My 1st post: Need some help with my first Digital Camera:

[Kwitel]

Hi,

Ive been researching some digital cameras for the past couple of weeks and decided that id like to get a 7 or 8 megapixel Canon Elph.
Problem is, there are just too many options and im not sure what I need.
Im up in the air with the SD750, SD850/870 and SD1000/SD1100.

Couple of questions:

1) How important is an optical viewfinder? Will I really not be able to see the LCD screen during the day/in the sund?
2) Lens-do I need one of the wide foucs ones?
3) Which of the above has the fastes flash speed and will I notice a difference in these speeds?
4) Lastly, how important is Image Stabilization

Thanks much for the help!

 

[deudeu]

I am not a specialist of P&S but i think i can help a little:

1) not very important. It is true that in the sun you will have problems seeing all the details BUT you should still be able to compose your shots.

2) on P&S it is very difficult to get really wide lenses because of the size of the sensor and the crop factor. This is mostly a problem if you want to take architectural pictures or pictures of large things without much space to step back.

3) It doesn't matter. The fact is, built in flashes are usually pretty bad. I try to avoid using them as much as possible. They make everything look flat and usually they have a range that makes theim difficult to use. They help in some situation, but not enough to be taken into consideration when buying your camera.

4) VERY IMPORTANT. P&S have small sensors. The result of that is that they don't deal very well with high ISO and in general low light situation. Having image stabilization allows you to keep your ISO down which means better image quality. Also, it will make it possible for you to take sharp pictures at times where you would have needed a tripod without IS.

I hope this helps.