camera help!

[rnbgirl]

Hey, I was wondering if anyone could help me. My mum is getting me a camera for my christmas but is unsure which one to get me, so said I could look about and decide. She has told me I have no more than £150 ($300) to spend. I was looking at the Canon Powershot A540 but it doesn't have Image Stabilization, the Samsung Digimax (heard a few bad reviews with regards to recording) i6 and the Casio EXILIM EX-S600 (don't like that you can only upload & charge via the cradle, heard a couple of bad reviews too). I plan to use the camera when I'm away camping, with friends, on holiday but I would like to be able to take reasonably good quality videos and photos (hoping to do something along these lines with my career). This is a list of the features I would like :



5 megapixels or more

Able to record video with sound in MPEG-4/AVI format with a minimum 30fps at 640x480 and preferably with an option to record a 60 fps, unlimited only by battery and memory

Anti-Blur

Self Timer

2.0 inch LCD at least

Good aperture and shutter settings/speeds

SD card memory

Image stabilization

Video Out

A selection of scene modes

Manual aswell as automatic controls

Decent ISO settings

At least 3x optical and digital zoom

Good Macro



Possibity of adding lenses, maybe magnetic lenses (not too fussed about this)



Thanks VERY much in advance, I know i'm being quite[/i] fussy lol :roll:

[mtclimber]

rnbgirl-

No mention is made in your posting or your registration about your location, but I am betting that perhaps it might be the UK. If I am wrong, and you are in the USA, then my recommendation would be without hesitation to take a good look at the Canon A-710 IS. It is as one reviewer has said, "...the poor man's Canon G-7..."

The Canon A-710 IS sells for less than $US 300.00 here in the USA making it an excellent buy. However, should my guess be correct, and you are indeed located in the UK, then perhaps we need to re-think the selection based on the UK price of the Canon A-710 IS.

MT/Sarah

[rnbgirl]

that has everything im looking for, although there is no way my mum could afford that, i suggested shipping from the US, but she's worried incase it doesn't arrive in the UK by christmas and incase anything went wrong we wouldn't be able to return it :sad: thanks