Hi. I'm an ok photographer but not great. I'm planning on upgrading from my Fuji S3800 3mp 6x optical zoom camera before AMVIV.
My requirements are:
Big zoom, at least 6x, more would be better.
Image stabilization to actually use the big zoom.
6 or 7 mp resolution.
Traditional look-through viewfinder (can be LCD)
Simple enough that my wife can use it as a point and shoot.
Enough features that I can learn with it.
Around a $300 price point
Nice to have:
Runs on AAs instead of a proprietary battery pack
10x or better zoom
The cameras I'm looking at are:
Canon Powershot S3 IS
Olympus SP-510UZ
Sony Cybershot H2
Panasonic DMC-FZ7
At the moment, I'm seriously leaning towards the Canon. The Olympus is nice, but no image stabilization. The Panasonic is the smallest physically, and its IS is great but the battery pack doesn't thrill me and it feels a little cheaper. The Sony feels unbalanced in my hand but has a 12x zoom.
Any thoughts/recommendations?
