Pls,Help me find a digital camera!

[kalafalas]

Budget

No more than 400$ ( 250 euros )

Size

Dont really mind but it would be good to fit in a pocket

Features

7 megapixes minimum

4-5x minimum

image quality : definitely a 9

Do you care for manual controls? I dont have a lot of experience with digital cameras so no I dont mind.

General Usage

* What will you generally use the camera for?
Pictures of landscapes,mainly during vacation,pictures with friends,shoot videos

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

Will you be shooting a lot of indoor photos or low light photos?
Yeah I will.

Will you be shooting sports and/or action photos?
Rarely,so dont really care

Miscellaneous

Are there particular brands you like or hate?
Some friend of mine who is a photographer told me i should definitely buy a Canon but I dont have any favourites

Are there particular models you already have in mind?
Some of the Ixus IS series of Canon(Sd in America) like Ixus 80,90 and 950 and Fuji models like FinePix F50 fd but not very sure

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

Well,Image Stabilization.

Please If you can suggest something would be great cause my previous camera broke down and Im leaving on vacation in 3 days!
Thank you for your patience.

[AndyfromVA]

For shooting mainly out of doors, I'd go with one of the Canons. I'd pick one with an optical viewfinder, as it's very hard to see the LCD in bright sunlight. That would limit you to the Ixus 950, 960, 80 and 85. The 950 and 960 are older models (but still excellent) so you may be able to get a price break on them.

[KCook]

That is a generous budget. Some cameras with a modest price tag will be a little easier to learn and use.

The skimpiest of cameras can be awkward to hold steady for smooth video. I would like a more standard sized compact or even SLR-like camera for video.

The Fuji F50fd is a good low light choice. However, I don't think it's the best choice for a novice or casual shooter. It happens that I own a F45fd, which has a lot of similarities.

Canon is a popular choice. Their A-series cameras are decent performers with good versitility. If you can get by their toy-like styling. The SD-series is much more stylish. But all of these are ultracompacts. Again, for the video role I would lean toward Canon's larger SX100. I think a few Panasonic and Sony models would be worth a serious look as well. Not exactly "pocket" cameras, but if a wee SLR-like model would work, add the Z-series by Kodak and Fuji. Lots of choices. Here are links to more threads for more info -

Some advice, please.

sx100is vs. H3 vs. tz3/4 vs. ???

You have a LOT of homework to do in 3 days!!!!!

Kelly Cook

[kalafalas]

Thanks a lot for your help guys.Its going to be a tough research indeed :P but i think i wont add slr-like models to my list so goodbye SX100.
Possible candidates : Fuji F50fd (cause its cheap) Canon Ixus 950 and will see about the rest

But you confused me ( a bit ) about the Z series of Fuji.Also does anyone have something to comment on the Olympus Stylus 850SW or the other Stylus series?

[AndyfromVA]

The Olympus Stylus cameras are great (especially the SW models) if you need a weather resistant camera. Otherwise, they are probably not as good overall as competing models from Canon, Sony or Panasonic.

[KCook]

Oh drat! You're right, I had the Fuji S-series confused with "Z" -

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/ca...l.php?cam=1143

Sigh, yet another "senior moment".

Err, the F50fd is not super cheap. For the same money you could pick up a Canon A720 or Panasonic TZ4.

The Canon SD950 is a decent camera, but a bit pricey. You could find better bargains, if that matters.

Olympus Stylus is a nice camera. Very easy (well designed) user interface. Those who are super fussy about image quality usually stick with Canon and Panasonic though. If you want a flush lenses design like that 850SW then also take a look at the Sony T-series.

fuzzy Kelly

[kalafalas]

Well we definitely mix things up always :P .Im not talking about Canon SD950 but for Canon PowerShot SD850 which its european name is Canon Ixus 950 IS.sorry for this but its canon's most stupid marketing mistake.Its kinda racist ( lol ) cause european and americans cant talk about models unless they google them

Can anyone explain this : "Current zoom setting not shown on LCD"
cause i want to be sure that i have figured out properly

[KCook]

The LCD display on the back of a camera can be set to show a few of the camera's current controls. Note, you can also set the LCD on the same camera to give a "clean" display, without all this stuff in your face. Anyways, one of the common items to display is the amount of zoom. Typically with a bar line up near the top of the LCD, full wide angle at the left end, full telephoto being the right end, plus some sort of break or color change on the bar for the actual setting. But not all cameras show this. Nice enough feature, but not my idea of a deal breaker. Much, much more important for the LCD is simply that it is bright enough to be seen easily in daylight.

Sorry about the SD/IXUS mixup. Wretched marketing decision by Canon. Do agree that the SD850 is a lot more reasonable choice than the SD950. Especially now that the prices on the old SD850 are sliding off into clearance territory. Rather odd how Canon half buried the mode wheel on that design. Though that is a common practice for Panasonic. Anyways, even with the reduced prices, the SD850 is still in a tough neighborhood. As for the same money you could also consider the newer Canon SD770 (aka IXUS 85), Nikon S600, Panasonic TZ4, or Sony W150. All a bit more up-to-date in feature flavors than the SD850.

Kelly

[kalafalas]

Thx for the info.Now im only between Canon SD770 and Canon SD850.But unfortunately the site only has review of Canon SD850.I ll see if i can find any reviews of SD770 and then decide :P again thanks a lot guys


This is really getting annoying but I cant decide which one :P

[KCook]

Simply Google "Digicams - Canon Powershot SD770"