what is the best digital camera on the market today?

Question by Balthasar: what is the best digital camera on the market today?
I'm looking to buy a digital camera. I want it just to take pictures of good times, but I want a good point and shoot camera. What is the best?
Thank you both!


Best answer:

Answer by Fhotoace is the real #1
Personally, I chose the Canon Powershot SD950-IS, but I recommend the SD850-IS if someone does not want to spend quite that much money.

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SD850-IS
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Please look at the new Canon Powershot SD850-IS. This is a very versatile camera that will not get in your way as you travel. It has a nice workable zoom range that will take you from broad scenics to decent telephoto views. Look at some sample images from the reviews on the SD850-IS to get the idea what this lens will cover. It has image stabilization, which really works. It is small enough to fit into a shirt pocket. It has a rechargeable battery that is good for 200-250 shots, depending on how much zooming and viewing you do or on how many shots use the flash. A spare battery is 1¾"x1¼"x¼" and the charger is barely twice that size, so carrying the spare is easy and packing the charger is easy. It has an optical viewfinder which can be useful when the sun is too bright to see the image on your LCD monitor. I could go on, but you can read some reviews and see what the pro's say.

SD850-IS (IXUS 950 IS) Preview:

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0705/07050702canonsd850is.asp
- See also:

http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-cameras/canon-powershot-sd850-is/4505-6501_7-32441340.html?ar=o&tag=pdtl-list
- See also: http://www.digitalcamerareview.com/default.asp?newsID=3109
User reviews:

http://www.digitalcamera-hq.com/digital-cameras/canon-powershot-sd850is_reviews.html
See also: http://www.steves-digicams.com/2007_reviews/canon_sd850.html

If you know how to read these charts, you can also go here and see what the changes are.
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare_post.asp?method=sidebyside&cameras=canon_sd850is%2Ccanon_sd700is&show=all
Click on "Read Owner Opinions," which are mini-reviews by buyers. You can also read the full review on the SD700-IS by clicking on that option.

The upgrades for the SD850-IS are:
Canon Digic III image processor instead of Digic II
8 MP instead of 6 MP
Maximum ISO 1600 instead of ISO 800
Accepts up to 4 GB memory card instead of 2 GB
LCD monitor has better image
Face detection

I listed these in the order of importance, in my opinion. The first two are the ones that really count the most and the rest are just gravy.

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SD950-IS
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Canon Powershot SD950-IS...

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2007_reviews/canon_sd950.html
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/read_opinions.asp?prodkey=canon_sd950is
If you want to see some SD950 photos, go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstein/tags/sd950is From there, you can also choose to "See all public photos tagged with SD950is" if you want. Some of these are not so much beautiful photos as they are to illustrate a point for answers, but you can still look at the image to evaluate the quality. If they have been altered, I will mention that in the description.

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