Imogene, a 20-something socialite with an iMac and a casual interest in photography (I don’t think she’s going to be spending hours in a duck blind shooting birds or anything), is buying her first digital camera. She’s narrowed her choice down to three options, and she contacted me for advice. I’m still on my first digital camera, and readers gave me great advice (see the comments) when I bought my Canon PowerShot A-70 last year.
Here are Imo’s three options, and she welcomes any opinions:
- Olympus C-60 6.1 MP at $599.99
- Canon PowerShot S500 5.0MP at $649.99
- Olympus Stylus 410 4.0MP at $449.99
She’s getting a store discount through a contact, so price probably isn’t that much of an issue. I’ve linked to FutureShop pages in all three cases to compare apples to apples on features and price.
Applying my limited knowledge and experience, I’d say go with the Canon. It’s more expensive, but it’s the smallest of the three cameras, and Canon is a brand I’ve more or less come to trust. Size really is a factor in digital cameras for me, as my current camera is a little too big to fit comfortably in my pocket.
DarrenBarefoot.com 
Canon. No question. They’re fantastic cameras, and they’ll last.
Hands down, go with the Canon. I have a Powershot A70, and it takes fantastically good pictures.
I’m with Darren H, I got an a70 after he did, and have played with an s230 which is nice and small. Nice UI, good quality images, great to carry around.
definitely go with the Canon
I carry my S400 with me everyday; it fits in my pocket and allows me to take all those pictures you see on UrbanVancouver.com
i’m a happy *new* (and i mean new like 1 week ago!) owner of a Canon a75 PowerShot — very, very pleased with myself … i mean the CAMERA … so far.
[and reasonable at $355 — Futureshop: they met Dell.ca’s advertised price of 10% discount on $399 (~$359) and gave me an add’n 10% discount on the price difference, hence the $355 final price]
Yay! Thanks for all advice! So it is clear then -I will go with the Canon Powershot S500 (plus the name rocks). Too exciting. I can’t wait to get clicking.
Canon, Canon, Canon, Canon, Canon.
That’s all I have to say.
size is not that important for a girl…
…she probably has a bag. she doesn’t have to put everything in her pockets.
At the end of the day, it’s the optics that count. The most megapixels won’t make up for the poorest lenses.
Give primary consideration to the camera which has the best lenses; secondary consideration to the camera/lens that has the best optical zoom.
Every other feature is interesting but not particularly critical when making your choice. You are, after all, taking snaps — you’re not a pro making a living — so all you need is something that will take a picture and save it long enough to be downloaded.
i have an s230 and love it. the size, and the metal case, coupled with the ease of use just can’t be beat. it lives in my pocket, because it’s so small. so that makes it that much easier to find good submissions for thisisbroken.com.
Courtesy of Slashdot — is that a recommendation or a condemnation — here’s further research material.
The thread on Slashdot:
http://slashdot.org/articles/04/06/16/0223200.shtml?tid=126&tid=188
(set the threshold to level 5 to eliminate the “noise”)
The original articles referenced in the Slashdot threads:
http://www.thetechlounge.com/article.php?directory=beyond_megapixels_part_1
http://www.thetechlounge.com/article.php?directory=beyond_megapixels_part_2
http://www.thetechlounge.com/article.php?directory=beyond_megapixels_part_3
If she doesn’t absolutely have to have small, I’ve been looking fondly at the Canon Powershot S1 IS. The IS stands for “Image Stabilization”, which helps you from taking blurry pictures.
As well, it has a 10x optical zoom, which is fantastic. It’s “only” 3.2 MP, but has fantastic optics. The previous version of this camera was almost $2000….now it’s $649.
See http://www.dpreview.com/articles/canons1is/
I’d go with the Canon Powershot A80. It’s an excellent camera with point-and-shoot simplicity, as well as being able to manually set any of the settings for a more professional feel. It’s compact but not so tiny you’ll lose it. Additionally it’s got an LCD screen on a swivel so you can shoot at weird angles without having to be a contortionist or a giant and still see what you’re shooting.