Help me pick a point and shoot camera!

[Coconuts]

We will be going to WDW in a few weeks and need a new camera. Our digital camera's LCD screen recently broke and it's extremely hard to see though the viewfinder, unless you are the size of an ant. We had a Canon PowerShot SD700 digital elph, with 6mp and 4x zoom. The camera was easy to use but you didn't get clear pics if you were more than 5 feet away. So castle, fireworks, kids on rides, etc. shots were always fuzzy.

I want something that takes less fuzzy longer distance pics, but I want something small and light that I can carry in my pocket. So that rules out SLR? cameras. I honestly don't even know what SLR stands for but I know they're bigger and heavier and I don't want that.

I also don't want to break the bank for this and have found 4 options right around $100. I am not sure which is more valuable for clearer pictures, megapixels or zoom, so I picked some different options. Or should I get something completely different than what I picked? Let me know if any of these sound reasonable:

1. Panasonic Lumix 16mp/8x zoom, with 4gb card and case $129.99

2. Fuji Finepix Z90 14.2 mp/5x zoom with 4gb card and case $89.99

3. Fuji Finepix AX330 14mp/5x zoom with 4gb card, case, and up to 100 free prints $69.00

4. Olympus Stylus 7030 14mp/7x zoom $96.99

Any feedback would be appreciated because I obviously know nothing about cameras. In fact I didn't even know there was a photography board until I searched "best camera" on the Disboards today.

Thanks!

 

[thomas998]

I would suggest you go to your local Bestbuy and go look at what they have... Your best choice for your price range is going to be a Canon, Nikon or Panasonic... I would stay away from the Sonys (good cameras when you get to the more expensive models but not so good at your price range).

You will likely need to spend at least 130 for the camera... all you want to do is look at the amount of optical zoom (more is better)... then see how it feels in your hands.. All the current cameras will do much better than an old elph could ever do so you will be impressed by how much better cameras are now than they used to be. The down side is none of them are speed demons when it comes to catching kids in action.... but still at that price point any of the 3 big names will be good at that price... One last thing stay away from anything Casio, very bad quality pictures.

 

[LisaTC]

I just got this and I love it, except mine is purple. 8x optical zoom, 28mm wide angle.

http://www.beachcamera.com/shop/product.aspx?sku=CNPSE310HSBE

It is HD video and you can put it on continuous shoot.