I'm heading to Iraq SOON. I need a digital camera to take with me. It needs to be small enough to carry with all the other gear I'll have with me, easy enough to use, and rugged enough to survive occasional bumps and thumps.
Minimum criteria I am looking for:
- 3.2 mexapixel
- Compact Design (small to medium, prefer a more uniform shape to something resembling an SLR. Needs to be easily stored.)
- 3x optical zoom
- Prefer AA battery power (AA’s are easy to come by. A/C power to charge a proprietary battery may not be)
- ISO 400 or higher. Need camera to be able to focus fast and shoot FAST.
- $275 price ceiling - negotiable. Of course, less expensive is better. But functionality rules over price. Just don't want to put hundreds of dollars into a camera and have it break a week later.
I have a Fuji Finepix 3800 now. It's about the right size but just a bit too bulky. However, the main reasons I don’t want to take it are because it has trouble focusing and taking pictures in low light (dusk or evening - example: Can't autofocus on a person 6-8' away sitting in a chair next to a lamp with 40-50 watt bulb), and its ISO 100 only and it takes too long to take a picture. From button pressure to shutter closure, subjects move and blur a lot. Other than those items, I am very satisfied with the 3800.
So using the Finepix 3800 as a baseline and understanding what I don’t like about it along with what I need to deploy with, can anyone suggest or recommend an upgrade?
Thanks.