Best cheap camera with good image quality?

[noobie]

Here are my choices:-

Pentax OptioS
£99

Nikon Coolpix 3700
£150 PC World online

Canon A75
£142 Cameras2u.com

Canon A85
£173 Cameras2u.com

Sony P73
£154

I need sharp image quality (no blurriness or softness) and a good movie would be a bonus.

1. Which one of the above is best? (I'm leaning towards the Sony)
2. Is the picture quality much better than the Pentax? (which has a great price).

[Thon]

Best camera for cheap would be the Canon A75/85. They would have almost everything a serious photographer would need (except a good movie mode) for a cheap price. The slightly more expensive A80/95 are also worth considering, with the swivel LCD.

The Optio S is an ultra-compact which is great looking and easy to carry around, but you do miss out on the lack of manual controls, weaker flash and poorer low light capabilities.

The Sony is also not too bad, but the Memory Sticks are more expensive than CFs.

[ReF]

I agree with the earlier reply.

I don't know how much the sonys have improved over the last year, but I really disliked them (the older ones in that line). If you know anyone that works in electronics/camera retail, they might tell you that they get a lot of sony returns, and not much else.

about blurry corners, almost all of the consumer digi cams have blurry corners compared to nice SLR lenses. you won't notice most of the time though, unless your camera is stated as having blurry corners compared to other consumer cams.

[noobie]

Thanks for the replies.

I've swung back in favour of the A75, but would either of you know the answer to the question here?
http://www.dcresource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3039

Thanks