need help picking camera

[master_kaos]

Budget

* What budget have you allocated for buying this camera? Please be as specific as possible.
- about 300 CAD

Size

* What size camera are you looking for? Or does size not matter at all to you?
Doesn't matter too much - perfer compact
Features

How many megapixels will suffice for you?
Bigger the better

* What optical zoom will you need? (None, Standard = 3x-4x, Ultrazoom = 10x-12x, Other - Specify)

Stamdard

* How important is “image quality” to you? (Rate using a scale of 1-10)
Best if possible (8-10)

Do you care for manual controls?
not really, person I am buying for won't fiddle with the controls too much

General Usage

* What will you generally use the camera for?
Mainly still photos indoors normal lighting. Some outdoor pictures during the day

* Will you be making big prints of your photos or not?
No

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

Will you be shooting sports and/or action photos?
No

Miscellaneous

Are there particular brands you like or hate?
Not picky

Are there particular models you already have in mind?
Was looking at the Canon PowerShot A540 as well as the Nikon Coolpix P3

I would perfer if the camera was from a canadian store, and even more such as bestbuy.ca or futureshop.ca . But tigerdirect is alright to.


Thanks

[tim11]

You seem to have done some research and shortlisted your choice to 2. So what's the problem?
Personally, I will buy A540.

Don't confuse MegaPixel for image quality though. Manufacturers are currently embroil in a MP war which is nothing more than the physical size of the image.

[master_kaos]

Ive done some, but only a couple hours, and i still don't know all the terms and stuff..
And by no means did I narrow it down to just those two, I am very open to suggestions.

One thing I don't know about is Image Stabilizer. i don't know if I should get a camera with one on it or not?
Because I was looking at a few photes from a camera that has IS and they showen a picture with it on, and a picture with it off, and the one with it on looked way more sharp.
Most pictures will be taken with someone holding the camera, no tripod or anything. Although she doesn't have shaky hands..

[tim11]

I assume you want a camera in the similar physical size and price as A540?

IS is a luxury to have. Of course it makes life easier but at 4x optical zoom I personally don't need it. The longer the zoom, the more IS will come in handy.
'Shaky hand' is by no means refer to the effect of some disability or 'old-age'. A split second lack of concentration or slightly excessive force on the shutter button will show a blur on the photo. IS will minimise that effect. It's work as long as your subjects is stationary.

Have you seen Canon A630 (swivel, rotating LCD) and A710 IS? They are newer and more expensive though.

[master_kaos]

Yes I was actually looking at those two and am willing to spend some extra money on them (they are also on special until tommorow morning)
I like the swivel feature of the 630, but I also like the IS of the 710... I wish they had swivel on 710 and then it would be a no brainer.

We do take a lot of low light pictures (mainly indoors during day). i heard F30 is really good for that, but is not available at the place where I am wanting to purchase a camera.

This is really hard trying to make a decision, especially without any digital (or even regular) camera experience...

I was also looking at the S3 IS which seems to be $45 over the 710, and has both IS and swivel, and looks like it has a ton of nice features.. i might get it (although it is $150 over original budget)

Arg so hard...