Quick help please.........like now.

sorry for such a short notice...............but i have some stuff i am looking for/at and need to know an answer pretty quick. for all the camera experts out there.........which one of the following would be your choice.

Fuji FinePix S7000
Sony DSC-H2
Kodak Z650
or any other +/- 6 MP zoom style camera out there.

thanks for any info.

I own the Sony H2, but since the Canon PowerShot S3 just dropped in price from $500 to $400, I would buy that one if baught one today. It has a really nice swivelling LCD display which allows you to move the camera in all kinds of positions while you just stand there and shoot. It's results are remarkably similar to the H2's and any differences can usually be corrected through slight bit of post processing.

Hope this helps,
John

thanks john..........would the sony h2 (the one you have) be good enough for a novice who knows nothing about photograpy. i would just like to take better pics of my snakes and get some good close-ups and all i have right now is a 3.2mp olympus with only a 2.5 digital zoom. i am looking through e-bay and found the cannon, but it is still $100+ more than i was looking to spend. kind of just looking for something right now and hopefully once i gain more knowledge i will upgrade to a better one. thanks for your help

Originally Posted by gwb8568

thanks john..........would the sony h2 (the one you have) be good enough for a novice who knows nothing about photograpy. i would just like to take better pics of my snakes and get some good close-ups and all i have right now is a 3.2mp olympus with only a 2.5 digital zoom. i am looking through e-bay and found the cannon, but it is still $100+ more than i was looking to spend. kind of just looking for something right now and hopefully once i gain more knowledge i will upgrade to a better one. thanks for your help

Oh ok. The H2 is $379 at my local Wal-Mart and the S3 is $399 at Staples next door. About the close ups. The zoom is really useless when using macro, but the H2 will focus up to about 2cm away so you can get right up close. I am gonna do a test real quick using zoom increments and post em for ya.

These are all the originals resized to 800x600 and then a 100% crop of part of that pic. No post processing at all and auto settings only except me turning down the flash a little.
Zoom: 1x


4x


8x


12x



Hope these give you an idea of what you would get with the H2 and the S3 is so close to the same it isn't even funny.

Forgot to mention those were all taken at about 4 feet away using a tripod.

thanks buddy.............man, those are cool. really, no matter what i did get, it would be 100% better than my 3.2mp with a 2.5 zoom. it seems that the h2 is running cheaper on ebay than the s3, but i will keep checking. i had two that i was comparing that ended at the same time about 3 hours ago.......that is why i kind of had a rush on the thread. anyway, thanks again. will post an update when i find out what i do.

Save up for an SLR!

I enjoy my film SLR more than my digital point and shoot. Sure a cheap(ish) camera that gives you instant gratification and requires no work is convenient, but digital point and shoots really aren't that cheap. A year after receiving a Cannon Powershot S60 for my birthday I'm already kind of "done" with it. I've turned back to film just because I'd much rather use my SLR.

I guess it doesn't matter so much if you're not particularly into photography, but once you start taking lots of pictures and your skills build up (given that you're not just using auto for everything) you'll probably wish that you had something that you had a bit more control over.

If you say, happen to wish you had a better macro function.. A digital point and shoot will not allow you any more then it already has. An SLR will allow you to use a macro lens and get as close as you're yearning too.
The zoom on my digital camera is very noisy. Lots of pixels. Telephoto lenses don't alter the picture besides possible camera shake from being a bit heavier than you're used to.

*shrug* something to think about I guess.. Why are you in such a hurry without having done research?

Originally Posted by GiantBlueberry

Save up for an SLR!
I guess it doesn't matter so much if you're not particularly into photography, but once you start taking lots of pictures and your skills build up (given that you're not just using auto for everything) you'll probably wish that you had something that you had a bit more control over.

The H2 as well as the S3 give you tons of manual settings that rival that of many cheaper SLR's plus the monster zoom, but the sensors used in them are not nearly as powerful. At first I was happy with it, but photography is addictive so I have to second this post.

I am already looking at buying a Canon EOS 400D. Of course the standard lense won't give me the zoom nor spot metering, but the CMOS sensor is awesome and the detail is amazing. I have heard that Olympus has a nice inexpensive DSLR also.

Originally Posted by GiantBlueberry

*shrug*Why are you in such a hurry without having done research?

i haven't bought one yet........so please consider this some of my research. and the impatience is coming from looking at all of the other awesome pics on the forum.