In fact, I got some nice action pictures with the Casio of my son riding a merry-go-round, and the Sony took some great shots of my wife and son spinning in circles on the beach (a favorite activity).

The only instance in which speed became an issue with either camera was in very low light. In those situations, the DSC-W100, like other Sony cameras, relies on laser technology to get the proper focus. While that helps prevent out-of-focus shots, it takes long enough -- sometimes a second or more -- that you can miss some shots.

Both cameras were also easy to use and customize -- which should be a no-brainer with point-and-shoot cameras, but it wasn't always, such as with the H-P camera I tested.

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