OT: Digital P&S recommedation & advice

[existrandom]

hello all,

thanks for viewing

have been known taking pictures=mechanical camera and film... but then i become a sort of spectacle to use a film camera on streets
but there is the need for sharing pictures more quickly for web-blog writing and journal correspondance

i wonder if members here could recommand a handy digital camera that would meet/stretch to the following pre-requisites:

6-8 effective megapixals
3x or 4x optical zoom
a usable viewfinder
max. aperture no slower than f3.5

my budget is around US350

is such a thing exist?
initail search points me to Olympus Sp350 & Fuji Finepix E900

would be very glas to hear your comment and advice on these

cheers and thanks! 🙂

 

[bmattock]

It is very hard to find a digital pns camera these days that is not a pretty decent image-maker.

And, you don't need 6-8 megapixels for web and journal use - even 3.2 mp is fine for that. You only need more if you intend to print - and print big. Really, 3.2 is more than you'll need. The newer cameras tend to be faster, smaller, and better with battery use though - so you could end up buying on those qualifications and getting more mp just because that's what they make now. Just be aware you don't need it.

I am not keeping up with the latest PnS digicams - they're coming too fast and furious for me to even try to manage. I find that Steve's Digicams does a good job of evaluation, and he has a 'which is best' list too. Try this:

http://www.steves-digicams.com/best_cameras.html

I point people at this ever-changing list when they ask me as 'the camera guy' which digicam they should buy.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[Don Parsons]

I have the SP-350. It's slow to write to the card, has a noticeable shutter lag and isn't quite wide enough at the wide end.

However, used within its limitations, it takes great pictures. I love it's small size the the fact I can switch from aperture to shutter priority in a heartbeat.

The grip is nicely contured, so it's easy to hold. I never use the viewfinder, preferring to compose on-screen. I've never found a digicam with an accurate viewfinder yet that's not an SLR.

don