This is a very slim-and-stowable camera, measuring just 0.72 inches thick and 3.4 inches wide; it's about the size and thickness of a half-deck of playing cards. The metal lens casing is surrounded by a plastic, but durable, body--both are the same color--and the contoured edges of the camera add to its slick looks.

In , the 12-megapixel PowerShot SD780 IS netted an overall image quality score of Very Good, earning some of the highest marks we've seen for a point-and-shoot this year for its lack of distortion, its color accuracy, and its image sharpness.

And that's just in well-lit conditions. In hands-on informal tests, I was amazed at the color accuracy and lack of noise in low-light shots at high ISO levels. The manual ISO settings (ranging from ISO 80 to ISO 1600) are complemented by a special ISO 3200 scene mode. There is definitely some visible speckling at ISO 3200 and ISO 1600, but low-light images taken at these settings with the flash turned off are impressively bright, crisp, and colorful.

Battery life isn't terrible, but we've seen much better. In PC World Test Center battery tests, the PowerShot SD780 IS took 261 shots on a single charge of its lithium ion battery. That was enough to earn a battery life score of Good, but far short of the 300-plus shots now fairly common in today's pocket cameras.

Other than that, this camera really has only a few drawbacks, and none of them hurt much. The 2.5-inch-diagonal LCD screen on the back is a bit small by today's standards, but it's bright and vibrant enough to see in practically every lighting condition (you also get an old-school optical viewfinder above the LCD--a nice touch). The zoom range is a bare-bones 3X optical, with a shrimpy wide-angle end (33mm to 100mm). Because it's such a slim, sleek, and pocket-friendly camera, the control buttons are fairly small and may prove difficult for the meaty-handed to use. And as usual, the plastic doors that cover the HDMI port, A/V out ports, and battery feel like they could tear off really easily.