Advice please . . thinking of replacing the point-and-shoot . .

[xpatUSA]

Having bought a big fat Sigma SD9 for macro duties and having relegated the Nikon D50 to other stuff, thoughts now turn to replacing Wifey's Kodak 643 point-and-shoot. Vague requirements being:

No more than 10MP, 5-6 preferred
AA battery power
3-5X optical zoom
bright display 2.5"+
nice big sensor with largish pixels and a huge lens
good noise figures, low chromatic abberation, etc

definitely don't want the latest and greatest.

Been looking at the Canon A800, for example.

Any advice, please?

Ted

[AliasMrHackenbacker]

The Canon A800 is being replaced by the A810 so good deals are on the A800 to clear stocks (here in the UK anyway)

I have the Canon A1200 as my pocket P&S and although the image quality is supposed to be below the A800 I have found it perfectly acceptable. This camera is also being replaced by the A1300.

A1200 Pros
HD (720p) movie mode
Top dial for easy selection
Fun built in effects, fisheye effect and toy camera being my favourites
Optical viewfinder saves battery life
Powered by AA batteries (2)

A1200 cons
Not everyone likes AA batteries
No IS

I wanted a cheap pocket sized P&S to carry with me that used AA batteries and have found this camera to be ideal and given it's very low price at the moment I'm very happy with my choice.

[xpatUSA]

Thanks Dave, you helped me make up my mind. Just bought a PowerShot A610 for $89 shipped, mainly because of the larger 1/1.8" sensor coupled with a lower pixel count (5MP). Runs on AA's too, but four of them.best,Ted

[Noice]

sorry, i just dont understand why AA batteries and why no more than 5-6 mp?
i get that high mp count doesnt necessarily translate to better image quality
all im saying is its almost standard to have atleast 8-10 mp

anyway, id recommend the S series canon or the lumix

[xpatUSA]

sorry, i just dont understand why AA batteries and why no more than 5-6 mp?
i get that high mp count doesnt necessarily translate to better image quality
all im saying is its almost standard to have atleast 8-10 mp

anyway, id recommend the S series canon or the lumix

Thanks for the recommendation, I did look at the S series . .

Sadly, I've never been one to follow convention. My main camera is a mere 3MP (Sigma SD9), perfectly OK for what I do.

Why AA batteries: All my cameras run on AA's except one. Therefore I've got two chargers and dozen or so Ni-Mh AA re-chargeable's. I just like the convenience.

Why no more than 5MP: The camera is mainly for my wife's use. We don't print photos, not even 8x10. We don't publish large images on the web. Most of the time, she routinely re-samples down to 640x480px. And the sensor is a bit larger (1/1.8") than many later models. So I expect nice sharp looking pics from it. Oh, and she likes to zoom and the camera comes with 4X optical.

All this for about $80 - what's not to like?

Ted