Advice With Selecting a New Compact Digital

[Spring2411]

Good afternoon all,

I need a little help with selecting a new compact digital camera. I have been to several local camera shops and continue to walk out more confused than when I went in. Each shop seems to have their favorite.

I currently own and use a Fuji FinePix S5700. This camera has been okay in my opinion, but lacks a few options and tends to be bulky for taking on vacation, etc. I like the fact that it has a viewfinder and a decent zoom, but the LCD is fair at best, and the shooting speed is slow.

I am looking for a compact camera that I can slip into my purse, easily take on vacation, use at family gatherings, and I would love to to able to take indoor action shots of my son skateboarding. I also like to shoot quite a few macro shots as well. I often have pictures blown up and printed in multiples.

I have been looking at the Olympus Stylus 1010 (highly recommended by Ritz Camera), the Sony Cybershot DSC-W170 (highly recommended by a friend), and the Canon PowerShot A650 (highly recommended by a frequent contributor to ShutterStock). I like the fact that they all feature 10.0 megapixels or higher, they all have a decent optical zoom, they are all small enough to carry with me, and they are all under $400. I am not so sure about Sony's proprietary storage and such, but could probably deal with it.

Your thoughts and opinions would be welcomed.

Thanks!

[Anbesol]

Ah, I've always been a fan of the Fuji S5x series, but yeah the LCD was never anything to write home about. Of the ones you mentioned, they are all good, but I would personally stick with the A650, I find that Canon tends to make the most friendly user interface on point and shoots, great shutter lag, great battery performance, the list goes on. Plus their new A6 series cameras have a great compact design to them thats also more solid. There are plenty of good things to be said about the others too - they are all good choices so I don't think you'll go wrong any way, but my vote is for the Canon.

[Spring2411]

Thank you Anbesol. I have heard goog things about Canons, but I have never owned one myself.

I originally started looking at the Olympus because it uses the same storage as the Fuji, so I could continue to use my current storage cards.

I think I need to go and handle all three again and make a decision.