Looking for suggestions on a small camera

Hey Those that Know,

My old small camera is just about dead. Screen goes funky unless I hold it just the right way. I don't think that that is a good sign for its future use.

I want to buy a new small compact camera in the 300$ range. Stopped at London drugs and got lost in a sea of jargon from the kid at the counter who must be a dungeons and dragons whiz.

The question…

What is the best camera that cost 300$ or less that would be great for taking on my travels? I would prefer something small and compact. Don't care if it is waterproof.

Any recommendations?

Thanks.

I'm no camera expert but I do like my Olympus 850SW (I believe the Tough6000 is the current model). It is waterproof, which I understand you don't really care about, but I do like that I can throw it in my pocket or pack side pocket and not really worry about it. Super dusty riding at Whistler? Whatever, it's sealed and I can just rinse it off anyway. Wet ride on the shore? No problem. Big crash? Meh, it should fare better than most….

It has a good rapid-fire mode so you can take good action sequences (albeit with downgraded picture quality - 3MP I believe). I also bought an underwater housing for it so I can take it scuba diving and it's proven itself pretty good for that as well.

As far as picture quality, I guess somebody else can talk about that. I'm more about taking fun shots for memories than making art so I can't really speak to it. I've taken a few nice ones and an amateur photographer friend did tell me how to tweak a few exposure settings to do a bit better than full auto mode. My gut feeling is that my ancient Canon Elph was a bit "smarter" without adjustments.

Canon SD 1100 179.00 at future shop. best lens, takes easy and quick and awesome photos and wicked video, at least i think so. Plus at 179.00 you can buy two or if you lose it no worry…more expensive cameras just give you more pixels, this one has 8 so good enough for magazine quality etc. , my 2 cents. oh yeah spend the extra dough and 4 meg card 30 minutes of vid and tons of photos..

I have had great luck with the panasonic cameras. Not sure which model fits in your budget/needs. But I have one and so do some of my friends and family (all differnt models) and they have nothing but praise for them.

I film all my videos with a Panasonic Digital Camera that also takes wicked pictures.

Panasonic FX-35 is the camera I HIGHLY recommend!

Panasonic is making some pretty good little cameras.

I love my LX3.

A video I made with it.

http://www.pinkbike.com/video/70912/

Richard

go waterproof , either the olympus mentioned above or I have the pentax w30 and it is definateley waterproof/dust proof

I dropped it last week and its toast …time to pickup another one or maybe try the olympus

more expensive cameras just give you more pixels, this one has 8 so good enough for magazine quality etc.

uh - no.

Pixel count determines how big of a print you can reasonably make (more realistically, it will determine how much cropping you can get away with before the pic degrades). Price will determine feature set of the camera and quality of lens - the quality of lens will have the biggest impact on the types of shots you can get.

You could ask this question over in photos and vids, or lurk over in www.dpreview.com for more suggestions / information.

Panasonic has a new waterproof/shockproof ect camera that should be out now…but I have not been able to find it…and I think it's a bit more than you want to spend…but it's REALLY nice on paper…here is a link for it…

http://panasonic.ca/english/audiovideo/camerascamcorders/digitalstill/DMCTS1.asp

That Panasonic waterproof TS1 is my next camera. I've been waiting 3 years for that camera.

To me, it is like a GoPro or VRHold on steroids. Fantastic pictures and fabulous video in HD.

They are USD$369 on eBay.

uh - no.

Pixel count determines how big of a print you can reasonably make (more realistically, it will determine how much cropping you can get away with before the pic degrades). Price will determine feature set of the camera and quality of lens - the quality of lens will have the biggest impact on the types of shots you can get.

You could ask this question over in photos and vids, or lurk over in www.dpreview.com for more suggestions / information.

Not really true. In theory yes, in practice, well, it depends on the optics.
If the diffraction limit of the optics (the size of the smallest resolvable detail) is smaller than a pixel on the CCD chip, then that statement is true, but if the optics aren't able to resolve that small a detail then higher MPix means nothing. Eg. Say your camera is a true 4MP, then taking that same optical system and putting in a 8MP chip would be very similar to taking your 4M image and expanding it on your computer to the same size as the 8MP image. There is no more information in the image, but it's now bigger.

Besides, 2MP can make a 4x6" print really well, so why does anyone need an 8-10MP?

Well said Steve. Optics are far more important than what most people think.

more expensive cameras just give you more pixels, this one has 8 so good enough for blog quality etc.

fixed that for you.

Besides, 2MP can make a 4x6" print really well, so why does anyone need an 8-10MP?

because its all about the peen size