Canon a630 or wait and see?

[ehrabak]

Hello there. I am in the market for a new digital camera, and I think I have an idea which brand I want to use and all (Canon seems to do well in the reviews I have read). I plan on using this new camera for vacation photos, family pics, etc. I would also like to start getting into photography as a hobby but I know that any lower cost camera that I can afford probably would not be ideal for this. Here is my dilemma - I recently thought I had my option narrowed down - the Canon Powershot a630. It is down to about $200 - which is well within my price range. Then Canon announced the a650 (Which will be about $150 over my budget) as well as a couple others - I believe the 720 and the sx100. The new cameras offer a new chip, better megapixels, and image stabilzation.
I don't know - for an amateur without a huge budget, is it worth waiting to see if these new cameras are any good or at least worth the extra money, or should I just go for the camera that gets decent reviews that I know I can afford? I know that the decision is mine - just hoping that someone else out there has faced the same dilemma and would be willing to share how they came to their decision.
Also - any insight would be great - is image stabilization just a gimmick or does it really help? Same with face recognition software - looks great on paper but does it really make a difference?

Thank you for your time.
Eric

[David Metsky]

The A570 offers the newer chip, more MP, and IS, for under $200. IS is not a gimmick, but it's not the solution to all of life's problems. It can allow you to get shots that you could otherwise not get, and for that reason alone it's worth it, IMO. I'm not yet sold on face detection.

The big advantages of the 630 over the 570 is larger CCD (which leads to better image quality) and the fold out LCD. The bigger sensor would be a big deal if you were planning on printing larger pictures, but based on your description I don't think it would be a big deal. The fold out LCD great, but you'll have to decide if it's worth it.

[ehrabak]

So, my budget is around $250 (give or take a few). Do you think that it would be worth waiting and seeing what this new round of cameras brings? I know the 650 will retail at about $400. For my current needs, the megapixels of the 630 would probably be fine - just kind of unsure of what to do. Spend the money now when updates are on the horizon or wait and see (and in the process probably miss out on any remaining cheaper 630s)?

I went in and looked at a 630 today - the LCD picture quality was not all that great.

Ok - if I was starting from scratch here - my budget is about $250. I would want a camera at about 7.1 or better megapixels. Zoom - at least 4x. The swivel LCD is nice but is not necessary. I would want something (obviously) that takes nice shots and would be easy to use. I would be using the camera for casual photos and vacation shots (probably - I would like to get into amateur photography). Don't have the cash to get a awesome camera yet though.

What would be a nice quality camera within my range?

Thank yo uso much for you time.
Eric

[DigitalDarkroom]

Another option to keep in mind... if you buy your camera at one of the big box stores (Best Buy, Circuit City, etc), some of them have a deal where if you get/have their store credit card and buy an item over a certain value, you can pay it off over several months or even a year without interest if you make the minimum monthly payment. I haven't tried this myself, yet, so I don't know what the negatives are, but I'm seriously looking at it.

Still, if you have $250 in the bank to pay the first monthly payment, it's a way to stretch your budget

Example: Here's Circuit City's Canon list. You can click the "No Interest" banner to see the terms of the current offer. Camera's over $299 get the 12 month deal.

I'll start a thread in the "Where Should I Buy" forum to find out what others' opinions/experiences with this deal are, if you or anyone else are interested.

[David Metsky]

Based on your criteria, I'd get the A570. It does everything you need, image quality will be fine, and it has the features you want. The price will allow you to buy the accessories that you need (case, NiMH rechargeable batteries and charger, larger SD card) without busting the bank.