One of two very similar A series 'affordable' compacts (the other, the A1100 IS, has a smaller zoom and smaller LCD) offering a stabilized 6x optical zoom and a 3.0" screen with brightness adjustment - but no optical viewfinder. The A2100 IS has none of the manual controls seen on older A series models but does feature Canon's new Smart Auto mode (an improved Easy mode), Motion Detection and Face Detection that can detect up to 35 faces. More stylish and more beginner-friendly than previous A series models (which have traditonally offered a solid feature set and decent output quality in slightly dowdy designs), the A2100 IS signals a new, point and shoot oriented direction for Canon's budget range.