Megapixel - A megapixel is a unit of graphic resolution, or how much can a digital camera capture. The higher the megapixels, generally the better the picture quality will be as you have more room to crop your pictures, or if you want to blow up the picture to much larger sizes (to put in a large frame). All else being equal, the higher the megapixels, the better. Most newer cameras today have 7 megapixels or higher.

Optical Zoom - Optical Zoom refers to how close an object can be "zoomed in". So a camera with 10x zoom can bring a distant object about 2 times closer than a camera with a 5x zoom. A 3x optical zoom is good for most purposes. Larger zoom lenses can give you more options. If you see a reference to digital zoom, this is an electronic representation of optical zoom, and really just crops the picture and you lose resolution. With optical zoom, you do not lose resolution. Digital zoom should not be a consideration in our opinion to purchasing a camera, while optical zoom should be considered. One camera stands out with the longest zoom (12x) and image stabilization. That is the Canon S5 IS and the Canon S3 IS. Image stabilization compensates for movement of the camera that many times produces a blurry image.

Image Stabilization (IS) - Image Stabilization is a technology that reduces the blurry images that you frequently get with low light photos without using the flash. This technology compensates for any movement of the camera when you are holding it to give you sharp images, even in low light. This is a very valuable and useful option to have. This also helps when using long telephoto lenses, which can magnify your shaking of the camera. Canon cameras with image stabilization include the Canon S5 IS, Canon S3 IS, Canon A710 IS, and the super compact Canon Elph SD950is Canon Elph SD800is, Canon G9, and Canon G7.

LCD Size - LCD Size refers to the size of the screen on the back of the camera. LCD stands for Liquid Crystal Display, the current technology used for such displays. A larger LCD screen is easier to see, however you also want to look at how many pixels are used for the display as this determines how sharp, and how much detail you will see. So for both LCD size and number of pixels on the screen, higher is better. The newer cameras introduced in late 2006 have the highest resolution LCDs to date.

Optical Viewfinder - An optical viewfinder gives you the option to compose your pictures through a viewfinder instead of using the LCD screen. The advantage of this is that in bright sunlight, it will be easier to see your subject through the viewfinder than the LCD, and when you want to conserve power and turn off the LCD and only use the viewfinder. Most cameras still have viewfinders, however some of the ultra compact cameras do not, so that the camera can be as small as possible. To some people having this feature is important and to others not.

Movie Mode - The camera movie mode is a nice luxury that all Canon Powershot cameras have (except the SLR line). All of those cameras can provide movies at 640 x 480 which is TV quality, just below DVD quality. There is also a reference to fps (frames per second). Generally the more frames per second the better, as a lower "framerate" will be a little more jumpy. Most cameras have 30 fps (this is the frame rate of a regular camcorder). Canon's movie mode is among the best in the business as they get high marks by professional reviewers. All the movie modes have sound, but the Canon S5 IS and Canon S3 IS provides Stereo Sound.

Digic II and Digic III - Each Canon digital camera has a proprietary Canon image processor onboard. Most of the cameras have the Digic II processor which helps to speed up camera functions from startup, faster focusing, to image quality. The newest chip version is the Digic III , which is faster than the Digic II and has the power to introduce new features such as face priority and the high resolution 1024x768 movie mode (currently only available on the Canon G7, G9 and Canon Elph SD900 and SD950). Cameras with the Digic III chip include the Canon Elph SD950is, Canon Elph SD800is, Canon Elph SD900, Canon Elph SD1000, Canon G9, and the Canon G7.

Face Priority - The newest Canon cameras with the Digic III chip have a new and useful feature called "face priority". This optional setting on the camera will focus the camera on any faces of people you are taking a picture of. This can be one face or many faces. The focusing markers move immediately toward a face. Smart-Review tried out this feature in a store and pointed the camera toward a poster with a person on it, and it went immediately toward the face on that poster. It not only keeps the face in focus, but also the exposure of the camera to assure that the face gets priority by the camera. Cameras with the face priority include the Canon Elph SD950is, Canon Elph SD900, Canon Elph SD800is, Canon G9, and the Canon G7.

ISO Rating - An ISO is a rating which indicates the level of light sensitivity. The higher the ISO rating, theoretically the higher the cameras sensitivity to light, and better low light pictures (less blurry images). A digital camera will use the lowest ISO that it can, and only use the higher ISO in low light conditions, or where you need a faster shutter speed. As the available light is reduced, the shutter speed decreases (the shutter remains open longer). This introduces the possibility of blurry images, a major complaint of camera owners. High ISO can compensate for this to some degree. The tradeoff is that there can be more noise in the picture. Noise is a speckling of the image. So, just like in conventional photography, its sometimes worthwhile and sometimes not. All else being equal, higher ISO is better.

Safety Zoom - Some of the newer Canon cameras have a feature called Safety Zoom. This feature makes optimum use of the digital zoom range where the image quality does not deteriorate. Pressing the zoom lever toward telephoto, based on the number of recording pixels set, the Safety Zoom feature calculates the maximum zoom factor beyond which image quality will begin to deteriorate. The digital zoom pauses at this zoom factor for a moment, and the icon to indicate deterioration appears on the LCD monitor. This is the only use of digital zoom that maintains image quality and only comes into play if you are using a reduced resolution (megapixel) setting. If you are using full resolution, then you will not use any digital zoom as this would degrade the quality of the picture.

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