wasabi
09-02-2007, 05:09 AM
My old canon broke, so i want to buy a new digital camera soon, but as i did not really follow the development on the market the last years it's VERY exhausting reading all the professional/user reviews and comparing all the pros and cons, as there seem to be so many great cameras out there these days. I guess i should focus on my needs and find the best fitting camera that way. Would be great if you could help me with that - thank you. :)
Budget
* What budget have you allocated for buying this camera? 200-300 EURO
Size
* What size camera are you looking for? Or does size not matter at all to you? Standard compact. Not too tiny, but still comfortable to carry around.
Features
* How many megapixels will suffice for you? I guess around 7MP should do it for my needs.
* What optical zoom will you need? (None, Standard = 3x-4x, Ultrazoom = 10x-12x, Other - Specify) 10-12x sounds very interesting, but i guess that would cause a size problem then, maybe something between 4-6, or 4-10 if it does not get too bulky that way.
* How important is “image quality” to you? (Rate using a scale of 1-10) Seems the most important thing to me, so let's say "9". Nice LCD quality would be great, too, but is not the most important thing.
Do you care for manual controls? Never did before, so i assume i won't change soon. I'd say i prefer to have some set options and just point and shoot. I'm willing to change (a little) if this helps picture quality, but i will probably never aim to produce art.. ;)
General Usage
* What will you generally use the camera for? Random pictures of people, friends and pets, holiday pictures, sometimes concerts/party pictures (low light an issue?).
* Will you be making big prints of your photos or not? I won't print out pictures at all.
Will you be shooting a lot of indoor photos or low light photos? Can't really tell. I would say 60/40 indoor/outdoor.
Will you be shooting sports and/or action photos? Not really. I will be shooting concerts pictures sometimes (both small and big venues), and certainly my cats in ACTION :D, so a fast shutter lag still would be nice! My old canon was a bit slow.
Miscellaneous
Are there particular brands you like or hate? No.
Are there particular models you already have in mind?
Canon powershot A630
Canon Powershot A720IS
Canon Ixus 800IS (= SD700IS)
It does not have to be canon though, i just read nice review on those (guess i can compare 710IS reviews for the new 720IS, right?).
Also read good (and some bad) stuff on Panasonic FZ8 and Fuji F31fd.
(If applicable) Do you need any of the following special features? (Wide Angle, Image Stabilization, Weatherproof, Hotshoe, Rotating LCD)
I have not so much idea of the (dis/)advantages of those features, guess i don't need weatherproof though. IS sounds nice from what i read the last days, but i don't know if i would really need that, too.
Budget
* What budget have you allocated for buying this camera? 200-300 EURO
Size
* What size camera are you looking for? Or does size not matter at all to you? Standard compact. Not too tiny, but still comfortable to carry around.
Features
* How many megapixels will suffice for you? I guess around 7MP should do it for my needs.
* What optical zoom will you need? (None, Standard = 3x-4x, Ultrazoom = 10x-12x, Other - Specify) 10-12x sounds very interesting, but i guess that would cause a size problem then, maybe something between 4-6, or 4-10 if it does not get too bulky that way.
* How important is “image quality” to you? (Rate using a scale of 1-10) Seems the most important thing to me, so let's say "9". Nice LCD quality would be great, too, but is not the most important thing.
Do you care for manual controls? Never did before, so i assume i won't change soon. I'd say i prefer to have some set options and just point and shoot. I'm willing to change (a little) if this helps picture quality, but i will probably never aim to produce art.. ;)
General Usage
* What will you generally use the camera for? Random pictures of people, friends and pets, holiday pictures, sometimes concerts/party pictures (low light an issue?).
* Will you be making big prints of your photos or not? I won't print out pictures at all.
Will you be shooting a lot of indoor photos or low light photos? Can't really tell. I would say 60/40 indoor/outdoor.
Will you be shooting sports and/or action photos? Not really. I will be shooting concerts pictures sometimes (both small and big venues), and certainly my cats in ACTION :D, so a fast shutter lag still would be nice! My old canon was a bit slow.
Miscellaneous
Are there particular brands you like or hate? No.
Are there particular models you already have in mind?
Canon powershot A630
Canon Powershot A720IS
Canon Ixus 800IS (= SD700IS)
It does not have to be canon though, i just read nice review on those (guess i can compare 710IS reviews for the new 720IS, right?).
Also read good (and some bad) stuff on Panasonic FZ8 and Fuji F31fd.
(If applicable) Do you need any of the following special features? (Wide Angle, Image Stabilization, Weatherproof, Hotshoe, Rotating LCD)
I have not so much idea of the (dis/)advantages of those features, guess i don't need weatherproof though. IS sounds nice from what i read the last days, but i don't know if i would really need that, too.