Canon SD950IS and SD870IS

[jen in co]

Budget
[/B]
$400

Size

A Compact P&S -- something to carry in the backpack or diaper bag.

Features

8MP -- currently have an old S1 IS (3.2 MP) and I want something with better resolution for cropping and some larger prints
Optical Zoom -- Love the 10X on my current camera, but know I'll probably have to give some of this up when I go a compact P&S


Image Quality
8-9 ... very important; this will be my main camera for a while...I may eventually make the jump to DSLR, but for now, I want something that takes reliably good pictures simply

Do you care for manual controls?
Not much, mainly use auto and some of the standard settings

General Usage

I'll generally be using the camera for pics of kids -- school, candids, some sports (5-6 year old soccer), museums, etc.. I'd like the option of making some bigger canvas prints, so I would like higher resolution than my current camera. I'll be shooting a combination of indoor and outdoor -- one of my worries with the compact P&S type camera is whether the built in flash will be good indoors.

Are there particular brands you like or hate?
Are there particular models you already have in mind?

I have loved my Canon, so I'm focused on two models right now:
- Canon PowerShot SD950IS ($334 at Amazon)
- Canon PowerShot SD870IS ($255 at Amazon)

I already have a 4G Sandisk Extreme III Card (from a friend), so I don't need to purchase that and could go to a higher price point for the camera and stay within $400 if there are other models I should consider.

Does anyone have any feedback on these two models and the differences between them? I'd really appreciate any help :)

[David Metsky]

The main selling points of the SD870 is the wide angle lens (28mm) and the 3" LCD. This means you don't get an optical viewfinder and you have less telephoto reach on the zoom.

At this point I'd take a look at the SD890 (5x zoom) if you want to stick with the Canon SD-series. I'd also look at the Panasonic TZ5, recently reviewed on this site.

[AndyfromVA]

The SD950IS has a larger sensor (usually better for low light pictures) but has 12 megapixels, which largely negates the advantage of the larger sensor. The SD950IS also has an optical viewfinder, which the SD870IS does not. The 8 megapixel SD870IS has a wider wide angle lens.

To my eyes, the picture quality is very similar.

[KCook]

I haven't seen any posts by Sarah recently. But here is a link to another thread that may help out with the flash and zoom issues that you raised -

http://www.dcresource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38184

Kelly Cook