Which Digital Camera Should I Buy?

[PinkLady]

Budget

* What budget have you allocated for buying this camera? Please be as specific as possible. Under $ 500

Size

* What size camera are you looking for? Or does size not matter at all to you? Ultra Compact

Features

How many megapixels will suffice for you? 5MP or more

* What optical zoom will you need? (None, Standard = 3x-4x, Ultrazoom = 10x-12x, Other - Specify) 3x-4x is good

* How important is “image quality” to you? (Rate using a scale of 1-10) 9

Do you care for manual controls? Yes

General Usage

* What will you generally use the camera for? Vacations, School, Family, Special Events

* Will you be making big prints of your photos or not? Occassionally

Will you be shooting a lot of indoor photos or low light photos? Probably

Will you be shooting sports and/or action photos? Occasionally

Miscellaneous

Are there particular brands you like or hate? I like Kodak and Canon

Are there particular models you already have in mind? :confused:

(If applicable) Do you need any of the following special features? (Wide Angle, Image Stabilization, Weatherproof, Hotshoe, Rotating LCD) Image Stabilization would be really nice

[TrigunKenshin]

I'm looking to buy a canon digital camera also. Personally, I would choose Canon over kodak simply because of the name.

The SD600 SD630 and SD700 are coming out this spring. March at the earliest, and I read they all have image stabilization. I was looking at the SD450, but it doesnt have image stabilization, and it would be a nice feature to have. the only thing that bugs me with the SD600 from the specs i've read so far is even though it has exactly the same dimensions as the SD450, the SD600 weighs a little more.

[PinkLady]

the SD550 is heavier so I imagine that the models you mentioned are also. I think I will probably end up getting a Canon just because I am already familiar with them. But Kodaks also have the very good software...