advice on which camera to choose

[talkshowhost]

ok am going on holiday next week to Italy and I want to buy a digital camera before I go.

I have never had a digital camera and it would just be for general use such as parties, holidays etc etc.

Have read reviews and think it would be achoice between the following:
Canon Digital IXUS 800 IS (SD700 IS)
Fujifilm FinePix F30

or possibly one of the canon powershot ones but I haven't had that much of chance to read up on these and these don't look as compact.

The only concerns I have about the above is that they are only 6MP. I know this isn't the most important feature but would this be enough and both cameras appear to have limited manual control although being the absolute novice that I am would this bother me?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[GSXRMovistar]

I recently picked up an Ixus 800 and have been really impressed with it, whilst there aren't loads of manual controls it makes a great point and shot camera which should suit what you want it for.

 

[Belly]

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canonsd700is/page11.asp

Can't go wrong with this one

6mp is pretttttty big.

Just make sure you get a few memory cards, I'm not sure off the top of my head but a 256 MB card will give you about 70 shots (I'll probably get Shot if I'm wrong)

You might also consider getting some photo recovery software (freeware - Download.com) just in case you unintentionally delete photos. That's why many people consider buying separate smaller memory cards and if anything goes wrong replace the card and try to recover the photos on your computer at the end of your holiday!

Image stability is a really good feature especially if your're gonna take photos at a party (when you might have had a few too) etc

 

[talkshowhost]

thanks for the advice - i think i've decided on the canon althougth the only thing that concerns me slighty is the corner softness - has anyone else had problems with this or are there any votes for the fuji?