Advice on Digicam required !!!!!

Hi all, i m looking for a digicam. My budget is upto Rs.20000(INR)(approx $400) as i will be buying the cam in India and i guess, comparatively it will be little costlier in India.
I m looking for a cam with minimum 5 Megapixel and 10x Optical Zoom (thats what i feel a good cam should have)....Kidly please suggest some good cams matching my expectations.....
Confused between more pixel and more optical zoom ,wht shall i go for...
Any other advice on the cam selection will be appreciated....... I was thinking of Kodak Easyshare Z612 which is 6.1 Megapixel and 12x optical zoom .......but many of frds suggested to get some model of Canon ........PLz advice .....

(Confused guy waiting for ur reply)
Cheerss
Amit.

I suggest a Canon too. I have two of their cameras, and I've never had a problem with either. It's difficult to suggest one model for you, since there are quite a few that match your proce range. I suggest you take a look at www.cnet.com, which is a research and review website for electronics. That's how I chose my current camera.

I bought a Canon A530 a few months ago and love it.

I've received great tech advice from this forum in the past: http://forums.dealnews.com/list.php?8

i, and a few other members here, have been very happy with the canon S2 IS, although that that may be out of your price range...not sure what they're going for now. and there may well be a more recent model of essentially the same camera. it has a 10x optical zoom.

i'm merely an amateur but, as between megapixels and optical zoom, i favor emphasizing optical zoom. (and lens quality, of course - i still prefer my ancient leica for richness of color.) the number of pixels isn't necessarily a good litmus test for cameras, as most of us never blow up our photos to a size where these mega, mega, numbers make any difference matter. almost any digital camera available these days has sufficient resolution for non-pros.

i haven't visited the link that an earlier poster included, but that might be a good place to start. the resource i always turn to immediately when i'm contemplating a costly purchase is www.consumerreports.org, a US-based consumer organization that tests products and provides unbiased ratings and comparisons of various features. they have sections for "how to choose" where the tech issues associated with each item are summarized. very helpful, and you need not join to get the benefit of most of the site's features.

good luck!

Thx guys,
i was thinking of getting a Canon S2 IS ....does anyone have any idea of how much it will cost me in India with all the other essentials like 1 Gb memory card...bag..baterries...

hmmm, i got it guys, Canon powershot S2 IS (5 MP and 12x Optical zoom) is approx 20500 INR .........and the Kodak easyshare Z612 (6.1 Megapixel and 12x Optical zoom) is 19000 INR approx....wht do u think guys which one i must go for......

Also can anyone suggest me some good Canon Digicam models with 5 Megapixel and 4x optical zoom with decent performance.....

If there's not much difference in price, then most of them would advice to go for Canon.
Even S3IS has hit the market. Bit it's costlier
Check this link
http://www.jjmehta.com/pricelist/can...al_pricing.htm

Ronak.

I also believe that higher optical zoom is preferable than higher mpix, especially when large prints are not the priority.

I'm a very satisfied user of S2-IS for past one year, and whole-heartedly recommend it. Except for some drawbacks like auto-focus in low-light and noise in higher ISO, it's almost perfect for an enthusiast. In the class of ultra-zoom semi-DLSRs (so called), it's the clear winner.

And about the inflatedly priced S3-IS, I don't think ther's a big difference in quality, only notable difference is the on-screen histogram.

For the mentioned price range, the good options are

Canon S3IS (a bit higher, arouns 24-25K)
Sony DSC-H2 (also in same price band, 7.2 MPix)

Worth considering
Kodak P850
Kodal P880 (it's low on zoom, but has some very good professional like feature, e.g. external flash hot shoe, manual zoom ring , etc)

All the above are a fairly good prosumer and high quality consumer camera having decent lens (just below professional DSLRs)

Amongst this, I'd personally favour Canon S3IS and Kodak P880.

Higher end choices would lead to Canon EOS 350D and Nikon D80

Hi!
This is where I turn to Reviews for digicam advice.

I have something against Kodak - though they are making it look nicer.

Recently bought a Sony Cybershot for a friend for Rs.16700.00 - what else would you need?

Accessories - Chinese make are cheaper especially Memory sticks etc.

Absurd, eh? It's either an SLR or not. And it is not.

But whatever the hype, I'm another satisfied S2 IS user

I agree, mountaingirl to some extent. Steve's pages are really great resource but may be tiresome for common user.

Secondly, I also dont usually like Kodak but the models I quoted have some very, very special features 1.The lens they started using in newer pro class cams are good - not the Kodak lenses. 2. The most alluring aspect is - the P880 has a external flash hotshoe (not found in lower priced models, usually), manual zoom and focus rings - manual zoom is really great for fine zoom control, total manual control in settings. Lastly - the picture format RAW is possible.

Having said that, you can see I have still put it as second choice compared to Canon S3IS

Which Cybershot ? Do you really mean DSC-H1/H2 for this price or lower end ones?

There are many good options. It depends on what YOU think is important. Talk to any friends who have cameras. What kind of photography is important to them and how satisfied are they with their camera? What was important to me was a 10x or 12x zoom,and if you don't want to be packing a tripod around, that means a good image stabalizing system(to minimize the effects of shake). So, I ended up with Panasonic/Lumix. Great lenses too. Think about size. Are you a "bag over the shoulder" photographer? Are you a "fits in a shirt pocket" very discreet type? Does it feel good in your hands? If it doesn't now, it probably won't. As for pixel count, if you are not going to get into enlargements, just about anything on the market now will do. How's your eyesight? Is the LCD clear? Can you adjust viewfinder to your eyes? Canon, Nikon, Olympus etc. etc. Lots of good choices. Check out www.dpreview for in depth stuff and links to other review sights. Buy a camera, be happy with it, and stop reading reviews for a while to avoid learning about all the recent advancements since you bought your camera!
Best of luck

I guess I am bit late in replying :-) Anyways here's my two cents' worth -

Go for Canon S3 IS; it is a good improvement over S2 IS (with built-in image stabilization). It is available for about 18K in grey market.

Or alternatively, you can go for Nikon D40; it's a decent entry-level dSLR, and is being sold for abt 23K in grey market.

\N

Hi ntomer....thx 4 ur reply......
yes ur late but its ok.......
thx evryone elso for replying.....ur suggetions really helped.....
my bro from US has ordered a Canon S3 IS.....only thing is it needs to be shipped here......
but many of the courier companies there say they dont want 2 deal with customs in India.....
lets c....

Anyways "ntomer" do u know the exact reason y these electronic items r available at such low price......
i was thinking of buying it from grey market but then thought tht might b risky.....if anybody has some idea on this plz let me know..