Disappointed with Nikon s610, advice?

[sage]

The backstory: I have a 2001 Sony Cybershot P100 that has served me well for the last 7 years. It was a 5 mp with 3x zoom. Not a fantastic camera by any means, but I didn't have any major complaints. My toddler broke it last weekend. He pushed on the lens and now the focus will not work.

Since it was 7 years old to begin with, I went out and did some camera shopping. I got a Coolpix s610. I hate it...

The pictures are crummy. Dark. The flash is horrible. Some of the outdoor shots were nice but not enough to redeem itself.

The videos it took were even worse. (This is a big deal breaker for me. I take lots of video of the toddler to post on my blog for family. It doesn't need to be excellent quality like a video camera, but decent with good sound.) The sound on the s610 was very quiet and muffled, you could barely hear what was being said, whereas the sound on the Sony was crisp and loud. Also, when playing the s610's videos on Windows Media Player, there was a 5-10 second delay between the sound and picture.

So the s610 is going back tomorrow, but I am at a loss for what to replace it with. I have even considered seeing how much it would cost to fix my Sony, but I find it pretty sad that a brand new camera with current technology can't keep up with a 7 year old dinosaur. With all the changes in the last 7 yrs and all the choices out there today, surely I can find a decent all-arounder??

I thinking of trying the Canon A720 IS. Or maybe look into the Sony's again? (I was trying to stay away from the proprietary stuff.) Can anyone recommend?

If you have read through this and are still willing to write a reply, thank you!!

[sage]

Nevermind...

Bought a Canon Powershot SX110 IS today. Love it.

Thanks for all the help..... :frown5:

[Pink Dragonfly]

I had the same Sony Cybershot as you for 7 years...I replaced it a couple of weeks ago with a Sony DSC W120 (7.2MP, 4xzoom, good macro option) that was on sale and I'm really pleased with it. Simple to use, good quality. I belive there are better ones in the same range - this one just happened to be cheap and I wanted a family camera to supplement my DSLR. So check out the Sonys, you won't be disappointed!

Mette