Canon A530 or Sony DSC W50

[viv5]

I was planning to get Canon A530 when Sony DSC W50 came to my notice. I am in a dilemma (dilemmas really sucks).
Both are P&S cameras.

Canon A530
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4x OPTICAL ZOOM (+)
MANUAL WHILE BALANCE (+)
Canon Tag (+)

77K Pixel 1.8” LCD (-)
Movie Mode isn’t good – max. 20fps (-)



SONY DSC W50
-----------------
6MP CCD (+)
2.5” 125K Pixel LCD (+)
Movie mode is terrific – 30fps (+)
Light and Compact (+)

No Manual controls at all (-)
3x OPTICAL ZOOM (-)



I really have no idea about the comparison of picture quality and focus ability (close-up shots) of both these cameras.


Please help me out in selecting the best out of these two.

[bascom]

I think the A530 videos are only 10fps, but I consider it light and compact like the W50. The A530 uses AA batteries and SD cards which I consider plusses.

I agree it's a close call but I would chose the A530. If video and LCD are important, get the A610 or A540 instead. Both will give you 30fps video and a bigger LCD. The A610 LCD has more pixels than the A530. The A610 is slightly bigger and the A540 is more expensive.

For picture quality and focus ability, see the reviews of the W50 and A540 (similar to A530) on this site. I think they both rated well.

Other ones in the $200-$250 range to consider are the Casio Z110, Kodak C643, & Panasonic LZ3. I think they are all light and compact, do video at 30fps, and have an LCD between 2'0" and 2.5". Plus they use AAs and SD cards. The LZ3 has 6x zoom, the others have 3x, but the LZ3 has no viewfinder.

[paraday]

I'm new to digicams (don't even have one yet), so take what I say with a grain of salt.

Having spent a few days intensely researching, I've pretty much decided on the W50. I've considered and read about many models.

My priorities:

Low price, with the best bang for the buck
good movie clip quality
lithium battery

At first I wanted a camera that uses AA batteries, but after considering my most likely camera use (infrequent, but I want it to work when I need it) and reading how nickel batteries have a higher self-discharge rate, I've decided lithium is probably best for me.

Going the AA route adds about $40 for 4 batteries and a quality charger.

BTW, during my searching I ran across a link to a site with good info about batteries: http://www.batteryuniversity.com

[bascom]

I doubt the discharge rate on AA's is significantly higher, not enough to matter in most cases. How do you figure $40 for going the AA route? I only paid $20 for four AA NiMH rechargeable batteries and a charger. The W50 comes with a charger but I think the Lithium battery will cost more to replace than AA's. Here is what the W50 review says on this site: "The usual caveats about proprietary batteries apply here. They're expensive ($45 a pop) and you can't use "regular batteries" to get you through the day in an emergency".

Also, what about the MS memory that Sony use? SD cards are cheaper and used in more cameras.

Looking at the list in the original post, the Canon A610 has most the plusses from both the A530 and W50. (The W50 LCD has 115k pixels, not 125k).

Canon A610
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4x OPTICAL ZOOM (+)
MANUAL WHILE BALANCE (+)
Canon Tag (+)
Movie mode is terrific – 30fps (+)
115K Pixel LCD (+)

It's 5MP instead of 6MP, but I bet 5MP is all most people need. The LCD is 2.0" instead of 2.5” but it swivels. It's fairly Light and Compact.