New top selling cameras: the consumers rush in

We have a new top selling digital cameras snapshot posted! This is a recurring soap-opera, but if it is your first visit, be sure to read the introduction first. We start with a screenshot teaser as usual...

Holiday specials shape the new top 25
The holidays are here, and a series of specials at Amazon are shaping the top 25. Among the winners is the Panasonic TZ7 (ZS3) going for $240 with free two-day shipping. This is the price the TZ5 reached about the same time last year. Other winners include the Digital Rebels, the Nikon D3000 and D5000 duo, and the Canon G11 dropping down to a reasonable $439.

The biggest winner of all however is the D-Rebel XS (1000D) kit, which was offered for the whole day of Sunday for $409 and heavily promoted on the Amazon family of websites. (Now the price has returned to its usual $450+ range)

SuperZoom Wars
The superzoom action is wild as usual. The aforementioned TZ7/ZS3 discount gave Panasonic a land-slide over bitter rival Canon. Canon has the SX20 and SX120 IS in the top 25, while the SX200 IS, in three colors and price-stubborn remains outside. Sony continues to do quite well with the reasonably priced Cybershot H20 at $230, the first perhaps breakthrough model in their compact-zoom attempts, akin perhaps to the TZ3 breakthrough for Panasonic way back then.

A good sign for Nikon is that their in-betweener Coolpix L100 seems to have found its place in the world and remains in the Top 25. Probably part of the credit goes to Mr and Mrs Demi Moore for their continuing endorsement of Coolpixies. The L100 is a cross between a compact-fun-zoom and a mid-size-zoom, but in a clumsy kind of way, which may appeal to people who prefer a more "meaty" camera body, instead of the more compact fun-zooms.

Consumer Priority
As you can tell from the changes in the Top 100, the consumer cameras are picking up momentum as this is the heart of the holiday shopping season. That means DSLRs and advanced compacts are pushed back as the hoards of shiny silvers get scooped up by the gifters and giftees ;-)

Top 25 Vitals
+ # of DSLRs: six
+ # of Superzooms: seven
+ # of RAWsumers: two
+ # of cameras under $100: one
+ # of cameras over $500: four

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