Christmas camera shopping

While on vacation over Thanksgiving week, my Sony DSC-F707 digital camera self destructed. I was heartbroken because the camera took wonderful photos. But rather than pay the $211 Sony charges to repair the camera, I decided to go ahead and get a replacement with more advance features. I'm calling it my early Christmas present.

I made heavy use of the reviews on dpreview.com, dcresource.com and Amazon. I highly recommend using all three sites for their reviews and reader comments.

I also found it useful to compare actual images from the cameras. Each of the sites mentioned above offered samples. I also found the Flickr camera page to be useful. In addition to telling you which cameras are most popular on the service, it allows you to search by brand and model to see photos uploaded by members.

The finalists in my camera search were the Sony DSC-H5, Canon Powershot S3 IS, Sony DSLR-A100 and the Nikon D50. I was torn between getting a digital SLR and an ultra-zoom portable.

Of course the SLRs offered better image quality, especially in low light. But I finally settled on the Canon S3 due to its portability and video quality. The Canon also sports a 12x zoom and unlimited burst mode, which will be useful when shooting children's sporting events. I may get a DSLR in the next couple of years, but ultimately I decided I need something that travels well and all of the family can easily use.