help: wat to buy?

[cisnb125]

hello. although my family already has a digital camera, since i'll be off to college, im getting one for myself. i have no idea what to buy from this endless array of choices, but luckily i found this awesome website. so can someone please recommend me good choices? thx!!!


Budget:
- around (preferable below) $200. definitely below $300.

Size:
- compact size. but im very willing to sacrifice size for better features and functions. so size doesnt really matter to me.

Features:
- 4/+ megapixels
- 3/+ optical zoom
- imagequality is important to me. hmm maybe 8 in a scale of 1-10.

Do you care for manual controls?
- no. i dun think i'll dare to use manual controls. but it'd be cool to just have it and get to learn to use it.

General Usage
- general usage is just for memory and sharing sake. just to capture college moments, friends' pics and share them w/ friends, family, etc. definitely not for professional usage
- will i be making big prints? very unlikely
- a lot of indoor photos/low light photos? yes.
- sports and/or action photos? unlikely

Miscellaneous
- no brand preference as long as the camera is fine and fits my preferences.
- i dont excatly know wat image stabilization is, but i may want it. many times when i take pictures with my sister's camera, they come out blurry (cuz of like people moving, camera shaking). if this IS function fixes this problem, i'd very much like to have it.


Again, thank you for your invaluable help!

[bascom]

Canon A530, A610
Casio Z600
Sony P200, S500, W50

Of these W50 is likely best in low light. Fuji S5200 is big but does well in low light.

[littlelump20]

You have some fine cameras listed there, but for what you are looking for I think the Fuji F30 is going to be the best for the job. It will definitely allow you to take great indoor low light pictures at a level which no other compact camera can compete with. It has plenty of automatic shooting modes, but also some control over manual functions, should you choose to make that transition down the line.

Also, right now there is a $50 rebate for it, so even though it can be found for just over $300, you should be able to bring the cost dow a bit. You should also consider the fact that you will need to probably add at least another $30-$45 for an xD memory card, although you would have to spend at least as much for a memory card for any other camera. One huge advantage is that you can get up to 580 pictures on a single charge with this camera, so you won't have to worry about investing in addition batteries like you would with many other cameras. That's just my two cents, but at any rate, good luck with your purchase.

[cisnb125]

thanks a lot!

[MindBender]

The Fuji F10 might be a good choise also, since it would definitely be under $300. Since both of these shoot higher ISO, it will help with indoor shots as well as a bit with blurriness from moving target or moving hands. (The $50 rebate also applies to the Fuji V10 which isn't as good in low light, but is a nice ultra-compact and it would be cheaper by a margin). The Canon A620 seems to be a very nice camera with a ton of features, and has a good battery life itself. It's about $220 right now. The panasonic Lumix cameras are also worth a look for their large zoom (TZ1, although more spendy) and their Optical Image Stabilizers.

http://www.pricegrabber.com

[cisnb125]

again thank u for your help!
i narrowed my choice to either canon a620 or sony w50.
after reading the reviews by dcrp (which are btw amazingly comprehensive and detailed), iam leaning toward sony w50.
they're priced about the same (around $220). although a620 seems to have many many many more functions, i have to spend extra money to get 4 rechargeable batteries + charger. plus, i dont really need those features neway.
on the other hand, i personally think that a620 is er... ugly (sry, but only the back of it), and i like the w50's design a lot. its so stylish, has a large lcd and good overall performance.
now im looking for a good deal on sony w50. =)

[David Metsky]

Keep in mind that memory for the Sony will be more expensive than the Canon, probably cancelling out the cost of the batteries and charger.

-dave-

[gafftape]

Here's what I've been doing to help decide. You'll notice Jeff takes pictures of many of the same things in the gallery of each review. I've been paying about $1.50 for an 8X10 printout at my local photo lab. I get a top quality large print and I can really compare what I like about the cameras I'm looking at. I've got a stack of 10 pictures of that gate in china town taken by different cameras. I can easily compare things like color and focus and decide which cameras I like... the only hazard is the photo lady thinks I'm a little weird. So spend $3 and get an 8X10 printed on both cameras.

[MindBender]

... and of course the usual caveat applies...

Go to your local store and pick one up to test it. See how it feels and works. I've looked at a lot of cameras online and said "oh those specs are cool" or "that feature is awsome" only to find out that the camera design is completely unusable. Goes for anything, but cameras for some reason don't seem to have any standards of use... they seem to forget that you have to hold this thing in your hand. heh