Help me make a Choice

[TheGuyPhotographer]

Hi I'm new to this board heres a very short introduction of myself. I'm 18 currently taking Advanced photography in my H.S and I'm an aspiring photographer planning to eventually go into a photography school I decided its time to buy a digital camera because I'm going on vacation to the East Coast and I wanted something that would give me proffesional results but portable. My budget is around 350-450. The cameras it came down to were The Olympus sp-350, Fujifilm finepix E-900 and s-80, or s-70 I want to learn to work with RAW but the s-80 doesnt have that so I'm not sure about that one. I already know all the specs for each camera
but I don't know how the compare aginst each other quality wise any input will be greatly appreciated.

[Sebastian]

You make professional results, not the camera. There are Pulitzer Prize winning photogs using point and shoot cameras overseas. Since you are in a class currently, you should have an idea of what you want to shoot. Pick the camera that will allow you to get better results in the areas that you are interested in.

[Erik Stiegler]

When I was shopping for a new compact camera, I ended up with the SP-350 because it can shoot RAW, and has a hot shoe.

I didn't end up comparing it to the cameras you're looking at because none of them have a hot shoe.

I'm willing to bet that any of the cameras you're looking at can deliver the goods concerning image quality. Features and performance (like autofocus speed, battery life) would be the deciding factors for me.

[SmartWombat]

Erik, I agree.
Same reason I bought the Minolta A1 and A2, hot shoe and external sync terminal.
5MP on the A1 and 8MP on the A2, very capable cameras.

[TheGuyPhotographer]

Thanks for the input and Sebastian I totally agree its the photographer who makes the picture not the camera I decided to go with the olympus because it wont drain my wallet and it has almost everything I want from my digital camera I'm so excited can't wait to go buy it or order it online whichever. Thanks