need help picking out a camera....

[dezzi]

Ok I am a looking for a digicam, and after a full week of reading this site, as well as many others, I figured I post my specs of my ideal camera….does this exist?? I will be using the camera for recreational use, family, vacations, trying to grab some nice sunsets…mostly I’ll just be using it for 4x6’s but if I get a nice shot I would love to be able to get a large print here and there

- 5-7 Meg
- 6-10 Zoom
- min…2.5 LCD- Good LCD quality in bright light and low light
- if LCD being not bright enough is a know issue in one of these situations--..obviously I would require a view finder
- built-in lens cover
- optical image stabilizer
- video at mpeg4 (to hold more movies using min storage) i.e. 30-45min out of 1 GB(normal mode)
- video with good sound/min wind disturbance
- prefer being able to zoom during filming
- plenty of photo modes, some manuals would be nice
- quality images in both low light and outdoors..or be able to easily use manuals (if you guys can tell me how) to compensate



Looking at
1- Casio EX Z850 but zooms only to 3X
2- KODAK EASYSHARE V603 Zoom, only to 3x and heard video is not quality-anyone have one?
- PENTAX Optio A10 Reviews state that LCD outdoor visibility isn't great, but low light visibility is even worse and theres no view finder to use to help compensate & also reviewed with poor movie mode, anyone have one of these?? Or anyone have a A20 with these issues?

Or are there any others you can suggest...

In advance....Thanks so much for your help

[bascom]

What size? Price range? I don't think one exists that matches all your criteria. Rank them and you may need to give up some criteria. I don't think you can get 30-45min out of 1 GB (normal mode) even with MPEG.

I prefer the Z850 over the V603 and A10. The A10 got a bad review here and the V603 doesn't sound as good as the Z850.

What about Canon A710 or S3? They give you more zoom and good video but not in MPEG. Or Sony H2?

[dezzi]

I prefer a compact, and price range doesnt matter. And you seem to be correct it doesnt appear one exists that matches my criteria, more of why I was wondering if anyone could suggestion other models that came really close to my criteria...or that has owns any of the 3 I mentioned could comment on :their performance as compared to what I am looking for and also the reasons why they didnt match my criteria..which were
1-Kodak v603 - is the movie quality really bad?
2-Pentax A10 - is the movie quality bad here too? and is the LCD not useable outside?

and actually all 3 that I did mention were reviewed to give over 30 mins of video on 1GB...
Sony DSC-M2.. 45 mins
PentaxOptio A10.. 40 mins
Kodak V603...32 mins


As a note..I was out shopping today and ran across the Kodak v610 it has 10X zoom 6 Mp 2.7 LCD and when I reviewed it says photo quality is not spetactular and it also fits 33min's video on 1 GB..is there any reader on this forum that maybe has tried this one??


As for the Canon's they give a misley amount of time to a 1GB for video, and the s3 and H2 dont have a built in lens cover

and i know what some will say if your looking for video get a camcorder...but thats not what i am looking, for i want to only have to lug around 1 item and i guess if what I am not looking for is out there right now...then i will just wait until it does come out...

[tim11]

One thing about video time. Just make sure what quality video at that specific time. They can try to impress you about the time with crappy video quality.

[bascom]

"and actually all 3 that I did mention were reviewed to give over 30 mins of video on 1GB...
Sony DSC-M2.. 45 mins
PentaxOptio A10.. 40 mins
Kodak V603...32 mins"

I checked the reviews and those numbers look right even at the highest video quality setting (I couldn't find V603 numbers but those are the V610 numbers). I didn't know you could fit that much video on those cams. I haven't paid much attention to them because they got bad reviews overall and don't sound like good cameras in other ways besides video.

If you want quality images and good features, I'd avoid those cameras.

[acidbaby]

how about the samsung nv3??