The Canon PowerShot SD1000 in one of the most popular digital cameras right now. The SD1000 looks and feels like a piece of art, takes 7MP pictures and is priced just over $200.

Although the SD1000 may not be the best digital camera to take videos with it has some compelling modes not usually found on other cameras. Naturally it can take 30fps movies at 640 x 480 pixels. In addition there is something Canon calls the “Fast Frame Rate” which is a 60fps 320 x 240 mode. This mode would be great for slowing down high speed action. For example taking videos of a baseball hitter or a golf swing and then slowing them down to analyze the swing. It’s just a shame it’s not offered in 640 x 480 at the higher rate.

Another cool mode (though technically not video) is the time lapse mode. It will take 640 x 480 shots at 1 or 2 second intervals.

One reason I said the PowerShot SD100 may not be the best for video is that it stores videos in the motion JPEG format. The better would have been to use MPEG4 H.264.