Picking the right DIGITAL CAMERA! aide moi

[econtrerasguzman]

i am looking for a digital camera like the CANON SD700 IS, i really want to buy it but i want to see what you guys think. i am looking for a 6+ MP digital camera around 300-400 dollars more in the lower end. i want to take professional pictures at night and day, closeups and panoramics. i want a camera with lots of manual settings for those requirements. and i hear that the CANON 700 IS does not have manual settings so if you guys know of a camera that does have manual settings like manual shutter speed and the lense speed can be manually adjusted that would be great.

thanx a lot for all your help

tequilamolotov

[Krispy Kritter]

What is your desired output? (ie. snapshots, 8x10's, etc.) For the most part, anything over 5MP is overkill unless you are planning to create posters or do heavy cropping. All(most) digital cameras suck for night/dark use. If you are trulyl wanting a professional grade camera, and one that is capable of night use, you will want to look at the digital SLR cameras. But they are way over your "budget".

[MJA]

check the PowerShot S2 IS and PowerShot S3 IS

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-PowerShot-Image-Stabilized-Zoom/dp/B000EMWBV0/sr=1-1/qid=1...e=UTF8&s=photo

review

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2006_reviews/s3is.html

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20K $399.00

http://www.beachcamera.com/shop/product.aspx?omid=122&ref=pricegrabber&utm_source=Pric...sku=PNDMCFZ20K

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ7 $260 to $280

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2006_reviews/fz7.html

its ganna cost you more if you want more manual settings

you can get the Nikon D50 (Body Only) for little over $400

http://www.beachcamera.com/shop/product.aspx?sku=NKD50

[econtrerasguzman]

im looking for a compact camera so SLR's arent for me, and i want it to have manual settings.

[hech54]

im looking for a compact camera so SLR's arent for me, and i want it to have manual settings.

You are missing out on taking amazing pictures then.
Even the Nikon D40 is a brilliant little piece of equipment.
And you can't get much more "manual" than a DSLR.
http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d40.htm

[Krispy Kritter]

You will have to compromise some on what you want (or need). "Compact" and "professional" can't really be used in the same sentence.

With that said, what you are really wanting is a good compact camera. Most of the cameras have decent manual settings, the Canon A5 for instance. But keep in mind, unless you are already proficient and knowledgable with cameras, you will spend most of the time in AUTO mode. Manually adjusting digital cameras isn't as forgiving or effective as with a standard SLR or DSLR.

[vico1]

I've got the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20K and love it.
It's somewhat within the Canon's price-range, and using the
Leica 12x zoom lens makes it a very nice choice!

The long range zoom comes in Very handy, for close-up shots.

Tho...It very well may be a little bigger than you're looking for.

[rkgibbons]

I hope you were kidding in your original message when you said that you wanted to take "professional" pictures...because you won't get anything near professional image quality with a compact camera. A compact camera can have all the features and manual controls in the world, but you're still stuck with really sub-quality lens optics (and a very small image sensor making the poor lens quality all the more apparent).

[ozymango]

I can personally and heartily endorse pretty much any of the Canon A600 series cameras for much of what you want -- great images, manual control, and (reasonably) compact size. True, they're not as small as the ELPH series, but for the size/cost/quality balance, Canon's are sweet.

Also the A series allow you to use AA batteries (preferably nimh), so you can keep a bunch of extras pretty cheaply on-hand during those long days of shooting.

As for whether or not your images will be "professional" ... well, a great deal of that is up to you.

[InXess]

dpreview.com has all the tests and technical info you may need. Canon 700 IS is an excellent piece of equipment among subcompacts. Very well built, full alloy body (titanium?), viewfinder (!) etc. etc. Comparative test there will help you decide but there are not many that can challenge the camera you want to buy in it's category (if any...).

Things to look for:
-what your needs are...
-optics (purple fringing -annoying (!), distortion, sharpness)
-sensitivity
-CMOS noise level (higher ISO makes it obvious)
-internal processing (compression, color fidelity, speed)
-battery type and life
-price

If you get high marks, go for it... DSLR's are good but compact can be always with you wherever you go.
http://www.steves-digicams.com has no good photographic tests and for that reason is not a serious contender for me... you simply don't know what his judgment is based on or if you do (rarely) you have to take it at face value... not good enough.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canonsd700is/

[ozymango]

If you get high marks, go for it... DSLR's are good but compact can be always with you wherever you go.

A very good point -- if you're more likely to carry your camera everywhere you go if it's smaller, that beats out not carrying a more expensive, bigger camera. If that made sense. That is, you're more likely to take that great shot if you've got a camera, any camera, on you, than if you've got some lovely boat anchor sitting on your desk at home.

Along those lines, I wouldn't make the manual camera modes a make-or-break thing, then, as the automatic modes in most decent digicams are pretty darn good, and the viewfinders in your non-SLR cameras don't allow you to really see what you final image will truly look like (especially night shots). And there's always Photoshop to correct for stuff you used to fix in the darkroom.