What To Buy - Ultra Confused!

[Jinny]

Hi - first post so hopefully this isn't in the wrong place! Apologies if that is so.

I have been to 4 different shops, and spent the last 3 weeks reading the web on what is best - and now - I'm lost. The shops did the hard sell on the most expensive camera they had, and the websites all seem to contradict themselves.... so ... here I am. HELP! Lol

Firstly, I have Amnesia after a trauma 2 years ago. So currently my camera phone is currently my brain, and I take photos of everything in hope to retain something of my 5 week memory span. The phone lives in my hand all the time, and the camera is in use all the time, often at the drop of a hat to capture fleeting moments. At Christmas I went to print out a couple of photos to hang up as visual reminders, but when I took them to be printed, and blown up a little, they were all fuzzy! I was told that it was because it was a phone with a camera on it, not a camera, and there was nothing I could do. I went to another photo processor, and got the same opinion.

So I decided I'd invest in a good quality, Compact Digital Camera.

At the same time, my Vlogging has picked up popularity, and I again, have been using my camera phone to do this, but a friend said before I waste money on a separate camcorder at this stage, to get a digital camera with a 1080p HD video capability - (not 1080i for some reason) and stereo sound, something that's as easy to carry around and use like the phone. I Vlog in all light levels, but have recently done a fair bit in low light levels, so the camera should hopefully cope with that well. I also can zoom in and out without much sound interference on the phone, something that I've not found in the 2 cameras the shops tried to force onto me.

I have a slight tremble, so I do need a good image stabiliser, and a decent zoom would be nice too - although I've been told Optical is better than Digital Zoom? And because my photos are often taken on the fly, I need something with a fast 'boot up' time, re-focus time, and shutter speed - I tend to take photos of my pets and my friends pets and horses a fair bit, if I'm around them.

I also need to have it have changeable batteries - because the camera will be heavily used. I have a personal charger for my phone, and 3 batteries on my at all times.

I have looked at various compact cameras, and am just trying to get the best camera that will be most suitable, but all I'm doing is chasing my tail and getting awfully confused.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Which camera would you recommend?

 

[KmH]

Everything you need to know about buying a camera | The Verge

 

[Awiserbud]

Not really up to speed on compact cameras but i will address the point on zooms, optical zoom is always better than digital zoom, Optical zoom will use the lens itself to zoom in, image quality will always be better than digital zoom because digital zoom purely zooms in on a section of what the cameras sensor is picking up so you dont get the full sensor size shot.
It is no different to taking a standard shot, and cropping it on your computer. you will lose image quality all the time. pay no attention to digital zoom and if your new camera has a digital zoom try not to use it, zoom in with the optical zoom and stop there.