I need to purchase a camera for myself for work, it needs to be compact enough to keep in pants pocket and cost around $600.00. I've been told to get a compact flash, but I think I may be able to push for smart media or sony's sticks if needed.

So:
Sony DSC-P5 $569.99
Cannon Photo PowerShot S30 $549.99
Olympus 3040Z $597.99

Regardless of the camera, I will be purchasing either a 64 or 128 meg memory chip to use for holding more photos. But, that part can go above the 600 mark if needed.

Any help, suggestions, personal reviews appreciated. (tia)

i went with a canon g1 after much procrastinating on the subject. i did way too much research on it and decided on two cameras, the cannon and olympus you mentioned (it will make sense later). i turned more towards the cannon for a couple of reasons, the image quality is the best in that price range, and i am a lot more partial to the compact flash over the flimsy smart media cards. dpreview is an excellent review site (and for some reason it is offline, or temp down?!?) of most every camera. the guy that runs it goes into way too much detail about the cameras and shows you the finest detail of each one. the canon is the absolute best in the price range you are looking in terms of image quality, but it tends to lack in other areas (build, design, etc...). the sony's are just plain junk unless you buy one with a carl zeiss lens (epson uses the same lens and the one on my g1 looks the exact same, hmmm). i do like the way the olympus looks and feels though, they are nice cameras, but luckily i bought the last g1 at best buy and it was open box (yes i paid $450 for my g1, hehe, lucky me), so i didn't have to go through the pain you are experiencing. also i really don't like the fact of sony making their own personal storage that only works on their equipment, and accesories cost way too much compared to others.

I bought a digital camera a year ago..... I researched the bejezus out of every brand and model in the 3.3 megapixel range. At that time, the Sony model was superior in terms of picture quality, build quality, cost of memory per meg, and features available on the camera. Granted, I was looking at the top of the line models, but if the technology trickles down to their lower models, then you can't go wrong with Sony. Especially if you get one with the Zeiss Lens. They seem to yield higher quality pictures.

I'm sure the other brands are nice too, but when comparing them all side by side, the Sony stood out in a way that can only be described by the immortal words of Nigel from Spinal Tap... "It goes to eleven".

The sony has a SLR kind of interface which is good for SLR user who wants the usual controls near and not hidden in the menu.

The oly (3040zoom?) has the best lens in its class.

chech this place out.

www.dbuy.com

CanonCameras
Digital POWERSHOT S40 DIGITAL CAMERA $641
AMDV.com
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I've found lots the stores that have the lowest prices on these price search engines are bait and switch. They either try to sell you grey market stuff or just the body and not battary that was suppose to come with the camera.<ul><li><a href="http://www.resellerrating.com">resellerrating.com</a></li></ul>

stick with canon or nikon and industry std. compact flash.

I have a Sony DV camcorder with a memory stick and I love it. It's only "incompatible" if you want to use it outside your own home (and how often is that?). I've never been in an incompatible situation and really like the memory stick. When I bought the camera I looked for quality and Sony is it.

Without sony and their idea, you wouldn't be listening to a CD right now.

One assumes compact flahs is a industry standered and thus are able to be used in many things is a joke. Yes the physical media is the same but I wouldn't be surprised if a flash with files already written on one system (dig camer, plam.. etc) can't be read by other systems without being formated. So don't think if you choose a more popular physica media, that you can walk around and stick your compact flash everywhere and it'll work.

Example: CD is a very hard industry standered yet, PC are still unable to read MacOS disc! What gives a rats ass, if the physical media is the same, if you can't read it, you can't read it! And while MacOS claim to be able to read PC disc, I ones in while run into a PC readable disc that I can't read.

So don't think if you choose a more popular media, you are getting more compatibility.

Like I said, my mac was suppose to mount any pc disc. But this CD I came across came up as something that needed formatting. How do you explain that? Just because its file standard, doesn't mean it'll always work.

All memorystick will work with all memorystick device. One can transfer pics from a sony cam to a sony notebook, or palm without worrie. I can't say the same for a cannon cam to a handspring.

What, besides the camera itself, does the memory stick have to be compatible with?

The sony Palm will read the pics off the memorystick from your sony cam. So not only do they share the same physical media they also share the same file system. How about music, in a MP3 player? Which also works with the same file system.

you can plug a memstick into a sony pc and upload but that is all. you can plug a compact flash into any pc and read the files.

Just plug in the cable to the camera and bam, you can view the pictures on your desktop instantly. Simple as pie.

Besides, why would I want to pay even more money for a smart media or compact flash card reader? That makes no sense to me. I much prefer the USB interface. Every PC and laptop built within the last few years comes standard with USB ports. Last time I checked, you don't get a smartmedia or compactflash card reader with a pc... you have to pay extra for it.

I can just pull the SmartMedia card out of the camera, pop it in the drive in my laptop, and treat it just like a floppy or CDR - manipulating or moving the files around as I please - HUGE timesaver.

they also said to hold off a couple months as 5megapixel cams are coming on line and the 4megas will be dropping like rocks in price.

I bought a 2mega CanonS110 for her as a purse camera for Xmas; compact and simple.

If I was to spend 600 then go for an Oly.