Editor's Choice 2008: Ultrathin Compacts

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When point-and-shoot cameras dispensed with film they started slimming down, and some of the biggest losers yet are this year's ultrathin winners. The Casio EX-S10, for example, looks more like an elegant business-card case than a camera. And that, along with their pocket portability, explains these models' popularity: They are as much fashion accessories as photographic instruments.

We could quibble that the image quality of ultrathins doesn't always measure up to bigger compacts (the tradeoff of their smaller, more noise-prone image sensors) or that these tiny cameras can be a challenge to operate even for the small-fingered. But the up side is that you can stick an ultrathin in your shirtpocket wherever you go, whether to a party or on the grand tour. Just don't forget to color-coordinate it with your outfit.

Ultrathin Compact of the Year: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T300

Sony's top ultrathin takes the recent craze for smile detection technology to a new level. Not only will it trip the shutter when it detects a smile in your subject, but it can even be set to fire in response, specifically, to adult- or child-sized smiles. When it does fire, the T300 adds face and smile detection information to the photograph's metadata, which allows you to search and organize your pictures by (what else?) faces and smiles. And get this: The Smile Tool turns unsmiling expressions into grins after the fact. Should it be renamed Prozac Mode?

The form and function of the new Cyber-shot should bring smiles to the faces of many photographers, if not their subjects. The 33-165mm (35mm equivalent) f/3.5-4.4 lens never protrudes from the svelte metal-clad body; instead it's situated vertically inside the camera, looking forward by means of a periscope-like reflex mirror. A huge 3.5-inch touchscreen allows users to change settings and select autofocus points with a fingertip, and even jot messages on photos with a stylus. The Easy Shooting mode enlarges menu text for easier reading. If you've made changes to settings but are still worried about getting the shot right, Intelligent Scene Recognition automatically takes a second picture when you release the shutter, using the settings it considers best for the situation.

The T300's Dynamic Range Optimizer is now more like the version on Sony's digital SLRs: It can be set to a Plus mode that analyzes separate areas of the frame to bring up shadow details or suppress highlights as needed. When the camera is used in Sony's compatible underwater housing, an underwater mode makes the appropriate settings for the blue-hued environment.

In playback, the camera can output 1080i high-definition photographs to an HDTV. In-camera slideshow creation tools let you add a special effect that -- you guessed it -- zooms in on faces. And fashion-forward photographers will certainly smile at the T300's choice of finishes, which include red, black, and silver.

At a Glance: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T300

Other Top Ultrathin Compacts:

Canon PowerShot SD950 IS Digital Elph

If the Canon PowerShot G9 were a big, powerful sedan, this new Digital Elph would be the sport coupe version. It shares the same 12.1-megapixel sensor and Digic III processor as the bigger model, but is dressed in a sleek titanium-clad body that fits in a shirt pocket. Its smaller form factor is achieved with a more compact lens, a 35-133mm (35mm equivalent) f/2.8-5.8, yet the SD950 IS still manages to squeeze in an optical viewfinder -- now almost unheard of in slim cameras.

The camera's image stabilization is Canon's latest three-mode version, which gives you a choice of always on, activated at the time of the shot only, and panning stabilization. Its face detection can apply red-eye correction on the fly. Besides standard 640x480 video at 30fps, the top Digital Elph can shoot higher-resolution movies at 1024x768, albeit at 15fps. Numerous image adjustments include skin-tone optimization, and the camera has Canon's effective panorama-assist function.

At a Glance: Canon PowerShot SD950 IS Digital Elph

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