Camera Shopping: Finding the Replacement

With over 5,000 digital camera shots on Flickr (6,130, but some are screenshots), and on my second digital camera... I'm going to say that I'm no longer an amateur photographer. I have been paid for some of my photographs, but I'm by no stretch a professional. I'd now categorize myself as an enthusiast.

And the Canon Powershot SD200 is good for some things, but just isn't enough for this enthusiast anymore. Honestly, the Canon has been an awesome camera and I'm not getting rid of it. It is small, and gives a lot of quality for the size that it is. But that quality just isn't enough anymore - particularly in the Optical Zoom department; digital zoom at 10x is possible but is only really good for generic shots at a distance. The 3x optical zoom works quite well, but since I take so many pictures of birds I've found that the 3x is not quite good enough for me. I need some more optical zoom. And with the zoom, it is necessary to be stable.

I searched Amazon.com for cameras and found some cameras that I'm trying to decide between - perhaps some other folks have some experience with them. I do like the Canon PowerShot A720IS; Canon has really made me a potential repeat customer with the Powershot SD200. Still, that is $210 US right now, and if I'm going to find a camera for that price I better shop around.

There are, after all, plenty of cameras out there below $210.

This made me dig more into what I want out of a camera. I thought a lot about it; this is a serious investment for me.

So here's my list:

• Portable - hip carried. No 'around the neck' cameras. I don't like things slapping my tummy when I'm moving fast, and I like to be as unhindered as possible.
• At least 6x optical zoom. The more, the better - when animals and other things are not close enough for clear shots, I need to bend some light to get the shots. Digital zoom is fun for effects but is not very useful to me.
• Image stabilization: Nothing is more irritating than thinking you got a good shot to find it blurred when it isn't supposed to be. I'd make a good surgeon, my hands shake a bit especially when moving around.
• Doesn't eat batteries. Sometimes I am away from a recharger for long periods of time, and in the future those periods may be extended. I don't want to have to trek around with a car battery, either. I can bend a little if the batteries are easily rechargeable using solar energy.
• An LCD display at least as good as the Powershot SD200
• Wider lens, I think, since when shooting critters I don't like to use the flash. I hate when people use their camera flash on me in a very primal way, so I expect animals feel much the same. I want to get as much ambient light in low light conditions, but I also want to be able to do well in high light conditions. Yeah, I want it all.
• Fast shutter speed possible: Sometimes I would like a few frames per second, especially when dealing with things such as waves, dolphins or birds. Sloths are rather easy...
• Rugged. I don't need to be able to drive a truck over it (that would be nice), but...
• Water resistant/waterproof: Why the heck hasn't someone said, "Gee, people might want to take pictures near large areas of water?". Maybe they're waiting for the porn industry to start using underwater digital cameras for shower scenes...
• A price below $500 US - the lower, the better.
• As many megapixels as can be had for all of that.

Since the hardest search would probably be for the waterproof cameras, I searched for waterproof cameras. I found nothing with over 3x optical zoom, and the cases... well, they didn't get great reviews. They also seem kind of redundant and kludgy to me - and contrary to what I thought, the waterproof cameras don't seem to have wider lenses. So the waterproof requirement just got tossed.

Surfing through Amazon some more, I found some contenders.

• Fujifilm Finepix S700 7.1MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Zoom: May be too bulky; I'm not sure. The customer reviews do show some promise, otherwise.
• Kodak EasyShare Z712 IS 7.1MP Digital Camera with 12x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom: Less bulky than the Finepix S700 by about 3 oz.
• Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8K 7.2MP Digital Camera with 12x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom : Same weight as the Finepix. Loads of features, and one of the reviews indicated the shutter speed is better than the Canon point-and-shoot cameras... but that it can be bulky, but that it took hundreds of pics on one charge. $224. Hmm.
• Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3A 7.2MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Blue): 8.2 ounces, and lots of features. $237. Hmm. Reviewers say it that Panasonic 'took the previous model and made it better.' Happy people. This reviewer, however, was less than happy with the Venus system that the camera uses - saying it causes blurs. I'd have to look more into that - I would throw the camera against a wall if it did that. Another reviewer (same page) wrote: 'At the end of the day, I would go with a Canon. They have much better color quality and are reasonably priced. You will miss the 10X zoom and wide angle though... that is the main reason I bought this camera in the first place.' Hmm.

After wasting hours looking through these cameras... I don't know which one to go with, but I am a bit more informed on what to look for. I'll probably go wander through a camera shop soon - but not in Trinidad and Tobago. The prices are usually outlandish. Perhaps Florida, or Panama.

Perhaps there is a short trip in my future... Or maybe I should just sit on my hands... still, seeing really great shots and being unable to take the pictures gets me frustrated. Grr.

Anyone out there have some thoughts?