Some Advice Please?

[neoimagiste]

Thanks in advance folks...

Budget

Around $300 +/- $50

Size

As small as they go, pocketsized, but not necessarily james bond small

Features

megapixels? Not really sure, but I guess around 4-8

* What optical zoom will you need? None or Standard

* How important is “image quality” to you? 8/9

Do you care for manual controls? I do not know how to use them so no.

General Usage

* What will you generally use the camera for? Photographing social events, friends and family.

* Will you be making big prints of your photos or not? Never bigger than 5X7

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

Will you be shooting sports and/or action photos? Sports VERY rarely, action shots sometimes.

Miscellaneous

Are there particular brands you like or hate? nope

Are there particular models you already have in mind? Canon SD500 or the Casio thin one Exilim EX-S750

[GDD]

This is a tricky one. Compacts is a big selling point with lots of variables.

Canon A610 is a good one. Its pocket sized, but not offically "compact". Its Flipscreen is a good thing. AA bats another plus.

All the rest are along the same lines.... ie compacts.

Compacts usually compensate everything else for size. Lithion battery pack not AA which is preferrable.

To be frank esp in terms of image quality, everyone seems to compare everything to dSLRs, which is misleading for the general user.

A good general indicator is the cross over between compact-ness and usablity. As too small is too painful to use ie too small in the hand which usually corispeonds to image quality. Another issue you have to be weary of is, if you do want to pocket it, it should be able to defend its self, ie lens.

The Canon IXUS 750 had a good review.
The Sony W5 or W7 likewise has good reviews.

Compacts are a difficult issue. They have convience of size but they have down sides.

Usually fiddly... too small, and I would say I have small hands.

Battery Packs need specific spares, ie can't just grab some AAs.

Have a play with them as well. Compacts are everywhere.

[bascom]

Canon SD500 or the Casio EX-Z750 (not S750) are good small ones.
Also, Casio Z120, Sony P200, T9, W50.

[neoimagiste]

will i be able to take pictures at bars and other such dark places with these without too much post picture light correction?

thanks again.

[John_Reed]

will i be able to take pictures at bars and other such dark places with these without too much post picture light correction?

thanks again.
ISO 160: Not corrected at all:
http://John-Reed.smugmug.com/photos/66512261-M.jpg
ISO 400: Corrected skin color, printed 8X10 for very happy subjects
http://John-Reed.smugmug.com/photos/66512364-M.jpg
These are only 2 photos of thousands I've taken with my Panasonic DMC-TZ1, a marvelous little camera, with a 10X optically stabilized zoom in a pocketable package, which sells for ~$300, comes in silver, blue, or black. It's also good at flower macros:
http://John-Reed.smugmug.com/photos/70833130-M.jpg
And even for flying birds, if you know what you're doing:
http://John-Reed.smugmug.com/photos/69691462-M.jpg

[dk_-]

i'd like to see those bar pictures without a flash