Sony DSC P100 or Sony DSC P200? Which one should i get?

[redorblue]

I know the P200 is obviously better but i really don't like the fact that it doesn't have in-camera trimming/cropping, but the P100 does. Money isn't a problem. Is the P200 a lot better or am i not loosing out on much if i just get the P100?
Thanks for any help! Really appreciate it!

[Audible]

Honest opinion?

Well, firstly, I don't like sony products. Im biased against them because I'm on a first name basis with my local specialist sony repairer due to the pathetic reliability I have with the 4 sony products I unfortunately own.

Now that is out of the way, I wouldn't consider the p200. 8 megapixels is a complete waste with a p&s camera or any brand because the built in lens don't have the resolving power to utilize all those pixels properly.
Put simply, take the same shot with a 3 mega pixel and a 8 mega pixel p&s camera, print it out at 4x6 or 5x7 size and you will not see the difference. Mega pixels is marketing hype with the p&s market. For a 5x7 sized print you do not need any more than 3 mega pixel. And any more than about 5 mega pixels is a waste due to the small lens typical of p&s cameras.

Secondly, 3x zoom range is also quite poor. 38mm is not wide at all and 114mm isn't very long at all, though admitedely, you can extend the zoom further with the digital zoom as you have "pixels to burn" but nothing will buy you more width. Don't plan on any great pano's with these camera's.

There are two types of p&s cameras imho. Small, candid easy to use camera's you can take anywhere like my pentax optio S30. Great for parties or when bike riding. It goes basically where I don't want to lug my full dslr kit and kabuddle. Then you have the top of the range p&s camera's that try to be dslr. Biased towards picture quality with big lens like the Sony DSC-H1 or the new R1. These two P100 & 200 are neither of these.

Decide what you want with your camera and buy accordingly.

[redorblue]

Thanks for the help, I decided to go with the p200. I am by no means a photographer of any sort but i just want a good small camera that I can rely on and from reading a number of reviews it seems like the P200 is quite descent for what i'm looking for. And besides, i really like the sleek look. And the quality seems pretty amazing.
Thanks again for the help.