Upon purchase of my S2IS, my Fujifilm 2 MP A-205 had gone to my wife; a University teacher and she wanted a new digicam. Her requirement was for an ultra compact cam which she could carry anywhere in her purse on her frequent lectures outside our hometown. Of course it had to be the best! And then started the search for such a paragon! On our last visit to Mumbai in May, we almost settled on Canon SD 550, which was available for about 17k but then going online we found that Canon had introduced a newer version in SD series SD700 with better features, but it was not available in Mumbai market at that time- so again on to the net and finally SD700 was purchased in US market for US $ 465 shipped with a 1 GB SD card ( 21k Rs.). Cam reached Shimla last month carried by my cousin, and immediately was commandeered by me (ostensibly for testing!). I have been using a Canon S2IS for almost four months and that is an excellent cam, but the SD700 is not just another ultra-compact camera it features a 4X optical zoom compared to usual 3X in compact cams- and a very good image stablisation system.to top it all SD700 must be one of the best looking digicams. Soon more and more I was leaving the big & chunky S2IS at home, and putting the petite SD700 into my shirt pocket and taking pictures just as good as my huge previous cam. Features wise, SD700 is fully loaded and briefly it has § 6.0 million effective pixels § 4x (35-140mm equiv.) zoom § ISO 800 and optical IS for flash-free indoor shooting § Canon’s DIGIC II image processor, iSAPS and 9-point AiAF § Wide viewing angle 2.5" LCD screen § 16 shooting modes § My Colors photo effects § Widescreen (16:9) stills recording § 30fps VGA movies Like the SD500 / SD550 before it, the SD700’s looks and feel exudes quality, and the silky stainless steel finish is just gorgeous, and - as befits a camera at the higher end of the ultra- compact price range - it is beautifully built with an admirable attention to detail This cam does not have much by the way of manual controls, but the auto shooting modes are enough for any shooting situation. The camera takes pictures of exceptional sharpness throughout its entire zoom range- a feature of all canon cams. Of course a very desirable feature is that the cam is ready to shoot almost instantaneously and of course it has an excellent optical viewfinder-, which we did not find in lots of ultra compacts. Like my S2IS, SD700 also has an excellent movie mode, and VGA movie with sound at 30 FPS is really almost as good as a camcorder, though a high speed 1 GB SD card only lasts about 8 mins in movie mode, but the movies are really watch able. Optical zoom does not work in movie mode but the digital zoom is usable (something better than nothing!) My likes about this cam are just too many to enumerate, some are. 1. Compact stylish metal body 2. 4X optical zoom razor sharp lens with edge-to-edge sharpness. 3. Optical Image stablisation which works 4. Ability to share SD cards with my S2IS 5. Fast and accurate focus 6. Good battery life for a compact cam- almost 200 pictures on a single charge Dislike just for sake 1. Expensive 2. Red eye (which of course has to be software corrected).3. No optical zoom in movie mode Overall SD700IS is everything a compact digital camera should be. Entirely without doubt it is the best in class.