Canon SD700 returned, getting a Sony T50? right thing to do?

Hello, i am a first time poster... looking for advice... quick back story..

Owned a SD400, for many years, loved the quality, the contrast, the colors.. only issue was night time photos.. not very good... just bought the SD700, supposed to have Image stabilation and improved night time shots... took the sd700 to mexico with friends, they have a Olympus 3040... their pictures were SO much cleaner, crisper, better color...

went to this site,
http://www.imaging-resource.com/IMCOMP/COMPS01.HTM

used their resources, and saw that the sony t50 and h5 had better color and contrast than the SD700...

everyloves the canons, is it just me???

does anyone know the true comparison between the cameras? the spec rather similar, but I can't find much on color quality, outside of the image compare site above... and that still leaves me wondering about the night time photo....

I know i am looking for the best of all worlds.. thanks for any advice

Hi, Low light capability is also very important to me in a point-and-shoot. I went with the Canon G7 and it is excellent in low light even without a flash.

This is tough. One of the guys that's done pro reviews here told me he can take good pictures with any camera. I agree with him and think I can too. So much of image quality depends on the photographer's understanding of basic photo principles and their camera. When people tell me they don't like a camera I always ask them why and then ask more questions so that I can narrow down whether the problem really lies with the camera or with the photographer's understanding of the camera and photography. It may be that your friend had been using their Olympus for a long time and just knew how to take better pictures with it. The Olympus 3040 has been around for a long, long time. It also offers a lot more manual control than the SD700. But I would be good money that the actual potential image quality of the SD700 is much better than the Olympus. Camera sensor technology has made quantum leaps since then.

I don't know why the Sonys you mentioned are supposed to have better quality in low light. Maybe you can tell me. But I think that if you learn more about what the SD700 can and can't do, you will be able to take better pictures with it - and any other camera.

Maybe you can tell me more about what you do and don't like about the pictures you were taking with the SD700. You said your friend's Olympus 3040 photos looked "cleaner, crisper, better color..." Do you know if your friend was doing an work on them with Photoshop or other software? I do some post-processing on all of my photos and it makes a huge difference on the final image quality.

I hope this helps. I know it may seem to just confuse the issue. But it's complicated. The camera companies want us to believe that we can just buy a camera and it will take great photos in any conditions. That's just not true. And pretty much all the digital cameras now are so good that the problem usually is with our expectations. That's not to say that you can't find a camera that will work better for you. You likely can. But lets sort it all out before you go buy another one and have the exact same experience.

Photo-John, you are right. A photographer needs to get to know his/her camera. But I owned a Olympus C-7000 and I tried everything to take a low-light shot but that camera was simply not capable. Sometimes it is just the camera. But most of the time it is the persons knowlege about the camera. I still own a HP 2.1mp camera it's about six years old and I can get it to take great low light shots.

here are two phots... olyx is the olympus, and sd700x is the canon..same subjects, almost same instant..

neither camera user does more than use AUTO and press the button... yes i should take some time to learn the camera..but for some the best camera is the camera that delivers the best image w/o effort... as a baseline these images show the olympus to be better..

neither user has done anything with photo software either..

the only thing I can give is the olympus is from the kodak site, and the sd700 is from shutterfly

the first image is the olympus, the second the canon

The Olympus photo certainly does look better. There are so many variables involved that it's hard for me to judge. Did you say you pulled these from the respective photo sharing sites, at these sizes? If the images were resized by the photo sharing sites that may make a big difference as the site has to use some software to resize the photos. We don't know what all that algorithm is doing to the photo. For a real fair comparison you'd have to either compare the original files or upload them both to the same photo sharing site.

But I'll say it again - the Olympus image does look better. On the other hand, I guarantee than the Canon image has more potential. It's a bigger, cleaner file that can be set up to look better. I know that under the circumstances that may not make you feel much better. My concern is that you're wanting to buy another camera based on this one experience. If you did make that decision, it seems to me, based on the evidence, you should buy an Olympus.

THANKS I agree with all your statements.. many unknowns... i did sent the Canon back.. I have used the image compare site I referred to in my original post, using the SD700 as a baseline, I see the G6 (guessing the older version to the G7) has much better colors, as well as the sony T30 and the T50, the G6 looks the best....