Torn: Canon SD700is or S2 for newbie

[scorpioneyes]

hello all. i'm a total non-tech-savvy newbie to digital cameras, & haven't been in the film camera scene for years as well. i'm finally buying my first digital camera & need advice.

i'm torn between these two because of the rave reviews on both. here's what i might need it for:

1. my 3-week trip to China: the usual stuff - family pics, the Great Wall, maybe some panoramics, both indoor/outdoor use.

2. product pics: crisp, clear pics of products for our online store and eBay

3. non-still images: would like to be able to take good (within reason) pics of a moving/walking object, i.e., runners, fast cars, etc.

4. minimal lag time between shots: fast picture taking "click-click-click" action, not having to wait forever for another shot.

#3 & 4 above are more wants than needs. Last summer I went to a Hollywood movie premiere & had limited space & time to take decent pics of Angelina Jolie. so i kept my finger constantly pressed on the button, hoping to get multiple shots as she briskly walked over to us. but instead i got 5 at most, & it seemed like i had to wait nearly 30 seconds before i could take another shot.

5. good cropping features: one pic from the premiere had Angelina Jolie way off in the corner. would like a camera that would let me crop her image, maybe blow it up into a full image w/very little grain or distortion.

SD-700is: 6MP, 4x Optical Zoom, 4x Digital Zoom - $299 @ costco.com
S2: 5MP, 12x Optical Zoom, 4x Digital Zoom - $280 @ amazon.com

* size doesn't matter, altho it's handier to have a compact.
* not sure how the 1MP difference will affect the pics
* no plans on making movies w/it but nice to have if i choose to
* memory cards: what is MMC, & is it better than SD cards?
* LCD screen size doesn't matter
* never owned a digital camera before so the above may be important as time goes on

please share your thoughts, recommendations, or even suggestions for other better cameras. thanks to all!

[truflip]

get both =D return the one u like less after 3 weeks (21 days) most stores have a 30 day money back dont they? :D ]

between the two.. well its a tough call, theyre two different class cameras. but IF i were going to china, id get the 12x zoom S2 :) 1mp difference is small... 3 is significant.. 2mp is still actually pretty small...

MMC is not better than SD.. mmc is just a thinner version of SD... n theyre lower capacity. hence its thin-ness

[bascom]

Digital Zoom is almost useless so don't consider that a factor. Do you want small size (SD700) or zoom (S2)? How about an A630 as a compromise.

[peppy5]

i'd go for the s2 but i'm optical zoom and swivel screen hungry. you will have many manual features in the s2 and you can really grow with the camera if you want along with many scene modes if you just want to point and shoot.

another alternative is the canon a710 is with 6x optical zoom.

[scorpioneyes]

Digital Zoom is almost useless so don't consider that a factor. Do you want small size (SD700) or zoom (S2)? How about an A630 as a compromise.

the size really doesn't matter (as of now). of course it's much more convenient to have a compact one, but i'd rather sacrifice size for better pictures.