Some info I sent to a friend looking to buy his first digicam for unknown uses.
www.steves-digicams.com www.imaging-resource.com www.dcresource.com www.dpreview.com www.photo.net Those are the big sites for reviews and experiences.
Aaron's general recommendations:
Optical Zoom is important, digital means nothing
Standard batteries are cheaper than proprietary - AA's are the choice for cheap NiMH (
Thomas Distributing )
Compactflash is my choice for media - some media has limitations of size (128MB max for Smart media) and it is standardized and cheap. Just make sure to research the brands. Viking and Kingston are my performance values right now at about $50 for 128MB or $100 for 256MB from Amazon and Buy.com. xD is a brand new format replacing Smartmedia but not backward compatible.
Size (or lack thereof) counts unless you want digital SLR. You are more likely to take a small camera with you to carry around on vacation than you would a large camera bag with all the gear you might need for a whole day away from your hotel room.
Don't pay for more pixels than you need. Many professional digital SLR cameras are only 2MP because they are effective at printing professional 5x7's and plenty enough for most people's 8x10. Choose a quality 3MP camera
over a not so great 4MP for example. Digital cameras are great because you can see the result right away. If it is junk, just snap another. Well, if 50% of the pictures are junk, that extra resolution doesn't get you a better picture, does it?
Based on the review sites above, I recommend a camera that takes great pictures in auto mode, but has all the manual controls you could need. There are a lot of great cameras that can be tweaked, but if 90% of the common shots take you 2-3 minutes just to set up the shot (or Photoshop afterwards), you will be sorely disappointed and less likely to use it in the first place.
Separate LCD is nice. Color primary LCD's use batteries very quickly so not having to use it to find out some of the more common information will help get you through a day.
Now for you. I'd stay away from that camera. Here is one reason from DPreview:
It's really not good news, the DiMAGE X recorded the lowest resolution measurements of any modern 2 megapixel digital camera. For horizontal resolution it's almost the same as Nikon's Coolpix 775 but vertical resolution is notably less. I'm afraid to say that the innovative lens system just can't deliver enough resolution for the 2 megapixel sensor. Here is a direct comparision of the three tiny 2MP cameras. In the 2MP market, I really like the Canon Powershot A40. A friend of mine got last years A20 after I recommended it to him. It takes amazing pictures in automatic point and shoot mode. No compensations, no editing afterwards. The A40 adds manual control of ISO. It only costs $299 at most retail places (can be found a little cheaper). It is larger than the Digital Elph sieries, but really not big at all. Regualar 35mm P&S size.
As for how many pixels do you need? 2-3MP is probably plenty for most people unless you are a professional or hobbyist. My friend says his A20 prints great 8x10's which was his primary concern with only geting a 2MP camera.
The difference is the detail. Use this comparator:
http://www.imaging-resource.com/IMCOMP/COMPS01.HTM Look at the house shots between the A20 and G2. Look at the shingles for example. That's the power of more pixels. Not much you can do about that limit, but colors are very close. Wouldn't look much different if printing a 5x7 or scaling it down to 1280x1024 many people's screen.
You say you can't tell a difference between som cameras, but most pictures people put on the web are the best ones. Use that comparitor again on the indoors portrait of the A20 vs. the Kodak DC3800 (another 2MP camera) or any of the HP cameras. Notice the differences. The focus and colors can be drastically different.
Pay attention to night shots as well. A camera with an AF illuminator helps for those indoor people shots. A long exposure time helps the no flash shots such as these:
Compare:
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon/a20-review/nightshot.JPG http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon/powershot_g2-review/nightshot.jpg If I were to buy a camera right now, G2 would be it. But that one is a little out of my price range now so the A40 is my next pick by far. Olympus is my next favorite line, but limited by 128MB Smartmedia.