In digital cameras, the gee-whiz feature of the moment is facial recognition, which aims to improve portraits by adjusting the exposure and by focusing more accurately. Two cameras we tested this month have this feature: Fujifilm's $350 FinePix F31fd and Canon's $450 PowerShot SD900 (the latter missed our chart, due in part to its high price).
The feature helped the FinePix F31fd deliver better exposures in backlit environments; we noticed that the camera's portrait mode by itself sometimes left our subjects' faces underexposed. Similarly, the impressive PowerShot SD900 produced accurately exposed shots. Both models focused sharply on our subjects and avoided mistakenly homing in on a strongly contrasted edge in the background.