Best Compact Digital Camera ?

[wii]

Since I´m not a member of any photography forums, I´m asking here

I need a small digital camera that takes really good pictures, at least 4X zoom, wide lense and nice video, this is what I have found so far, are there any others I should consider ? If yes, which ? And which one of these below do you consider the best for my needs ?

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX35
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX500
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W170
Canon Digital IXUS 870 IS
Fuji Finepix F100fd

Thanks

[TheComputerGuy]

sony t700

I just bought it, and I love it. Touch Screen

[wii]

Hmm, I´ve tried that - don´t like my greasy fingers all over the screen, and the reviews I´ve read for the T700 have not been as good as the ones I posted, but yes, it does look great with very good build quality.

[Deriel]

I have a Sony Cyber-shot W300 and I have no trouble at all with it. I just need to buy another battery to have one charging while using the other... in my trip to Paris, with max res and flash I get two days of battery duration.

[wii]

The W300 was also into my consideration, but I would like to have more zoom than 3x, that´s why I´m considering the W170 from Sony, it´s not easy to choose, because all have their pros and cons.

[Gladius]

Canon Powershot A590 IS.

[Floris]

Don't by HP or Sony.

[pk698]

I have a Canon Powershot SD600, and love it.

Takes excellent photos. Dropped it twice (on concrete) and still works like new. It's easy to use and cheap.

Canon all the way.

[Chousho]

Don't by HP or Sony.

Could you expound on that?

Anyway, I haven't tried any of the ones you've listed, but I can give you a general feel for the brands, though.

Canon and Nikon are usually toward the top, Sony and Fuji are more or less playtoys—not necessarily in a bad way, mind you—you use them for convenience more than for actual picture quality.

Panasonic? To be honest, somebody who's used them will have to take that one. My old TV was a Panasonic and lasted countless years (or I just forgot how long I had it), so they're pretty stable in that field.

Also, be wary when you say you want 4x zoom. There are two varieties of zoom out there. Optical zoom and digital zoom may increase the size of the desired area, however digital zoom does so at the expense of the picture itself (in regards to quality); essentially just doing the same thing as what you'd find in photoshop's zoom function. Hmm, a quick Google result should give a better idea:

http://www.photoxels.com/article-optical-digital-zoom.html

A few things to make sure you look out for before buying: don't depend as much on the megapixel count as much on the size of the sensor. A camera can have a higher megapixel count, but with a smaller sensor you won't get the best quality.
Also, if you don't have a tripod, look for one providing image stabilization.
Finally, make sure you get one that provides the best settings for tweaking the ISO, which is kind of related to the other one.

Another Google result should help explain that a bit, too:

http://www.photoxels.com/tutorial_iso.html

[DJDarknez]

I like Fuji alot, really nice color saturation. I have a little A500, it's kind of slow, though, which can get really, really aggravating.

[Floris]

Sure.

It's because every time I am about to consider buying an HP or Sony cam, all the reviews say 'oh no no no, don't do that' and every topx list I see they might be in the top 10, but they're never in the favorite top 3 list. It's always Canon, Nikon, and then it just depends on who has the best lense for that price to be #3.

With HP it seems btw that they promote 10 MP cameras, and the quality is more equal to a 6MP, always disappointing.

Sony cams are shown to be pretty solid, if you invest more money into it to get more out of it. Which isn't needed with the Canon powershot ones.

Why go for sony/hp when canon is always in the top3.

Plus, sony/hp usually (in the nl) show as more expansive for a tad less specs.

I've once given up on those and will not buy a sony or hp cam ever probably. Plus, if I would go low or high end, i'll probably end up chosing for canon.

[wii]

I always go for optical zoom and image stabilization, my list was based on reviews, Nikon has rarely achieved good reviews in their ultra compacts, it´s always been Canon, Fuji and Panasonic which gets the best review in ultra compacts.

[Joe Gronlund]

Canon Powershot S series

[wii]

Yeah, so far my favorite is the Canon 870 IS (see first post), but I´m so confused about these model names for Canon, what are they thinking ? The entire series is called IXUS in Europe and Powershot in the US, not only that, but the model names are different too, so the 870 IS (which I´m considering) is called 880 IS in the US, but not only that, there´s a 2007 model called 870 IS in the US (which was called 860 IS in Europe).

See the list here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_Digital_IXUS

Are you confused ? I sure am...

[jeffinj]

I am thinking of buying Canon Ixus 970 IS Digital Camera this week. Any suggestions anyone?