What camera should I get?

[jhaquett]

I am going to buy a new, fancier camera for my semester abroad in Denmark. I need some help choosing.

I was hoping that someone on this board has experience with one or more of the following cameras. I know a lot of you here shoot SLR, but all of these cameras are "bridge" (in between point & shoot and SLR) cameras. Thanks for any help.

I am looking for a 7+ megapixel, 10X + optical zoom around $250 that also has optical image stabilization (or at least some kind of mechanism that isn't just special settings to reduce blur). Thanks.

Canon PowerShot SX100IS

Canon PowerShot S5 IS

Kodak EasyShare Z812 IS

Sony Cybershot DSC-H7

Olympus SP-550UZ

[loganmike]

I have the Kodak easyshare 712 IS and LOVE it. It retails for about 240. 12x optical, 7 or 8 megapixels.

.26 shutter lag was the selling point for me.

hope this helps

oh, the price is pretty damn fine as well

[jhaquett]

Thanks, there were a lot of good reviews and upside with the Kodak, one being the $200 price tag on Amazon for the 812

One thing that is pretty crappy is that the dumb thing doesn't even come with a charger?! Pretty wild...

[SteelieD]

I have no experience with the models you mention, however, I have had both a Cannon (2MP) and a Kodak (5MP). I really enjoyed the photo quality from the Cannon and absolutely hated the Kodak. Now the Kodak is a lower end camera than the one you are looking at so some of my experience can be attributed to that I'm sure. But, the shutter lag sucks and the image quality is worse. (Fortunately, my wife is fine with it!) My old Cannon, even at 2MP, took much crisper, richer pictures.

Now I primarily use my Pentax Optio W10, only because I dropped the Cannon in the water too many times, so the waterproof feature became more important than image quality. I wish I still had the Cannon though because I think the image quality was still better than my Pentax. Cannon's are consistently rated as among the best for photo quality....
http://reviews.cnet.com/4370-6501_7-111-103.html?tag=dir

I'm sure Adam will chime in with regard to the Cannons as well.

Take it for what it's worth! And good luck... A semester abroad sounds like a blast!

[jhaquett]

Thanks. I already sent Adam a pm about it :lol:

[Adam Grace]

Steelie, you made me chuckle...I do really like Canons! The Canon PowerShot SX100IS is a great smaller "big zoom" camera. The S5IS is a great larger version.

Josh, you live in Chico right? If so stop by Best Buy when I'm working there and I'll give you all the information you need. You can try them out for yourself. Since I've sold them for about 3 years now I've become pretty knowledgeable about digital cameras.

[jhaquett]

Yea I'm in Chico. When are you working? I could come in later today but I am headed to the coast this weekend.

[SteelieD]

Steelie, you made me chuckle...I do really like Canons!

:wink: