Canon SD600 for $220 or SD700IS for $300

[KnickNut3]

Hi. I'm leaving for spring break next week and need a camera by then, so I need to order tonight.

My Canon SD200 has served me well but I need a new one. Looking at the 6MP SD600 and SD700IS. The 700 has image stabilization and zooms to 4x (as opposed to 3x for the 600). How important is the IS? Are those features and the newer model worth the extra $80 (which includes a 1GB SD card, but I don't really need one so that's not a huge factor)?

Bottom line price:
SD600: $218
SD700IS: $302 (w/ 1GB SD)

I mostly take shots when on vacation, like shooting landscapes (of landmarks, golf courses, etc.) and try to be artistic. I like portability and size, though, so I've narrowed it down to these two. My hand isn't that steady, so if IS is a big deal, may be worth it. But is it?

Thanks for the insight.

 

[vi edit]

Seems kinda high for an SD700IS, it's discontinued. I'd save the money and go for the SD600. But the SD800IS would be worth a look, the face recognition is very nice. You should be able to find them for around $300 online.

 

[KnickNut3]

According to dpreview and others I read, the 700 was better than the 800 in tests AFAIK... I'll check that out... you got a link?

 

[KnickNut3]

Also, cheapest on PriceGrabber is closer to $350, no live deals I can find either... doesn't look like 800 is a viable option.

 

[vi edit]

The differences are pretty minimal between the two. The 700 has a further zoom, but less wide angle than the 800. I personally would rather have the wider angle.

The 800 has the newer processor that has face recognition which is a slick little function.

The downfalls of the 800 are somewhat sketchier build quality. The battery/memory card door is made of plastic and wouldn't put up with a ton of abuse. The body also has more plastic than the 700.

I have the 800 personally. The IS isn't a huge deal personally. It simply can't compensate for low light conditions like a larger & faster lens can.

 

[KnickNut3]

Any other thoughts from other people? Is the 700IS worth $80 over the 600?

 

[ballmode]

I'd like to know too

 

[KnickNut3]

Final bump before bed. Will order first thing in the morning. Leaning toward the 700IS but would appreciate some thoughts.

 

[gooseman]

Can't speak for the 700 but I bought the 600 a couple months ago and love it.

 

[George P Burdell]

Between the 600 and the 700IS, I'd pick the 700. I don't know how effective the IS is for the 700, but I have an S3IS and the IS works really, really well at 12x zoom. Also, I remember reading somewhere that the 700 can take slightly better photos indoors at night. If you can spare the money, go for the 800IS, which is a better camera.

Then again, if you're going to use this camera over spring break, you might wanna reconsider how much you want to sink into a new camera when it's likely to come into contact with sand, water and a drunk photographer

 

[KnickNut3]

Originally posted by: George P Burdell
Between the 600 and the 700IS, I'd pick the 700. I don't know how effective the IS is for the 700, but I have an S3IS and the IS works really, really well at 12x zoom. Also, I remember reading somewhere that the 700 can take slightly better photos indoors at night. If you can spare the money, go for the 800IS, which is a better camera.

Then again, if you're going to use this camera over spring break, you might wanna reconsider how much you want to sink into a new camera when it's likely to come into contact with sand, water and a drunk photographer

Thanks for the thoughts. Only problem is you can keep saying "for just $50 more..." until you're at their top of the line camera

And I'll be in Vegas, so hopefully no sand or water (although drunkenness will certainly be an issue, I hope).

 

[imported_UncivilizedAMD]

Get the 700IS. IS is a must must have feature, if you don't have high ISO that is, and even more so because ur hand is not steady. IS reduces camera shake and can reduce ISO by about 3 stops. You either need IS or high ISO to reduce camera shake. I got some pictures from an SD630 which is within the same family as the SD600 and the quality is nothing to brag about. Might wanna look into the FUJI F30 which is cheaper than the SD700 and has better reviews.

 

[KnickNut3]

Hmmm, the F30 looks good--how about the F20, which is much cheaper and only seems to not have ISO3200, only up to ISO2000?

And what's this internal memory - 10MB?

 

[imported_UncivilizedAMD]

Originally posted by: KnickNut3
Hmmm, the F30 looks good--how about the F20, which is much cheaper and only seems to not have ISO3200, only up to ISO2000?

And what's this internal memory - 10MB?

The F20 has up to ISO3200. I believe the screen on the F30 is better too. But the huge difference between the 2 is you get more manual control with the F30 whereas the F20 is pretty much automatic point and shoot like the Canons.

Internal memory is the amount of memory on the camera for picture taking in case u run outta memory on your cards or if you just want to test the camera out when you don't have a card yet. You'll need to buy XD cards to expand memory.

Edit: NM, it only goes up to ISO2000 for the F20.

 

[vi edit]

I wouldn't get too caught up in the ISO ratings on the ultra-compacts.

I can tell you that anything above ISO 400 is essentially useless. It looks like it was taken by a really crappy webcam. I would go so far as to say that even anything above ISO 200 is borderline unusable.

Or at least this is the case with my SD800. Simply put, even with IS you still can't defeat the physics of the beast. These aren't SLR's or high end P&S's.

 

[imported_UncivilizedAMD]

I would agree that anything above Iso400 is useless with a regular CCD camera. But that's a different story with Fuji's Super CCD Camera. I have shot at ISO800 with my F30 and it is totally useable and I would say it compares with ISO 200 on a SD700 which is totally useable. Every review site and at every forum I've read, the consensus is that ISO800 is totally useable with an F30 or F20. Dpreview equates an ISO800 on an F30 to a Iso200 on an SD700. At ISO1600 you can get away with small prints 4 x 6 and simply run it through a De-Noise Program which will help to some degree. True these aren't SLR's and even massive handshake or really dark places will make IS and high ISO useless, but they do work to some degree and its much better than having nothing. The Fuji F30 did fare well when compared to the Nikon D50 SLR in Dpreview's review.

 

[Nocturnal]

I have the SD700 and that camera is just amazing. Add to that the IS capability which helps since I don't have a steady hand lol. I've used settings up to ISO800 and it's been more than usable. It wasn't really a photo of a person but items such as laptops, computers, etc, and it was more than useable.

 

[RagingBITCH]

From what I heard, the 700IS got discontinued fairly fast for a reason...heard it had a decent amount of problems. I own the SD600 and love it...I rarely ever miss having IS. I'd look at the 800 as stated or the 630.

And if you read the 700 is better than the 800 in tests, well, are you comparing the quality of your pics and all the "artistic" shots that you take with those of DPreview or whatever other site you're looking at? Seriously, I doubt you'd be able to tell the difference.

 

[austin316]

is the SD600 the best ultra-compact camera for around $200 or less? the size (smaller the better) is more important than quality, but the pictures must still look good, just don't have to be great.

 

[manly]

Originally posted by: KnickNut3
Any other thoughts from other people? Is the 700IS worth $80 over the 600?

Yes, though I don't own a digital camera.

 

[KnickNut3]

Well, I went with the F20 in the end (yeah, I know...) It was cheaper and I was really impressed with the sharpness of shots and good reviews on dpreview and others. I don't adjust too many settings manually so the F30 definitely isn't worth it over the F20 for me. Bummer was having to shell out another $30 for the xD card which made it a little less of a bargain compared to the Canons (for my purposes), but whatever. Thanks for the thoughts.