Sony DSCW100 vs Canon SD 700 IS

[twinphotos]

I accidently broke my teenage daughter's Sony Dsc W30 camera. I want to upgrade when I replace it but the more I read the more confuse I become. She wants to stay with a compact digital. I like the Carl Zeiss lens on the Sony but the IS on the Canon is a plus.
On the other hand the Sony has more pixels, but does she need more than 6. She may enlarge some photos to 8 x 10. Are colors better saturated with Canon? And the last question- I have heard complaints that some Canon series the shutter lag and time between shots is painfully long. It seems this is not a problem with the SD 700 but am I mistaken? Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

[Photo-John]

Welcome to the site. Happy to be able to help

I would choose the IS over a Carl Zeiss lens. While Zeiss glass is very good, I'm not sure it makes much difference with compact digital cameras where the sensor is the limiting factor. On the other hand, image stabilization offers very real benefits to all photographers and will absolutely deliver more good photos for your daughter. Plus, if you're concerned about optics, Canon's lenses are among the best in the world.

All camera manufacturers have made big advances with shutter-lag and shot-to-shot time in the past couple of years. I don't think that's something you need to worry about with the SD 700 IS. And 6-megapixels is more than enough resolution to make good 8x10 prints. I don't think Canon's digital images are quite as saturated as Sony's. For me, that's a good thing. But if your daughter wants more saturation she can just change the in-camera saturation setting. It's an easy fix.

Hope that helps. Let me know if you have more questions.