Top 10 digicams of December 2006

Party's over, and if you're still not back at work, good for you. Meanwhile, for the rest of us slogging at our desks, vendors we spoke to surprising put December down as a slow month for camera sales, although the more popular makes were still snapped up readily enough during the holiday season. This poor showing seems to have spilled over into last week's CES where we saw few cameras announced. That ought to change as the annual PMA fair looms up, with new shooters still worth looking out for over the next two months. Among them are Fujifilm's FinePix F40fd which now accepts SD cards and Casio's first CCD shift-type optically stabilized Exilim.

Note: Results are based on readership and polls conducted with selected retailers (Alan Photo Trading, Cathay Photo Store and M S Color Service) in Singapore.

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	1.	Canon Digital IXUS 850 IS   CNET Asia rating: 7.8 out of 10 The good: Good focal range for lens; quick performance; optical image stabilization; attractive design. The bad: Few manual controls; extremely noisy photos at ISO 1,600. The bottom line: A slim, stylish body, a wide-angle lens, very good photo quality, and snappy performance make the Canon Digital IXUS 850 IS a great point-and-shoot. Review | See full specs | Rate this
	2.	Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T10   CNET Asia rating: 7.8 out of 10 The good: Small size; attractive design; optical image stabilization; quick performance. The bad: Lens is slow and not very wide at F3.5 and 38mm. The bottom line: Sony's Cyber-shot DSC-T10 delivers an attractive pocket camera with decent image quality, this time in multiple colors, too. Review | See full specs | Rate this
	3.	Fujifilm FinePix F31fd       CNET Asia rating: 8 out of 10 The good: Face detection; wireless connectivity to IrSimple devices; increased built-in memory; low noise at high sensitivity settings. The bad: Boring design; lackluster continuous shooting mode; proprietary memory card format; no optical image stabilizer; lens could be wider. The bottom line: The Fujifilm FinePix F31fd carries on the leading high ISO performance from the F30 and is a solid all-round compact camera for general photography and low-light shooting. Review | See full specs | Rate this
	4.	Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX07   First take It's another case of camera manufacturers releasing new digicams which are merely incremental upgrades to the current product lineup. Frankly, these scenarios have been happening so often that we're beginning to predict the upcoming models fairly accurately. While the FX07 may not be as enticing to users who own a similar, but older, shooter, we feel it warrants a quick look to unearth the differences. First take | See full specs | Rate this
	5.	Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX01   CNET Asia rating: 7.8 out of 10 The good: Wide-angle (28mm) lens; wide-aspect video recording at 30fps; dual image stabilization; High Angle LCD; uses same battery and charger as FX9 and FX8. The bad: No manual features or optical viewfinder; slight barrel distortions at 28mm wide angle; chromatic aberrations in the form of blooming and purple fringing; unable to select desired ISO level in High Sensitivity mode. The bottom line: The Lumix FX01 proves to be a compact shooter that performs, just like its previous incarnations, though it misses the mark in terms of image quality. Review | See full specs | Rate this