CES: In digital cameras, you can't be too rich (in features) or too thin

Where will it end? Will camera manufacturers one day cram all the features of a 10-megapixel SLR into something the size of a playing card? (Not that most people would relish operating such an engineering marvel.)

We may not be there yet, but Casio’s new 7-megapixel EXILIM Hi-ZOOM EX-V7 moves cameras a step further in that direction. (You should be able to get your hands on one in March for $400 or less.)

The EX-V7 is something of a marvel. Most cameras with a zoom lens greater than 3x or 4x are bulky. Not the EX-V7. Its 7x zoom, the marquee feature, doesn’t protrude at all from a case the size of a small compact.

A camera this small, with a zoom this powerful, is a surefire recipe for camera shake. But the EX-V7 has a mechanical image stabilizer to compensate for shaky hands, one of the few small cameras with one. And it has another handy feature uncommon in small models: an auto-tracking function that keeps moving subjects in focus.

The EX-V7 can also shoot video in MPEG4 and zoom while recording. As far as I can tell, it can’t walk while chewing gum — yet. But who knows what tomorrow will bring?

— Jeff Fox