I recently made a poor purchase from Overstock.com. I returned it today. All in all, I lost about $27 through this transaction. It was a 6mp Vupoint with no optical zoom. I really need to make up for this purchase. I want something with a lot of quality for distant pictures (close up ones, too, but distant pictures are the most important). I've been looking at a Kodak DX4530. It's 5mp, 3x optical zoom, 3.3 digital zoom. Most reviews have been positive, but I've come by a handful of poor reviews. Will this be a good purchase? I found a refurbished one for $194. It's normally $399.

Well, you get what you pay for, so think of a camera as an investment. If you purchase an inferior or really cheap one, you may be unhappy with it in a year when it's been long eclipsed by more advanced models.

If you need the long reach, I would go with a Canon S1 IS. It has one of the longest lenses found on a consumer point-and-shoot camera. The Image Stabilizer is also a plus, as camera shake is magnified with longer focal lengths. If you want something that will handle really long distances well, then look into a DSLR and a good telephoto lens, although both are fairly expensive. Also, consider what features are important to you, if you need or want a camera that allows you to be in full control, a more advanced one is a good idea.

I have had little experience with Kodak's products as I use Canon's digital cameras and lenses for work, so I couldn't tell you if they are good or bad per se.

i think the canon S1 IS is probably one of the best point and shoot cameras one the market, if i were buying a digital camera, and wasnt getting a DSLR i think thats the one i would get, partially because i have a bias towards canon products, because they have treated me well, but it also is a really amazing camera, at a really good price. and although it only has a 3.2 mp sensor, it definitely makes up for it with other versatility, so unless you're printing bigger than 8x10, 3.2 will be enough for you and you will not need such a big card:), or so much ram in your computer :P

Having taken over six thousand photos with my S1, I agree with the above two posts. :-)

That's pretty light use! Both of my 1D Mark II's (purchased July 2004) have over 30,000 shutter actuations each! (Still, 6,000 is no small amount.) I think most Canon shooters are biased; they produce some of the best equipment, IMO.

6000? 30,000? Holy cow -- you guys must have carpal tunnel of the index finger by now!

I bought it July 1st, so that's about 3 and a half months... so yea, not too bad. Sixty-thousand, though, wow. That's just... wow... pretty amazing.

wow, i just checked and on my old S30, i've had for almost 2 years i've oonly take 8200 shots. "only"

Yeah, they add up when you take almost 1,000 per event/game at 8 per second.

Well yea, sure it's your job, but it's still really impressive.

To get thing more back on topic...
Lithfo: We've been mentioning the S1 IS because it has a 10x optical zoom (38-380mm equivalent). This is quite useful, since you mention that you "want something with a lot of quality for distant pictures". There are a few models on the market right now with around 10x of optical zoom, including the Olympus C-7XX series, the Konica-Minolta Z-series, and the Panasonic FZ-series. Only some of them have an image stabilizer (an element in the lens that moves to counteract your hand movement) so that photos stay sharp when using the long end of the zoom. Namely, the S1, the Panasonics, and one of the Minoltas have this feature, so choices become more limited.

If you don't think you need 10x, then the choices open tremendously. I have absolutely no experience with Kodak digitals, so I can't make any useful comments about that. I'd say the most important thing is to go to a store and try them. Pick them up, see what you'd want to carry and use. If it's important to put in your jeans pocket and walk normally, you won't want an S1. Do the buttons feel useful? Does it fit your hand well? Does it feel strong and well manufactured or cheap and flimsy? I picked up my camera and loved it, and as soon as I could afford it, I bought one. Go home, look around online. There are at least three great sites I'm aware of with awesome reviews. dpreview, Steve's Digicams, and Imaging-Resource. On the last, Dave has set up a page of "Dave's Picks", a simply formatted page of what he'd recommend for different uses.

No matter what you get, good luck, and have fun with it. The most important thing is getting a camera you'll want to use and experiment with.

Thanks for all your help. I don't think I will be getting that Kodak. I've heard bad things from a co-worker. He says the shutter speeds on that brand are usually pretty bad. He recommended a 6.2MP Fuji which has 9 or 10 xZoom (I think). I may spend a little more and get this SI, though.

Has anyone experienced significant drawbacks to the Canon SI?

If your willing to spand a little more you can pick up an olympus 8080 which is an 8.1 MGP camera. The olympus is also a well made camera. You can also pick up one of the Nikon or fuji 6.2 MPG models for under 600,00 and you will have a great consumer camera.

Can someone show me a picture they took with a Cannon S1? It's between this and a Fuji f700.

seeing as xentrik has the S1 for a couple months now pretty much look at the newer stuff in his galery, and if you need to make sure, just read the .exif information of the downloaded picture, and it will tell you all about the camera and the settings used etc.

Realize that everything in my gallery is (sometimes heavily) post-processed. Don't expect to pick up the camera and immediately get results like that, but everything on my first page sorted by date is from the S1. The site I linked above, dpreview, has a review on the S1 where they offer full-resolution samples of it's studio output. They shoot the same subjects in the same conditions so you can compare the photos from different cameras. I'd highly suggest you read the reviews at that page. If you want the highly distilled version, the last page (here) has an excellent list of the pros and cons of this model.

The S1 and the Fuji you mention are extremely different cameras. The F700 seems more pocketable, but does not have anywhere near as much zoom as the S1. Buying a camera is an extremely personal choice, it's what you'll want to use (and definitely what you can afford). That's why I said you should go to a store and try them out, even if you buy online. It's impossible for any of us in intarweb-land to tell you what you'll want. :)

Again, good luck, I hope you aren't disappointed with whatever you choose.

I just ordered a Cannon S1 brand new for $239. That seemed awfully low since the closest price to that was $289. Turns out they charged me $59.99 S&H. I figure the one for $289 probably would have charged anywhere from $5-10, so it all evens out.

I have had a DX 4530 for 1.5 years have shot approx 4000 pictures, you should be able to find one new for 200 bucks, if you have time all of the shots on this site in my gallery were taken with the DX 4530, it is a great P-S camera that will take a lot of abuse
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just bought the S1 IS at Xmas for myself, the weather here has been lousy, but just got back from Florida, am impressed with the unit and very impressed with the videos you can do. Finally bought Paint Shop and am learning how to use it, used Photo Elements B4. Once you understand the limitations of any camera, you can work around them. This one suffers in low light focus, but I don't do that many people shots.