Need help choosing a camera

[rusty4]

I have 2 camera's that I have narrowed my choices for. Would you mind looking at my choices and giving me your opinion?

Best Buy has 2 on sale today that look good to me.

One is an Canon Powershot SX230HS on sale for $199.99 12mp with an 14x optical zoom

The other is a Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS8 on sale for $149.99 14mp with an 16x zoom

I do have a good sony camera with a large zoom that I can only take outdoor daytime photos due to a broken flash. So I guess a large zoom may not be as big as deal as I think since you can zoom in on photos to print at home anyway.

We were so unhappy with our photos from my new kodak camera last year at Disney. I don't want that to happen again. I am not too worried about great fireworks shots. I just want something that I can get photo's at character meals and rides and such.

I need one that will do nice indoor shots as well. So we don't miss important memory shots. Also, something that in auto mode takes good photos. I do read the manuals and learn different features but sometimes forget the instructions for certain modes when on vacation or when I don't have the manual with me. Auto feature is my friend for sure!

Hope it is okay that I am asking for help here.

 

[photo_chick]

Either one of the cameras you listed is capable of taking great shots in the right hands. But that can be said for nearly any camera on the market. Most of getting a good shot is the photographer and not the camera.

Shooting in lower light levels, like at some character meals and on some rides, is tough and will push the limits of many cameras. Auto mode will rarely ever work well for those types of situations. No matter what camera you use, these are shots that you'll need to really understand how to use your camera if you want to consistently get good results.

I wouldn't rely on cropping in at home as a tool to replace optical zoom. You are lowering the resolution of your image when you do that and it will not print as well.