Heading to "The World" in early December and have decided to take the digital plunge. My wife is a freelance pro photographer and I dabble in it a little. We have a complete set of Pentax Medium Format and Minolta Maxxum 35mm cameras, with various lenses, but are looking for a simple, (relatively) inexpensive, portable digital camera. Models we are considering are Canon A75, Canon A400, and Sony DSC-P72. Would consider any other brands except Panasonic. Any suggestions, especially from anyone who owns/uses one of the three above would be appreciated.

~FastEddie

We own a cannon A70 which is a great camera, it takes great pics, lots of features, including video. The A75 is newer so would be better, take a look at the pictures we took on our last trip with it: http://mickeyslittlehelper.smugmug.com/gallery/183091

Hope this helps

Hi there, i have a canon a75 and just love it. It takes truly great pics and is simple to use. There are many different settings, so it is great for a beginner or someone who likes to play around with their pictures. I fully recommend it, i have owned it for 3 months now.
52 sleeps til we leave....YAH!!!
sharon

Sharon, we may bump into you down there. We'll be there 12/4-9. I'm strongly leaning toward the A75, but got a somewhat troubling response to a post on a photograpy BB from someone who had purchased an A75, but immediately returned it due to soft "portrait" images:

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=009kfr

OTOH, this page shows excellent quality portraits:

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2004_reviews/a75_samples.html

Are you satisfied with the "portraits" you have made with your A75? We have a six year old who, I imagine, will be the subject of many, if not most, of the pics made with whatever we end up with!

~FastEddie

We have the Sony P-10, which is now the P-100. 5MP camera. LOVE IT.

Both the Sony and the Cannon are great cameras and I'd be looking at one of them if I was interested in a compact digital (Or maybe the Cannon G6 if I was going to go to that price).

BEst idea is to pop in to a store and have a play with both of them. Any good camera store should let you have a little go with them. See if it feels right in your hand. Are the controls easy to get at? Do you like the menu system. A camera I like might make no sense to you etc and vice versa. If you are looking at point and shoot and not keen on manual setting them make sure you like the colour that the auto mode gives etc.

Digital cameras have come a long way and over the last 12 months or so there hasn't been a lot of quality improvement (As they are all so good already) The industry has matured a lot and as long as you buy one of the established brands (Canon, Fuiji, Sony etc etc etc) then you get a really nice camera. It probably comes down to the price you are willing to pay really.

I got a Canon A80 a couple of months ago. If you can still find one it would be worth the upgrade from the A70/75. It features 4mp instead of 3 and has a variable angle LCD which makes taking shots over your head or low to the ground easier.

It's being phased out in favor of the A95 so many stores will have it for bargain prices.

A couple of reviews:

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2003_reviews/a80.html
http://albert.achtung.com/cameras/A80/index.html