Digital cameras were the #1 requested electronics gift for the 2006 holiday season, and I guess they’ll still be hot items this year.

I was thinking about the one I own. It’s been about exactly two years since I got my first digicam for myself. Out of all the available digital cameras at the time, I decided on the Canon PowerShot A410.

I’d say I’m still pretty satisfied with this model. The main reasons I got it were because of:

* the economical price
* its compactness (it’s not as slim as some of the current ones, but it was good enough for me)
* the stylish look

This model is great if you want to take photographs with a minimum amount of fuss. You don’t have to dissect the manual before using the point-and-shoot camera.

However, I guess I do understand that the purpose of the manual is that it’s meant to be read. One shouldn’t be fearful or indifferent (or too impatient...) to read through the booklet to get a better idea of the camera specifics.

The only petty gripe I have about the A410, is that the video feature doesn’t allow you to record sound. Though I did know of this before buying it, it turned out to be more irritating than I expected. I wouldn’t whine too much about the quality of the video clip.

I’ve been lusting after the IXUS models for some time now. I think I’ll get one of those on my next digicam purchase.

At a slender 2cm (0.79 inches), the ultra compact and hot favorite IXUS 70 is the slimmest in the IXUS family. 7.1 megapixels CCD, 6.35 cm (2.5 inches) PureColour LCD screen, face detection, and so on.

I might get that for myself, on my next splurge sometime.