[Capegirl]

Hello Everyone, I am Emily. I am in serchg for the perfect camera for vacation which we leave for on sunday. I have a 7 year old Kodak easy share that is 3.1megapixels and 3x optical zoom. Absolutely got my use out of it but I am tired of trying to take pictures of boats or other things out on the ocean and they are not focused or grainy. That and the delay from when you push the button to when it takes the picture has caused us to miss a few things with the kids. So I found 2 cannons in my price range of around 300$... one does not have a view finder which I use more than the screen and the other one has just a few more little bells that might be fun. I was wondering what you all thought of them and also if I buy this kind of camera will I have to buy another one 7 years down the road or are these made to last longer? I also want to be able to take pictures of flowers close and seashells and I cannot do that with the kodak it just doesn't work. It also shut off in the middle of taking pictures which is really convenient sometimes! Lol. So I have been looking at the Cannon SX100 IS and the Cannon S5IS I really like the later one but it might be a sell to hubby so I would love to know what you wonderful picture takers think.... thanks. Can't wait to hear back!!!

See you soon, Emily

[Keith Alan]

The Canon S5IS is a great all-around camera according to my friend who has one, and reading reviews it looks very capable.
It isn't expensive for what you get so I would prefer it over the SX100, which isn't bad but isn't in the same league as the S5IS.
If you like a viewfinder doing without one will be almost crippling, while if you don't mind using the LCD screen the S5IS's flips out and around, so it's much more versatile.
The S5IS also has a flash hotshoe, so down the road you can start getting into off-camera light and add another layer to your skills.

For me there would be no competition between the two.