What is a good digital video camcorder that is under $250?

Best compact digital camera/camcorder for under $250?

• Hello gang, Can anyone recommend a compact digital camera that takes excellent photos and good quality, full screen video for under $250? My current digital camera (Sony Powershot G2 4MP) takes excellent photos but the digital video quality is poor and the video size is tiny so I still a have to lug around my old camcorder. Also its a monster by today's standards. I'd like something compact and does it all. I would say it should have at least 4 megapixels but most cameras have twice that these days. Thanks, Nick

• Answer:

  Canon PowerShot SD870IS 8MP Digital Camera with 3.8x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Silver) $246.80 for FREEShipping 1) Ease of use - I had to refer to the manual only once or twice as I took hundreds of pics and many video clips in different situations and lighting. 2) Relatively slim and light to carry around in my shirt or pant pocket. 3) Wide-angle lens - most of my pics tend to be of people, whether in posed photos or candid shots. This model has a roughly 28-105mm equivalent optical zoom (hence the 3.8x designation, i.e. 105 divided by 28). Unless you regularly take pics of distant objects or wild animals, you don't need 12x or 18x optical zoom. Sure, more zoom is better, but it comes at the cost of increased bulk. And increased bulk means you are less likely to take your camera with you and take pics. The wide angle means better group shots. That's why I did not buy any other model that had 5x zoom in a slim body, for example - because almost all of them had lenses that started from 35 or 38mm, and those don't fit people into the shots as well as a wide angle lens does. 4) Reasonably high mega pixel count. 8MP is good enough, unless you regularly take pics that you want to blow up into large sizes for printing. 5) Optical image stabilization - very good feature, because it cancels out camera shake and results in better pictures. 6) Good-quality video clips that are very easy to shoot. Plus, the built-in microphone on this model is powerful and picks up conversations from across a room in video mode. Or, you can record your own commentary on top of a video clip afterwards. 7) Reasonably low shutter lag - unless you buy an expensive (and necessarily bulkier) digital SLR or megazoom camera, you are going to get some shutter lag on any digital camera. The question is, can you live with it if it is low enough? This model's shutter lag is not bad at all. 8)Canon quality. There is a reason that Canon's at the top of the heap in digital cameras, and this model's further proof of it. 9) Rechargeable battery that comes with its own (relatively slim) charger. I had carried along a voltage converter and different plugs for use with my other devices in Russia anyway, so this was a big plus for me. Using disposable batteries usually increases the camera's weight. 10) Beautifully crisp, large (3") LCD screen. I did not feel the absence of an optical viewfinder at all, since using the screen even in broad daylight was so good and so convenient. 11) Good-quality pics.