Help me friends.

[asim99]

Hello,
I am planning a new Digital Camera, Infact my first camera ever. So here are the details

Budget:-
about $600-$700

Size:-
Small size, Should fit in pocket

Features:-
Megapixal:- 10 or more
Optical zoom:- The more the better. i'll be OK with atleast 5
Image quality:- Very important, i like clear,sharp and crispy images. Rating 10.

General Usage

What will you generally use the camera for?
Party Photos, city visits, event photography

Will you be making big prints of your photos or not?
No. only up to 6" x 8"

Will you be shooting a lot of indoor photos or low light photos?

Not alot but there will be significant number of indoor/low light photos . It should be able to produce fine iamges in low light

Will you be shooting sports and/or action photos?

No. but some casual photos may be of moving objects.

Also i would like to make some movies of good quality ( not too important but feature should be there)


Miscellaneous:-

Are there particular brands you like or hate?
No. Any brand or camera within my requirements

Are there particular models you already have in mind?

Canon G10, Canon 990IS. DSLR Canon Rebel XSi 450D or any other suggested by you guys

But Xsi is not pocket size and lack movie feature and also require some skills to get best of the camera.


Thanx

[Photo-John]

The pocket-sized requirement is the tough element here. Unless you've got big pockets, the Canon PowerShot G10 isn't going to fit in your pocket, either. And you mentioned that you believed the XSi would require more skill to get good quality. That's really true for any camera. The XSi and other entry-level DSLRs all have auto modes just like point-and-shoot cameras. So you can do point-and-shoot photography with them and image quality will be better. But they cost more and they're not as easy to carry around.

Your budget is fine. You should be able to get a good camera that fits your needs for about $400. Ten megapixels should be fine for the size of prints your're talking about - more tha enough, actually. To get you started, take a look at these two cameras and let us know what you think. They're on the big side for pocket cameras, but they'll fit. And they're very powerful little cameras.

Panasonic Lumix TZ5 >>
Canon PowerShot SX110 IS >>

If you want true pocket size, then the Canon PowerShot SD series cameras are an excellent choice. I actually own the SD950 IS and aside from the lens not being wide enough, I love it. You can read my review for that camera here:

Canon PowerShot SD950 IS Pro Review >>

Let us know what you think of those cameras - how they fit or don't fit your needs. Then we can give you some more direction. Don't get too caught up in megapixels. They are overhyped by camera companies. For the size of prints you're talking about, I think 8-megapixels and up will work just fine.

[asim99]

Yesterday I went to B&H NYC store keeping in mind two cameras- Canon's G10 and SD 990IS. I saw the two over there. (for the first time) and some DSLRs. DSLRs were way bigger then my thoughts. G10 is also little bigger , definatly not fitting in any pocket. But little baby SD 990IS was looking great. It was beautifull but unfortunalty it was not available at shop so after long thought i bought G10. And after my first shots with it i am amazed with the results. It is great. Good zoom and picture quality. But it is $100 more costly then 990IS. So if size is your most important point while picking camera and you want the best picture quality with that then i recomand to go with 990IS. But if you have little more money and quality is more important then size then go for G10.

[Liz]

Yesterday I went to B&H NYC store keeping in mind two cameras- Canon's G10 and SD 990IS. I saw the two over there. (for the first time) and some DSLRs. DSLRs were way bigger then my thoughts. G10 is also little bigger , definatly not fitting in any pocket. But little baby SD 990IS was looking great. It was beautifull but unfortunalty it was not available at shop so after long thought i bought G10. And after my first shots with it i am amazed with the results. It is great. Good zoom and picture quality. But it is $100 more costly then 990IS. So if size is your most important point while picking camera and you want the best picture quality with that then i recomand to go with 990IS. But if you have little more money and quality is more important then size then go for G10.

You made a great choice. I would just make sure you try it out in the situations you mentioned above before the return policy is up (party-indoor - low light, etc). I don't mean to be negative at all. As I said, it's a great camera. However, since you want to use it for indoor shots, you will have to play around with the settings a bit. There aren't really any p&s cameras that do "great" in low light.

Liz