Need Help Choosing A Camera For My GF!!!

[collegeinvestor]

Hey everyone, I'm trying to pick out a quality camera for my girlfriend while at the same time taking advantage of Black Friday's prices. She'll probably use the camera 75% of the time for pics, and 25% of the time for videos.

I've narrowed my choices down to:

- Sony Cybershot DSC-T70 (8.1MP, $279.99)

- Sony Cybershot DSC-W90 (8.1MP, $199.99)

- Canon Powershot A720IS (8.0MP, $209.99)

- Casio Ex-Z1080 (10.1MP, $219.99)

Thanks for your help!!

Nick

[David Metsky]

Can you fill out the questionnaire at the top of the forum? There's not really enough info to make a reasonable choice.

Given that, off the top of my head I'd go for the A720 but I'm a Canon user.

[collegeinvestor]

Yeah, absolutely. Here you go:

Budget:

Less than $300, but obviously want the most bang for my buck.

Size

* What size camera are you looking for? Or does size not matter at all to you?

Small and compact would be nice, but I'm not going to make size a priority over quality.

Features

How many megapixels will suffice for you?

I really want at least 8 megapixels, but if there's a better camera with 7.2, that'd be fine.

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

At least 3x-4x, 6x would be great, but I'm looking for the best camera overall.

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

9.5-10


Do you care for manual controls?

I highly doubt my gf would use the manual controls, so no.

General Usage

* What will you generally use the camera for?

75-80% pictures, 20-25% video

* Will you be making big prints of your photos or not?

Probably at some point, yes.

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

Yes

Will you be shooting sports and/or action photos?

Yes

Miscellaneous

Are there particular brands you like or hate?

No, I have no biases.

Are there particular models you already have in mind?


Only the ones I listed above.

(If applicable) Do you need any of the following special features? (Wide Angle, Image Stabilization, Weatherproof, Hotshoe, Rotating LCD)

Image stabilization would be nice, but not necessarily needed.

[TheWengler]

I'd go with the Fuji F40. To take advantage of this cameras low light/indoor strengths she needs to know how/when to shut the flash off. If she isn't going to bother doing things like that then just get the Canon A570 IS.

[collegeinvestor]

Did a little bit more research, and narrowed my choices down to two:

- Panasonic DMC-TZ3

- Canon SD850 IS


Would love some advice from some of the experts on here, or from someone that owns either of these DC's. Thanks.