[Stephen Campbell]

I've been using an Olympus Stylus 410 camera for the past few years, and I hate how consumer-like it is. It can only take 20 seconds of video at a time, the picture is blurry unless I use flash, and there are no settings for shutter speed or anything. The optical zoom is also horrible. There are no focus settings, aperture, nothing. It's almost as bad as a throw away camera.

Now, I'm not looking for the best thing out there either. $299 is a reasonable price for me right now, although if there was a big enough difference in the product quality, i'd go up to $349 or even $399. I looked around at Sony and Panasonic, and those price points seem to correspond to 8MP cameras with 640x480 movie modes, which is great, but I don't know enough about cameras to know which is the best one.

The requirements I have are that it must be able to take pictures without flash, under a variety of lighting conditions, and turn out a good picture. Especially if i'm taking a picture out of a car window, at a very close and fast moving object, i'd like to be able to get a clear shot of it. So I guess i'm looking for a prosumer camera. The other requirement I have is that it should have a decent sized screen, a mic and a speaker, and record at least 640x480/30fps video with no time limit except for the size of the memory card.

Thanks

[bender0069]

My husband got me a Canon G9 for Christmas and it's great! But, I think it's out of you price range.
I took this picture of a moving fish, thru glass, no flash (the glare is a light in the building) with the camera.

I'm still learning and mess up quite a bit, but I think it does everything you want to do.

[NosferaDrew]

Yeah, I'm probably not much help, but I have to say that the Canon PowerShot G9 is a fantastic camera - a point and shoot camera with tons of manual controls and it shoots RAW.

It's a little bigger than most point and shoots, but it is a very capable camera. Check out the reviews online.(Here and here) $459 at B&H (only $60 more than your highest price!)

I love my G9!

[veryamusing]

I bought my mother a Canon PowerShot A720IS (<$200) for Christmas because it was rated very highly by Consumer Reports and boasts the following features:

• 8.0 Megapixel resolution
• High-power 6x Optical Zoom with Optical Image Stabilizer
• Face Detection
• Uses 2 AA batteries (unlike Nikon, which uses a bulky rechargeable one)

She strictly uses it for point-and-shoot functionality, but wanted something a bit more full featured so we wouldn't have to lug our Nikon D70 around all the time.

[FFL]

Get whatever you like and can afford.

Just make sure it's made by CANON.

[Satchmo]

Originally Posted by Stephen Campbell The requirements I have are that it must be able to take pictures without flash, under a variety of lighting conditions, and turn out a good picture.

You might want to take a look at the the Fuji FD40 reviewed here.

Fuji have a pretty good sensor for capturing images in low light.

[polvoronn]

I was also recently in the market for a new digicam for an upcoming trip to Japan. Not wanting to lug around my DLSR, I was looking for a relatively compact piece of gear. I found the CAnon A720is and I definitely made the right choice. A brief review can be seen on my website: http://paologaspar.com/2008/03/21/im-a-tool/

Originally Posted by Stephen Campbell Now, I'm not looking for the best thing out there either. $299 is a reasonable price for me right now

The A720 is available at Wal-Mart for <$200 USD, so it's very reasonably priced

Originally Posted by Stephen Campbell The requirements I have are that it must be able to take pictures without flash, under a variety of lighting conditions, and turn out a good picture.

The A720 has Image Stabilization (IS) which actually moved the lens to counteract camera movement. It still requires a steady hand, but you can get much better pictures at a 1/5s shutter speed than you can without IS. Needless to say, it'll definitely help when taking pitures indoors and/or at night. It also has custom white balancing settings for those so you can get a good image "under a variety of lighting conditions". The IS has three modes; continuous, shoot only, and panning. I recommend using the "shoot only" mode for most people. "Panning" is for taking moving objects where the camera also follows the subject.

It also has a 6x optical zoom. As with almost all cameras, expect it to be more difficult to take a quality picture at the longer focal lengths in less-than-ideal lighting conditions.

Originally Posted by Stephen Campbell The other requirement I have is that it should have a decent sized screen, a mic and a speaker, and record at least 640x480/30fps video with no time limit except for the size of the memory card.

The screen is a nice 2.5" and does the 640/470 @ 30fps, limited to 4gb. I'm not sure how many people will fill up a whole 4 gig card, but that 'limit' should meet most people's requirements. Optical zoom works up to 4x the focal length, and it also automatically adjusts exposure while taking the video. It cannot take pictures while it's also recording video. Email me if you would like a sample video.

[veryamusing]

That's two votes for the Canon A720IS.

Have you bitten the bullet, Mr. Campbell?

[Boomerangmacuser]

Every camera brand I looked at compared itself to a canon in their marketing materials. Which one would you buy?

Cameras are just like cars. The new Ford suchandsuch has more shoulder room than Accord or Camry. The Kia whatever has better fuel economy than Accord or Camry. The Dodge watchamacallit does 0-60 faster than Accord or Camry. What shoud you buy? A... well you know the answer.

[andyq]

+1 for Canon
I'm using S3, but sometimes it looks rather heavy. 720 IS will be perfect match in 99% cases.