Canon SX210 IS, Powershot ELPH300 HS, or Powershot SD1400 IS?

[WL Lover]

Hi, you may have seen my previous post, and thanks to most of you, I think I have narrowed it down some. I think that the Canon SX210 IS, Canon ELPH300 HS, or Canon SD1400 IS, maybe good for me and my family, but I need your help.

My main needs are:
1. Good pictures in bad lighting/dark.
2. Good motion pictures for sports.
3. Good battery life (oh and what is the best kind of battery- is lithion ion good)?
4. A zoom that actually helps.

(by good ^^^ I mean about 3-4 stars out of 5 being the best)

Questions:
1. Do you want a higher megapixel number?
2. What is the F.# do?
3. Are the choices I chose good cameras that do the work, or is something else better for my buck?

Budget:
I would like to keep it under $280 (I found where I can get the SX210 for $260).

Thank you so much again for all of your previous help, when I look at all the cameras out there, I get so confused and nervous. Your help is very much appreciated! Thanks again!

 

[ChiSoxKeith]

Hi, you may have seen my previous post, and thanks to most of you, I think I have narrowed it down some. I think that the Canon SX210 IS, Canon ELPH300 HS, or Canon SD1400 IS, maybe good for me and my family, but I need your help.

My main needs are:
1. Good pictures in bad lighting/dark.
2. Good motion pictures for sports.
3. Good battery life (oh and what is the best kind of battery- is lithion ion good)?
4. A zoom that actually helps.

(by good ^^^ I mean about 3-4 stars out of 5 being the best)

Questions:
1. Do you want a higher megapixel number?
2. What is the F.# do?
3. Are the choices I chose good cameras that do the work, or is something else better for my buck?

Budget:
I would like to keep it under $280 (I found where I can get the SX210 for $260).

Thank you so much again for all of your previous help, when I look at all the cameras out there, I get so confused and nervous. Your help is very much appreciated! Thanks again!

1) Do you want higher megapixel number? That sounds like a simple question, but really it isn't. How large do you want to print your pictures? Are you mostly going to do 4x6 prints? Or are you going to blow them up and do 8x10s, 16x20s, or even larger? You need more MP the bigger you want to print them. So in general as long as you are in the megapixel range, it shouldn't matter too much.

2) F numbers are a description of the apeture of the lens. The simplest answer is the smaller the number, the more light it lets in at faster shutter speeds. An F/1.2 lens is faster than an F/1.4, which is faster than an f/2.8......etc. So with a smaller F/number you can get better low light shots. What happens in general on low light shots? They turn out blurry because the shutter has to be open LONGER to expose the image. The longer it's open, the more your hands moving will blur the image. So if you get a faster lens (lower F number) the shutter won't be as open as long.

3) I will let someone else handle this one. I haven't bought a point and shoot in a while.