I am not able to decide between a lot of cameras. So far I have been using a Canon 500N (Rebel G) 35mm film with a 28-80zoom, and a 75-300 zoom with a dedicated flash. Now I am considering a digital camera. I like to shoot children's photos and some portraits, landscapes, and flower photos in macro mode.

I have read reviews of the Canon S10, Olympus 450Z, Casio QV2000UX, and the Fuji MX1700.

I like the Olympus 450Z, because of its good lens, nice ergonomics, but a number of reviews says that the setup menu sucks. I can live with the sloppy manual, but you also need to buy the battrey adapter and additional NIMH. Also, the macro only starts at 20cms. Also does not have USB. But the reviews say that the picture quality is very good.

The S10 has more pixels, USB, microdrive, but the zoom starts at 35mm and not 28mm, seems too small to hold properly, and there are nose smudges on the LCD. Does it come with a battrey adapter?

The Casio has all the manual controls for aperture and shutter, which I like immensely, since I shoot at different combinations and then pick up the good ones. I don't like for the camera to choose the aperture and shutter for me always. Any cons of this camera. How's the picture quality, zoom, and macro modes...

I have seen the Nikon Coolpix 950 used in many photos at megapixel and other sites, and it has a number of manual controls also, however the reviews also say that the ergonomics are not so good and there are buttons placed at all the odd/wrong places. What are the pros and cons of these Nikon series.

I can spend about 500-800 dollars or so. Any help in deciding is appreciated.

Regards, Vinai email: vinai.prakash@compaq.com

-- Vinai Prakash (vinaip@singnet.com.sg), December 14, 1999

Answers

I have just purchased a Nikon Coolpix 950 and love it! Beautiful pictures just using the automatic function. I hardly notice the so called "wrong placed buttons". Maybe the design could have been better, however for the quality of the pictures it is a great digital camera. Now the software Hotshots that comes with it makes it hard to send pictures via email unless you copy the pics to something like Microsoft Image Composer etc. The extention on Hotshots is .col so if any of your friends do not have that software on their computers, they will not be able to open the attachment. But like I said you can copy it to image composer and save as a jpeg file and it flies..... I also heard the Adobe Picture software was pretty cool... Good luck with your choice of Digitals. I love my Nikon 950!!!

-- Bill Sandefur (bsandefu@hotmail.com), December 14, 1999.

I have had the Casio for about a week now, and I am very satisfied with the pictures. The camera's controls and menues are easy to use. You can control EVERYTHING manually!

The Zoom and macro functions work well, and you can manually focus. I chose the Casio over the Olympus for its 2.1M pixel resolution. Casio over S-10 besause the S-10 takes a $70 battery pack (ouch!). Casio over Cp-950 less $$$.

I hope this helps!

-- Al Landry (alandry@mediaone.net), December 14, 1999.

I've had an S10 for a few days now and am very happy with it. Did a ton of research on the net and went to the store sure that I was going to buy to 450Z. But after adding $ for the battery/charger & AC adapter, I decided to go with the Canon (it comes with all this in Canada plus it's got a USB transfer cable). I also didn't like positions of the optical viewfinder on the Oly - it's way over on the left-hand corner. I'm used to SLRs with the viewfinder top-middle. Not mention the fact that the S10 is 2.1Mpixels compare to the 450Z's 1.3Mpixels. I like the size, but I wanted a small camera specifically. I wasn't using my SLR anymore 'cause it's such a pain to lug around a big camera & flash. I'll be able to easily slip the S10 into a pocket when not in use. Was even considering a small film camera at one point. Don't know anything about Casio, except they make great digital... watches :-) Good luck.

-- Randy Wilson (rtwilson@sympatico.ca), December 14, 1999.

I've seen them all at comdex 99.

You've gotta ask yourself what you want.

the Nikon 950 is very nice...but its not one which I'd just slip into my pocket like the Canon S10.

Both the Fuji MX1700 and Canon S10 feel like solid cameras :-)

The Nikon 950 you can add on a 2x lens to get even more zoom.

The Fuji MX1700 and Oly 450Z take smart media :( which cost more than compact falsh - and compact flash comes in larger sizes. (I dont recall what the Nikon 950 takes)

I'd get teh Nikon 950 for more professional pictures... the Canon S10 for a go with me camera.

I really liked holding and using the Fuji MX1700 at comdex... (wish it used compact flash)

for the Oly - i'd rather get their camedia 2020 model...

your pick on what you're looking at.

-- some one (someone@microsoft.com), December 30, 1999.