Best camera for my needs/specs

[KurtCocain]

Hi guys,

this is my first post. I registered for the forum and i need a desparate help in mying my first camera. i am due to go on a business trip in twoweeks so i need to decide on a digital camera now! here are some of the requirements i have:

Budget: around 250 - 300 tops (w/ 1GB memory - up to 320. e.g newegg;'s got those combo deals)

Size: ultra-conpact! to compact

Features:
- Megapixels at least 5
- optical zoom at least 3, the more the better
- image quality is extermely important (from 1-10, i'd say 9 or 10)
- as a begiiner i cannot tell if i want manual controls, but
should have some good auto settings
- USB is a must (2.0 even better)
- good battery life
- good red-eye reduction!
- I dont understand an of the shutters, ISO, etc. so i
cannot specify anything from those parameters

Usage:
- General usage, business trip, casual photos, not trying to be an artist
- do not plan to make prints of images (at this time)
- Good movie shooting
- should be able to handle indoor and outdoor excellently
- shooting some sports/events

Brands:
- i am not hung up on one brand because i know particular models of differnt
can be strong
- i am looking into cannon SD 450, cannon SD600(30), Fuji FinePix F30,
Fuji FinePix F20, Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W50

Hardware durability:
- very important... to be able to put camera in pocekt or in backpack and not break.
- For example, models such as Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W50 have kind of weak parts where power/battery
slot opening the little, gentle, fragile door-li thing.



Thanks guys in advance!

cheers,
kc

 

[KurtCocain]

anyone?'s got an opinion?

 

[blooper]

the canon s700 is a pretty good deal... i think its 6mp. has the zoom you want. and around... 350...

 

[KurtCocain]

the canon s700 is a pretty good deal... i think its 6mp. has the zoom you want. and around... 350...

the powershot SD700 is like 378, plus i need to buy 1 GB of memory -- it gets around 400 bucks total investment, which is about 100 dollars more than my budget..

I was thinking maybe going with SD600, but is no wehere comparable to the SD700 and it does not have the image stabilization

 

[LWW]

Forget megapixel count unless you plan on doing HUGE enlargements.

Focus on glass quality and lens speed. Those are what actually make the picture. A camera is a light tight box with a shutter and not a lot more.

LWW

 

[KurtCocain]

Forget megapixel count unless you plan on doing HUGE enlargements.

Focus on glass quality and lens speed. Those are what actually make the picture. A camera is a light tight box with a shutter and not a lot more.

LWW

I agree about megapixels!! I am not too hung up, as long as it has about 5 megapixels is fine,altho i probably wont shooot with 5..

Anyway, what are cameras that perform expectional on glass quality and lens speed? -- ultra compact ?

thanks!