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Our favorite consumer models Is digital imaging hot? Well, for the second consecutive year, our annual "11 Hot Digicams" doesn't include a single holdover from last year's list—an indication of the rapid growth in digital-camera technology. Last year's list included the only 4-megapixel consumer digicam available at that time. This year's list includes three 5-megapixel models—two of which cost considerably less than that lone 4-megapixel model of just one year ago. The bottom line is, all of this digicam progress is great news for us photographers—we can get lots more image quality for lots less money. Today is a great time to go digital! Here are our favorites from today's crop of more than 100 consumer digicams. As always, we present our list in alphabetical order by manufacturer.  Canon PowerShot G2
Canon's top-of-the-line consumer digicam, the PowerShot G2 features a 4.13-megapixel CCD that produces 2272x1704-pixel images in RAW or JPEG formats. It has a 34-102mm f/2.0-2.5 zoom lens, single-shot and continuous AF modes with spot or three-point autofocus (plus manual focusing), macro focusing down to 2.4 inches at the wide end of the zoom range and 7.9 inches at the tele end, a full range of exposure modes (including program, shutter-priority and aperture-priority AE, manual, plus several subject programs), three metering modes (evaluative, center-weighted averaging, and spot) plus exposure compensation and automatic exposure bracketing, six white-balance presets plus manual white-balance setting, continuous shooting at up to 2.5 fps, video-with-audio capability, built-in flash plus hot-shoe for Canon Speedlite units, storage on CompactFlash cards and Microdrives, a flip-out vari-angle 1.8-inch color LCD monitor plus optical finder and more. You can print images directly from the camera (no computer required) with the optional Canon Card Printer CP-10, or directly from the CompactFlash cards with the CD-300 printer. Camera dimensions are 4.8x3.0x2.5 inches and 14.8 ounces. Street price is $799. Canon U.S.A., Inc., 800/OK-CANON; www.powershot.com  Epson PhotoPC 3100Z
Epson's 3.34-megapixel PhotoPC 3100Z offers a maximum resolution of 2140x1560 pixels, which can be interpolated up to 2544x1904 pixels (4.8 megapixels) via Epson's proprietary HyPict technology (which does its interpolating before JPEG compression for optimum image quality). The camera also offers Epson's innovative PIM (Print Image Matching), which helps enabled digicams and Epson Stylus Photo printers deliver optimum print quality Other features include a 34-102mm (equivalent) f/2-2.5 optical zoom lens, autofocusing down to 2.36 inches in macro mode, a real-image optical viewfinder plus a 1.8-inch color LCD monitor, CompactFlash storage, built-in microphone and speaker, web-ready video clip (up to 25 seconds at 15 fps with audio), built-in five-mode flash plus hot-shoe for external flash, spot and matrix metering, a variety of shooting modes (including full-auto, shutter- and aperture-priority and manual), power by four AA NiMH batteries (provided with the camera, along with a fast charger), easy USB interface with Mac and Windows computers, and DPOF (Digital Print Order Format—pressing a button on the back of the camera prints an index print of all images, and selects the specific images to be printed and the number of prints of each). Dimensions are 4.25x3.5x2.56 inches and 11.8 ounces. Street price is $550. Epson America, Inc., 800/GO-EPSON; www.epson.com.  Fujifilm FinePix S602
Fujifilm's FinePix S602 Zoom features Pixel Data Coupling Technology and a new 3.1-megapixel Super CCD to output images up to 2832x2128 pixels. Dual media slots allow storing the TIFF or JPEG images on SmartMedia and CompactFash cards, as well as Microdrives. Other features include a Super EBC Fujinon 35-210mm zoom lens, autofocusing down to 1.6 feet (to 0.4 inch in Super Macro mode) plus manual focusing, a host of exposure modes (program, shutter- and aperture-priority AE, several subject programs, plus manual), three metering modes (64-zone TTL, spot and average), built-in red-eye-reducing autoflash plus hot-shoe for external flash, electronic eye-level viewfinder plus 1.8-inch color LCD monitor, 30-fps movie and voice-memo capability, ISOs up to 1600 9at 1280x960 pixels), and more. Dimensions are 4.8x3.2x3.8 inches and 17.6 ounces. Street price is around $800. Fuji Photo Film U.S.A., Inc., 800/800-FUJI; www.fujifilm.com.  Kodak EasyShare DX4900
The DX4900 is the 4-megapixel "king" of Kodak's EasyShare docking camera line—yet retails for just $399! It's a basic auto model, with 2400x1600-pixel resolution, a 35-70mm f/2.8-4 zoom lens, both optical viewfinder and 1.5-inch LCD monitor, autofocusing down to 2.8 inches (wide) or 10 inches (tele), multi-pattern center-weighted or center-spot metering, built-in red-eye-reducing autoflash, CompactFlash-card storage, and USB connectivity. It's best feature, though, is the optional EasyShare camera dock, which provides easy downloading of images to computer at the touch of a button, and also charges the battery). Dimensions are 4.6x2.6x1.7 inches and 7.9 ounces. Eastman Kodak Co., 800/235-6235; www.kodak.com.  Leica Digilux 1
Leica has re-entered the digicam market with the Digilux 1, a 4-megapixel model with a Leica look. The camera stores its 2240x1680-pixel images in TIFF or JPEG form on SD and MMC cards, and records them through an excellent 33-100mm f/2.0-2.5 Leica DC Vario-Summicron ASPH triple zoom lens. A large 2.5-inch color monitor (plus an optical finder) makes composing, reviewing and camera settings easy. Nearly 4-fps shooting, fast processing, and clean styling of its lightweight magnesium-alloy body are very nice features, as are the full array of auto and manual exposure and focusing modes. Focus and exposure bracketing, three metering modes and PIM and DPOF compatibility are additions assets. There's also a movie mode. Dimensions are 5.0x3.3x2.7 inches and 12.9 ounces. Street price is around $900. Leica Camera Inc., 201/767-7500; www.leica-camera.com.
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