What is the BEST digital camera for Under $300.?

Question

Sony, Nikon, or Canon...preferably...or the best

I need a camera with little to NO noise/grain...
and with near PERFECT picture quality...
I know that the best bet is SLR....but I do not want an SLR...hence the words "near PERFECT"

I tried the Canon SX100is...(8mp 10x optical zoom) for $299 and it SUCKED!!! extremely grainy, even on LOW iso...and picture quality was HORRIBLE

and then I tried the Sony cybershot dsc t 70 (about 8mp) for $299 and it was WORSE than my sony cybershot 4mp

Answer 1

Why are you asking this under 'home theatre'?

That said, as with anything you are the only one qualified to say which is "best", since only you know what features/criteria are most important to you.

My advice is to define what you want then read reviews (e.g. steves digicam review site -- see link) and choose based on price and availability of support locally. Talking to some knowledgable staff in local photo shops wouldn't hurt either!

I suspect you won't find what you want in anything but a DSLR (and therefore not under $300) and even then digitals don't have the lack of noise and dynamic range that film has (still). Depending on how strongly you feel about this your best bet might still be a film camera.

Good luck

Answer 2

Have you considered the Fuji Finepix S700? I don't have it but a friend of mine has been checking it out and feels like it might be a pretty good camera that not many people know about.

http://www.digitalcamera-hq.com/digital-cameras/fuji-finepix-s700_reviews.html

http://www.digitalcamera-hq.com/digital-cameras/fuji-finepix-s700_question.html?qid=11980