Help me picking Digital Camera

[Trox]

Budget

200-400

Size

Compact - Ultra Compact

Features

How many megapixels will suffice for you?
5-10

* What optical zoom will you need?
Standard 3x-4x

* How important is “image quality” to you? (Rate using a scale of 1-10)
8-9

Do you care for manual controls?
Somo manual controls would be fine

General Usage

* What will you generally use the camera for?
Partys , Sport , Socias Stuff , etc

* 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?
Not too much

Miscellaneous

Are there particular models you already have in mind?
Panasonic FX-50 , Casio Z1000 , Sony N2

(If applicable) Do you need any of the following special features?
Image stabilization and Wide Angle would be nice

[AlexMonro]

If indoor and low light shots are important to you you might want to consider the Fuji F30 / F31fd.

[MatthewCollin]

When I was shopping for a new camera I originally wanted an ultracompact. I pretty much had my heart set on a Canon Powershot SD600/630. From what I've read, they aren't bad, but after a while I decided I wanted something that was a little bigger and offered more manual controls.

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX2 also caught my eye with it's widescreen sensor and stout movie modes, but it was just too exepensive.

I decided on a Canon Powershot A710IS. I really like the fact that it has optical image stabilization, a 6x optical zoom, and enough manual control.

Also check out the latest review of the Kodak EasyShare C875 here (http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/kodak/c875-review/index.shtml). Looks to be very good for a budget-minded camera, but the fact that it seems to have pretty heavy noise reduction, no optical viewfinder, and no optical image stabilization is why I'm glad I decided on the PowerShot A710IS which you can pick up online for roughly 300 dollars, maybe even less.

Just spend some time reading the reviews here at DCResource.
Also check out www.dpreview.com
and check the editors picks over at www.cnet.com

[Trox]

The most important things are LCD size , image quality , and compact

[MatthewCollin]

The most important things are LCD size , image quality , and compact


If you don't mind not having an optical viewfinder, and don't really think you'll need full manual control. Check out the Canon SD630. It's got a whopping 3in screen and you can pick it up for roughly $270 dollars on www.amazon.com.


I'm sure others here will also have good suggestions for you. As far as ultracompacts go, I've mostly looked into Canon's products, and not many from other manufacturers.