Canon or Pentax Digital Help

[wing]

I am wanting to buy a NEW compact digital camera. Things that are important to me are the following: easy to use, good photo quality, the ability to connect to a PC and download the images. I have an association that I can choose from the following cameras: Canon PowerShot SD30, Canon PowerShotA620, Canon PowerShotS80 and a Pentax that has 6 MegaPixels (Optio S60).

Which one is the best and why? Also, how important is the MegaPixel along with the Zoom. I am an inexperienced so any and all advice is much much appreciated. Thanks.

[another view]

I'm not familiar with any of those cameras, but any current digital camera with a decent brand name will do what you're asking.

A higher number of megapixels (mp) means that there's more resolution. How big do you want to print? If you only make 4x6 prints, then anything over 2mp is overkill - although higher mp usually also gives you more features. I've seen decent 8x10's from 2mp but if you regularly print that size you'll probably want at least 4 or 5mp. You shouldn't notice a difference between 4mp and 5mp in an 8x10, but might start seeing it between 4 and 8mp (double). The downside of more mp is that the files are larger so you'll fit less of them on a memory card of a given size.

The zoom range is usually given as a number and "X". Why, I don't know - marketing, I guess. Higher "X" (8x, 10x, etc) means there's a bigger zoom range from wide angle to telephoto than a lower "X" number. More isn't necessarily better - some cameras start at a wider point than others.

Take a trip to Best Buy, etc and take a look at these three. See which one works best for you, and also check the reviews section on this site.