so many cameras! ah!

[bornaconstance]

i currently have a nikon coolpix 3200 (my first and only digital camera ever). i'm happy with how user-friendly it is and the software is mediocre. i'm thinking about upgrading to something with better picture quality, and something to outrank the flaws i have come across with my coolpix.

i'm very unhappy with the lowlight resolution of pictures with the coolpix. i know almost any camera will come across this, but with a mere 3.2 MP, i really want to do better. and the shutter speed between taking one picture to another drives me mad. otherwise the point and shoot ease makes me happy.

so i went across cnet, pcworld, and newegg to see what was popular, highly rated and i've narrowed it between 4 cameras.

i want a nice point and shoot compact camera. i prefer something with automatic settings, but i'm not afraid to be manual, i'm a quick learner when i try. and a good video mode with no noises in the back from the camera. i also want something that can keep up with technology. i'll be leaving to study abroad in Caen, france in january, so i definitely want something that will last me till and through then for wonderful memories.

Olympus SP-350
i like the 8MP but only a 3x zoom? and i've read a few comments about it being a bit slow.

Canon Powershot A620
a fair 7.1mp and 4x zoom. i keep coming across this camera as a good pick. and i hear the canons are a good brand.

Fujifilm Finepix E900
a whopping 9mp and a good 4x zoom. but are there too many manual settings?

Olympus C-7000
another fair 7.1 mp and an awesome 5x zoom.

and i'm totally up for any other camera suggestions other than the above.
:thumbsup:

[Anbesol]

megapixels shouldnt be the first thing youre looking at. If your nikon is getting mediocre shots at 3.2 megapixels its very little, if anything to do with the resolution.

a620...

as far as your manual concerns go - you want the most manual capabilities possible. they all have automatic modes and more automatic modes then you will ever need... Also, you really need to narrow it down to high zoom or low zoom - because youre comparing apples and oranges here and it quite honestly doesnt make sense to ask to pick between a standard digicam and an EVF ultrazoom - theyll both perform very differently and fit different lifestyles and shooting styles so what you have to decide is wether ultra zoom is or isnt for you.

first of all, do you mind having a slightly, sometimes significantly larger body on your camera? do you want more sports, action, and fast type of shots? do you want great low light performance when using the zoom?

depending on your answers to those questions - you can at least narrow it down significantly to two categories. With zoom comes different zoom performance - how fast does it take to zoom, and primarily aperture range. you want small aperture range and the aperture range on high zoom cameras are *significantly* smaller range then larger cameras giving you better sports - fast - low light camera performance. however without using the zoom at all there will be little to no differences in performance.