which camera to buy?

[Lakshmipathi]

I looking for digital camera (for my parents wedding anniversary gift) , seems like there are lot of vendors and i'm not sure which is the best. Not sure about how to evaluate a camera , So I'm seeking suggestions from photographers my budget around 10K-12K INR that's around 250 USD to 300 USD.

So what to buy?

[Lakshmipathi]

I read some reviews and found Canon is good. How about PowerShot A1100 IS ?

specs are here Product Comparison of PowerShot A1100 IS, PowerShot A480 and Digital IXUS 100 IS * - Digital Cameras - Canon India

[MikeTbob]

I am not a photographer but I have had some good luck with Samsung cameras....3 different ones and they all worked right out of the box.

[Lakshmipathi]

Thanks Mike,Can you let me know Samsung camera models? So that I can check the specifications.

[MikeTbob]

One is a Samsung Digimax 500, I can't find one and the last one (my bad) is Nikon CoolPix, I'll find the other one later today and let you know the model.

[elija]

I have a Cannon Powershot A470 and even I can take decent piccies with it.

[Rubberman]

Canon Powershot cameras generally take very good photos. I have a Canon D-SLR which I love, but it's big, bulky, expensive... I also have a Casio that fits in my pocket and takes nice photos as well as videos. In fact, I use it for a quickie video camera all the time. Of course, the Canon Powershot will also take videos of comperable quality - that seems to be a pretty ubiquitous feature of digital snapshot cameras these days.

[MikeTbob]

I think most digital cameras will work with Linux ok, it just treats them like a flash drive or external USB drive.

[Lakshmipathi]

MikeTobb,I compared Canon PowerShot A1100 IS with Samsung and sony camera. Seems like Canon has pretty good and falls within my budget too.
elija,Most likely I'd buy PowerShot A1100 IS .
Rubberman, Are you referring to EOS model from canon ? they are not expensive ......they are very expensive

Thank you all. I get my new camera and let you know my comments on it.

[D-cat]

From my limited experience, I agree with the Canon Powershot series. It's power hungry (I suggest you use Lithium), but it also allows an amazingly fine tuned manual mode for a camera in its price range. I can take pretty clear pictures of a scene too dark for me to really see (30 second shutter). Mid-air still shots are also good.

In video mode, you can't adjust the zoom while recording, but the actual quality is better then the camera I purchased for video recording (a DXG, turned out to be pretty much a toy).

I've dealt with Canon, Agfa, and Olympus digital cameras in the 200-500 USD range, Canon is the clear winner IMO in function and image quality for price.

They all took removable media cards (the Canon Powershot takes SD, at least the one I have), so Linux compatibility is pretty much a non-issue with any of them.