Best digital cameara that meets my specifications?

Question

I'm looking for:

- Lightweight and pocket sized

- 4 - 5x zoom or above

- 7 Megapixels or above

- Stabalization, face detection, good night mode

- Wide angle

- Fast start-up

- Preferably good design

- MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL-- Good quality photos (Preferably Cannon, Nikon, and Olympus)

I know that's A LOT of specs, but I'll really appreciate your help, and it's okay if not all of them are met!

Thank you!

Answer 1

Let me voice my opinion a second.  "face detection" and "smile shutter" type features are really just extra features to waste your money on, and aren't necessary.  You should really narrow it down to whats most important.

Here, give this one a looksy!

http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-cameras/...

Be sure to try out your camera in the store before buying it.

reviews.cnet.com should be a big help.  You can browse by feature and design and see reviews by the editors AND users.

Answer 2

Here's a Sony Cyber-shot T300. It has a 10.1 MP sensor, 5x optical zoom, face detection, smile shutter technology (takes picture when subject(s) smile), Super Steady (I'm guessing Image Stabilization). Sony's point-and-shoot cameras have excellent quality. If not, you can try to research Cannon, Nikon, and Olympus cameras, but in my opinion, the Sony camera's seem to have a slimmer body and they look nicer.

Answer 3

I think this meets all of your specs - the Canon SD890-IS: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/55...

If you can accept 3.7X zoom, I highly recommend the Canon SD950-IS for just a little more money.  It's my personal choice for a pocket camera.  The sensor is larger and the image quality is better: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/55...

Canon Powershot SD950-IS (Digital IXUS 960IS)

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2007_revi...

http://alatest.com/canon_powershot_sd950...

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/read_opi...

If you want to see some SD950 photos, go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstei...  From there, you can also choose to "See all public photos tagged with SD950is" if you want.  Some of these are not so much beautiful photos as they are to illustrate a point for answers, but you can still look at the image to evaluate the quality.  If they have been altered, I will mention that in the description.

I'll agree with Dana on the face detection feature.  It's just as easy, faster, and better to detect faces on your own.  Trust me on this.  My camera has it, but I never use it.  I am smarter than my camera and so are you.

Answer 4

If stabilization is top importance, you might take a look at the Pannys. Panasonic's greatest strength is probably its "Mega OIS," which I think is in every camera in the line. The TZ series is pocketable with a good quality lens with a big zoom that runs to real wide angle (like 28 mm or so). They're also nice looking cameras, at least by my lights. Some of them look almost exactly like Leicas! (Well, actually, some of them *are* Leicas, if you write Leica on the front).

On the other hand, Panasonic is little weak on the sensors (weird, since they worked into still cameras from video). You'll give up something in low light vs. something like, say, a Fuji.