Canon Digital IXUS 75 -

I've always disliked compacts because of the slow shutter response. You hit, the button and by the time the image is captured, your subjects have dispersed (nnnggghhh!). For this reason I use a digital SLR most of the time.

I bought the IXUS 75 because it's one of the only compacts (along with the IXUS 70) that does time-lapse video; a feature I use whilst hang-gliding.

In an attempt to get some value for money, I've tried it in a few other settings too, in particular, dark indoor settings that require flash. This is where compacts are typically very slow, but the IXUS 75 is surprisingly fast. If you disable red-eye reduction and the face-centric auto-focus, it's even quicker. It uses a red-dot light beam to focus and you can acually see this beam as you shoot so if you point the beam right you can sort of do selective focusing like you can with an SLR (although you only have a second to select your focus target as there is no separate control over focussing and shutter firing like with an SLR).

The screen is nice and big, but there's no veiw finder - this may suit some, but I prefer to have a view finder.

Lots of easy modes and the menus are clear too, plus the dedicated battery unit has plenty of life.

As with most Canon's, the colour balance is a bit on the blue side, but you can fix this in photoshop.

Pretty good