What is the coolest, sleekest, best quality digital camera for under $400?

Question

Preferably with good zoom. I'm about to go to europe and want a nice camera for the trip.

Answer 1

"Slim look" and "good zoom" don't really go together, so I'll give you some suggestions for a "slim look," allowing you to choose how much you spend, and then one for a "good zoom," which is neither slim nor cheap, but an excellent choice.

First of all, let me say that the first three camera all have "decent" zoom, but not the killer zoom of the S3 IS.

Here's your list:

Canon Powershot SD600
Canon Powershot SD700-IS
Canon Powershot SD800-IS
Canon Powershot S3-IS

Here's a page to get average price information as well as all the specifications:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare_post.asp?method=sidebyside&cameras=canon_sd600%2Ccanon_sd700is%2Ccanon_sd800is%2Ccanon_s3is&show=all

There might be other "better" cameras out there, but as you can see by the star ratings, these are all very good cameras. As I have been writing recommendations for a few months now, I actually find myself attracted to the SD700-IS as a replacement for my current "pocket" camera. It is very slim and sleek and has more zoom than the other Canon Elph (SD) series.


http://www.steves-digicams.com/2006_reviews/sd600.html
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2006_reviews/sd700.html
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2006_reviews/sd800.html
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2006_reviews/s3is.html

Answer 2

So many choices, it's mind-boggling, especially in the price range you're looking at. There are a lot of pretty decent 5 to 6 megapixel cameras out there.
The manufacturers I'd look at are Canon, Nikon, Sony and Kodak, but that's not an exhaustive list. They all have their virtues, and if you stick with known brands, a trip to a store that has working models on display will help you make a choice.
There's a trade-off between size and image quality, which you'll notice as soon as you sample a few of the cameras. Look for a camera that has various program settings (portrait, macro , night, etc.) Bigger lenses mean better pictures (and bigger camera) usually. but that's not always the case, so try them out. A new cool feature that Canon and Nikon have is "face finder technology", where the camera looks for something that looks like a face and focuses on that.
I bought a couple of Nikon Coolpix L2's for $219.00 Canadian (probably cheaper in the US) that left me pretty impressed. (link: http://www.nikon.ca/products/coolpixl2/ ), but who knows, I could have done better...

Answer 3

I would suggest the Canon PowerShot 590is at $108. from Dell + $5. shipping. it may not be cool slender look to you. but it is a very good camera for the money.