Another vote for the Canon Powershot.
Haj
I’ll be a dissenting opinion and suggest the Panasonic DMC-FX7.
Good camera. Kind of on the high-end of the $300-$400 range you specified, but it’s a good competitor in the marketplace, and it’s nice and compact.
The only reason I didn’t suggest the powershot is that it doesn’t take an external flash. I’m not suprised so many people like them though. I have an A75 an it does what it does very well and it’s just plain easy to get good shots from it. Really if you can live with flash coverage of nore more than about 10-12 feet you’ll probably be really happy with one. It’s as automatic as you want it to be and has an incredible amount of control and flexibility for when your knowledge of photography grows.
I do not think the 5mp A95 is going to give you better shots than the 3MP A75 though. With all other things being equal more pixels means fewer photons per photosite which means more noise. At typical print sizes, up to 8x10, I don’t think you’ll see any more detail and if you push to larger print sizes you may start seeing more noise from the higher resolution sensor. More pixels is great if you have a huge, APS or larger size sensor but that will be several times the cost.
Thanks for all advice. I’m probably going to go with the Canon Powershot A95 as it has most of the features I want, I really like the 5 MP and it’s really well reviewed here and elsewhere.
2 years ago I got an Olympus D-575 (3.2 MP), and it’s astonishing to me how great the pix are. I’m no camera jockey and I’ve used the default settings from day 1, but I love this camera and if I ever bought a new one, it would be an Olympus.
I just wanna suggest checking out www.refurbdepot.com. They claim to offer 50-60% savings over retail prices. I’ve gotten six or seven items and been pleased with each. I notice they have the Powershot A75 for $159.95.
I’d recommend reading the many recent consumer reports articles on this topic at your local library. Then buying a Canon A70 powershot.
I’m a shill for Sony’s DSC-W1. Giant friggin’ LCD screen (2.5", in an era when you’ll be lucky to find a camera with more than 1.5"), 5 megapixel sensor (and not a bad sensor at all), and excellent manual controls. Takes fast and clear pictures, is nice and rugged, and battery life is excellent. Should be had for $300.
I think Sony put out an updated model (the W5, I think?), but I don’t know how different they are.