Which Camera is Best? Help greatly appreciated.

[italianguy1378]

Thank you for taking the time to open this thread and assist me in my camera purchasing decision. I am a high school senior getting ready to head off to college. I have been saving money to purchase a great camera for my trips this summer and in college. Currently my budget is $550. I am having difficulty deciding on a camera because I don't want to waste my money and regret the decision. I have to make my decision soon because graduation and my Italy trip are coming up soon.

I am deciding between 4 camera primarily, the Canon PowerShot S3 IS, Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30, Sony DSC-H2, and Sony DSC-H5. I have found all 4 for $460 or less. Below I have a link to a side by side comparison between the 4 cameras.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/comp...dsch5&show=all

So anyways, I pretty much know nothing about cameras and what certain specifcations and features accomplish. However, I can tell you what I will primarily use it for. I want to be able to photograph sports (particularly tennis, wakeboarding, soccer, horseback riding, and surfing but everything really) and wildlife (because I plan on going on biology study abroad trips to the Galapagos, Belize, and Africa). Also, I would like to take pictures of my trip to Italy, such as the architechture, art, and landscape. Still, being a college student and not a professional photographer, I would like to be able to take pictures friends and events we attend. Additionally, I would desire a camera that best fits the following: great image zoom, good amount of megapixels, ability to take high quality video with sound and for extended periods of time, take pictures of moving objects without blur, and be able to take pictures quickly one after the other. Unfortunately, I am also concerned about camera portability. For this reason I do not know if the 4 cameras mentioned above are right for me since I want to conveniently take my camera with me to casual events and outings. Moreover, the video quality on the camera is of utmost importance, so if you all suggest, I would consider purchasing a digital video recorder instead as long as it can take good stills. I know I desire many different things for camera, so I am asking all of you experts which will fit all my needs the best. Again, I am open to suggestions on the best camera I mentioned above or a similar model, or other more compact cameras, or a digital video recorder. THANK YOU sooo much for your time and help. I wish I could return the favor, but I am only knowledgeable about Apple computers, Ford mustangs, and playing tennis. If you need to know anything about those things, I will be glad to help. You are welcome to contact me on my AIM, italianguy1378. Thanks again.

[Sebastian]

None of those will be very good for sports. Getting decent shots will be limiting and highly dependent on preframing and prefocusing. They would be great for the slower subjects, people, buildings, etc. My suggestion would be to look around for used 10Ds/D60s/D30s/Rebels or equivalent. The AF on an SLR is capable of keeping up and even an older mid-range model with a low-end lens will do better at sports than a high-end compact digicam.