I am looking at buying my first digital camera before the summer (I am going to the German Grand Prix in July and doing some other European travelling at the same time). From what I can tell the "sweet spot" for digital cameras is the 3.2 Megapixel group so that is where I have been looking.
I had a chance to hold and feel all the cameras and they felt good(from the look of it the Sony wouldn't but it has this extra bit of material added that seems to make it work). I eliminated the miniature style cameras on the "feel" criteria. I was able to operate basic functions with one hand on all three. Both the feel and operational functions were criteria that helped me narrow it down to the three here with the critical features(or at least those I think are critical) described.
(I have since added the Kodak as a fourth -- it is a 4MP one though in the same price range -- I haven't had a chance to hold this one though so I don't know about feel)
| Feature/Criteria |
Canon A75 |
Fuji Finepix 3000 |
Sony DSCP72 |
Kodak CX7430 |
| Zoom (digital/optical) |
3.2/3 |
3.2/6 |
3.2/3 |
3.2/3 |
| Media (approx cost for 256MB) |
CF($60) |
SD($80) |
MS($90) |
SD($80) |
| Included Media |
32MB |
16Mb |
16Mb |
16Mb |
| Best Price |
$378 |
$335 |
$348 |
$350 |
| Battery |
Rechargable batteries and charger not included- $21.00 - 4AAs required |
Rechargable batteries and charger not included-$21.00- 4AAs required |
Rechargable batteries and charger included 2AAs required |
Rechargable batteries and charger not included-$21.00-2AAs required |
All prices are Canadian ( 1$CAN == 0.75$US).
Anybody have any comments or advice? Any others I should be looking at? Other criteria I may be overlooking in deciding the choice ?(I realize there are a whole bunch of other features/criteria -- I judged them less critical but I may have missed something).
Currently I am leaning towards the Canon or the Sony. Does anybody know how much difference there is between various media (in the same category). For instance I see what appears to be the same speed CF 256Mb cards for between $55 and $75. Is this pretty much a commodity item or is there something that could justify that price difference?
