My camera needs replacing

[TooMuchButtHair]

Which camera should I buy?

Budget: $700, plus a lense.

Size: Camera size really isn't something I'm too concerned with - just nothing huge.

Features

How many megapixels will suffice for you?: 5.0, at the very least.

* What optical zoom will you need? 4x optical zoom, but to be honest, the bigger the better.

* How important is “image quality” to you? (7).

Do you care for manual controls? Just the shutter speed.

General Usage

* What will you generally use the camera for? I'd like to take a great deal of video (with sound).

* Will you be making big prints of your photos or not? No more than 1% of my photos will be printed.

Will you be shooting a lot of indoor photos or low light photos? There will be a lot of indoor shooting, but I anticipate mostly shooting outdoors.

Will you be shooting sports and/or action photos? Yes.

Miscellaneous

Are there particular brands you like or hate? Nope.

Are there particular models you already have in mind? Cannon Power Shot SD900; Canon Digital Rebel XT 8.0 MP, and the XTI; and the Canon Power Shot G7. I know I've only got Canon's on there, but I'm not bias toward them - I just don't know any other brand. I'm counting on those of you out there who know better to help me.

As I stated earlier, I do plan on taking a great deal of movies on my camera. In an ideal world, I'd like the camera to have an expandable memory card; I'd like it to take video in at least 640x480 at 30FPS, and I'd like it to be able to record the sound to go along with the video. I'd absolutely LOVE to get the Canon Digital Rebel XTI, but I don't know if it takes video.....

If anyone has any other suggestions, I'd absolutely love to hear them! I'm not closed minded about which camera to get at all (as long as it's in my price range).

Thanks!

[mattdm]

No video on SLR cameras, since there's no way to see what you're doing while the camera is recording the image. (Except on a few new "live sensor" from Olympus and Panasonc, and I don't think those have movie mode either.)

For the price, do you really mean $700 plus lens, or $700 including lens? If the former, how much for the total?

[SpecialK]

I'd recommend a decent video camera instead. You might even have enough left for a Canon A540 or similar camera for general picture-taking.

[TooMuchButtHair]

Thanks for the advice, but I'd really rather just have one camera. Having two would make long walks with the dogs a little difficult. I've had the chance to play around with a Cannon S3, and it's quit a camera. Are there other cameras that offer similar features? I.e., 640x480 video at 30FPS (60FPS would be awefully neat); 4x(+) opitcal zoom; capability to record sound with the video; and have at least 6.0MP for great picture taking.

It's a bit of a shot to my ego, but I'm having an aweful hard time with these cameras. There are so many that I'm just getting absolutely overwhelmed. This past weekend I spent a great deal of time at stores handling them at asking the people responsible for them questions, but they were...less than helpful. I only got, 'the video quality is good. I can't tell you the exact resolution, but I know it's good', from too many people. Generally I'm not big on looking for things online, but it sure as hell is nice to have the ability to click on the manufacturer's website, and see exactly what you need with the camera; but it's still new, and for me, it's very overwhelming. Any assistance you folks can render would be greatly appreciated.

[tim11]

Nowadays, video quality from digital camera is very high quality. Putting on DVD you can't tell the different. This is from a guy who like to use both (camcorder and ditigal still cam); ie. ME. :rolleyes: The problem is 1GB can only record about 10 minutes of highest quality clip; on my F30 at least.
S3 IS video quality? IS GOOD... I can't tell you the resolution.. but here is a link that should tell you all you need to know. I suggest you download the sample video footage and put on the DVD and see for yourself.
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon/powershot_s3-review/