Do you know cameras? If you do, you'll be agog at all the power the Canon SD800 IS delivers in a svelte form factor. "Cool" is something that fits easily in your pocket -- and does all the things this camera does. Forget Sony and Casio; this is it!

The SD800 IS is a 7.1-megapixel subcompact camera with a 2.5-in. LCD that uses SD, SDHC or MMC memory. It has 3.8x optical zoom and 4x digital zoom. The focal length is the 35mm-SLR-equivalent of 28mm-105mm. It also offers image stabilization, which is especially useful for this camera's excellent video capabilities.

This model was just introduced in October, and it includes all the latest bells and whistles, including Canon's latest image processor, support for ISO 1600, PictBridge and USB 2.0.

Many subcompact digital cameras make video an afterthought. Not the SD800 IS. The IS stands for image stabilization, for starters. It has a widescreen mode, for another. And it supports 60-frames-per-second QVGA (320- by 240-pixel resolution) as well as 30-fps standard VGA (640- by 480-pixel) video.

One of our editors bought the SD800 IS for himself, and another bought it as a holiday gift for his wife. So we're putting our money where our mouths are. At $340 - $400, the SD800IS isn't among the less expensive subcompact digital cameras, but it's clearly among the very best. To us, it's tops.