Camera Suggestions?

I'm looking to upgrade my everyday camera, its a couple years old and nothing fancy (probably cost $200 when I bought it). I use a nikon d500 when I feel like taking clear shots back home, but I really need something portable that has great zoom for the size and decent macro shots. Most of my subjects are trees, landscapes and animals (basically outdoors stuff). Of course I'd like to take some quality snake photos with it too!


I have been doing some research and considering a nikon or canon. I'd like to stay under $300, since I'll probably want an upgrade in a couple of years when technology is even more improved! (anyone else miss the surprise of developing photos?


Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!


Here are some considerations:
http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-S630-Vi...6?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1268271116&sr=8-6

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-PowerSh...?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1268271213&sr=8-13

I love Nikons but I haven't done any shopping for one recently, they do have those coolpix point and shoot ones now, idk if they can do what you want tho.

I had an older version of Nikon's CoolPix, it took some really nice pictures, but didn't have sound on the videos so I got a Sony something or other. However, the Sony doesn't have a fast action setting, which was one of the settings I liked. :headbang: (A lesson to me to do more thorough research in the future.) I haven't checked out the ones you posted links to, but I would venture to say that they probably have videos with sound now, and I would say go for it! After doing mass amounts of research, of course.

I would personally have to go with Canon, but I'm very biased. I've had nothing but Canon since I received my first camera years ago. My P&S (SD600, I believe) still works almost as good as the day I got it 5 years ago. So I'm very much a fan, and will probably never switch brands. :}

My vote is for canon, but if you go to this site you can compare specific cams to see if they have the stats you want! http://dpreview.com/ go to buying guide and then side by side.

Nikon all the way

I always lean towards Canon as they have always been considered the pioneers in the digital glass world, but Nikon has really come a long ways in the last two years. To be honest, if you're looking for a P&S camera, I really like my mom's Sony Cybershot. Great clarity, good IQ, small enough to fit in a pocket or purse, and has all the bells and whistles just like all of the others. Just throwing an oddball out there to think about

go for the canon rebel xsi built in flash i'm pretty sure it has auto zoom i prefer to zoom myself honestly i also prefer 35mm call me old fashioned but you just cant get the warmth and clarity with pixels that you can with 35mm i'm using a minolta srt202 my dad used in high school and i have a second lens on just in case because lenses are hell to replace