Digital Camera recommendations? (~$300)

Canon SD300

jamdr said:

I'm looking to buy a digital camera in the $300 range. I'm not much of an enthusiast so a bunch of manual controls aren't too important to me. Shutter speed and white balance controls might be nice, but it doesn't really matter. I'm looking at both Canon's and Nikon's. Right now I'm considering:

• Nikon Coolpix 5900
• Canon SD300 or SD400
• Canon A510 or A520

I'd like the camera to use SD memory and I'm open to other cameras not on the list. I'm kind of leaning toward the A5xx series right now because I've read the photo quality is very good. Does anyone have an recommendations for me?

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I have an SD300 with which I am very satisfied. I added a SanDisk Ultra 1GB memory card which is really necessary if you wish to take advantage of the video features. 4MB resolution is adequate for most point and shoot users as long as you do not want to print larger than 8.5" x 11". Also you can crop photos pretty drastically and still produce quality prints. Street price is around $300. I have also used the camera connector with my iPod Photo with good results.

I have the same Camera, SD300, I think the photos come out rather blurry. I have it set to auto focus, but the slightest movement when shooting seems to blur the images. Id try it out in store before you get it, if you do indeed choose an Digital ELF.

Koodauw said:

I have the same Camera, SD300, I think the photos come out rather blurry. I have it set to auto focus, but the slightest movement when shooting seems to blur the images. Id try it out in store before you get it, if you do indeed choose an Digital ELF.

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Two suggestions that might help (but I have an S50 and not an ELF):

1) There's a difference between blurring because of motion and misfocusing -- autofocus is probably not causing your problem, especially since the depth of field is pretty high most of the time in this kind of camera. But for autofocus, if it is your problem, make sure you're holding the button halfway down and getting the green boxes on the screen indicating focus points. If you don't get them, you don't have a focus solution.

2) Have you tried the setting marked by the icon of the running person? It should (without a lot of fuss) optimize settings for more in the way of motion -- that is, keep the shutter time as short as possible and try to compensate with ISO and/or aperture (to get enough light). It might help you get better pictures if you're getting motion blur in the AUTO setting.