[manojb]

Hi Guys,

I've narrowed down my reserach to 3 cameras (Canon-S1-IS, Kodak-DX-7590, Kodak-DX-7440).....I've searched on internet and these are the cons

Kodak-dx-7440 : Low optical zoom (ok for me)

Kodak-dx-7590 : No image stablization

Canon-S1-IS : very bad Indoor/lowlight focusing, EVF freezes, comes with alkaline batteries, too small LCD, bad focusing overall

Now my requirements are -

1) Family events/parties (mostly outdoor night, low light, low light indoor shots),

2) Sight seeing (mostly daylight shots of monuments, buildings etc, can be night shots too like of Times Square NYC),

I want to use automatic settings and my top priority is to get good shots in a variety of light conditions all at some automatic (without having to fiddle around with the complex settings, although I'll learn them later on). As for the 10x zoom, I'm just considering it for fun right now, but if the cams with zoom don't perform well in low light / bright light conditions in automatic mode then I'll leave them. I'm not planning to buy a tripod or do bird watching or do wild life shooting etc, my shots will be around family events, indoors and sight seeing types mostly.

Please suggest which one of the above 3 cams would be the best for these requirements.

Thanks in advance.

[slipe]

From what you say the 7440 sounds like what you need. The 33mm wide angle is wider than most for including more in the shot. The 4X zoom range is good for most photography if you aren’t into wildlife photography. Flash range is adequate.

Jeff at DCRP said this in his review:
“There's a lot to like about the Kodak EasyShare DX7440 -- heck, I even bought one for my mom. It's easy-to-use, very responsive, full-featured, and expandable to boot. The biggest weakness is on the camera is the image quality -- photos were "muddier" that I like to see, especially on things with fine detail like grass or trees. Don't let this scare you off, though. For people like mom who print at 4 x 6 inches or downsize for e-mailing, these are non-issues. "Pixel inspectors" who view the images on-screen at 100%, or those who print larger than 8 x 10 should probably try another camera. The DX7440's photos have vibrant color (perhaps too much so) and very little redeye, and I can attest that they look great when printed.”

He tests almost every camera that comes out, and if he bought one for his mom it is probably a decent and easy to use camera.
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/kodak/dx7440-review/