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I'm a student looking to pick up a very compact camera before I go to Spain for a semester. I'm not a particularly good photographer, so 99% of viewing will be on my computer. I also plan to ask for the camera as a gift, so I can't go for anything above $300 or so.
I was looking at the Sony W1, but that might be overkill for me. How is the Canon SD200?
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All the canons are solid, as far as I know. The previous two I had were great - except for the really annoying pause (for most of a second) between button pressing and taking of the picture. That's inherent with canon; their major flaw. That just got to me after missing so many action shots (trying to get windsurfers etc in maui) and candid, fleeting moment type shots that are sometimes so good.
Definitely go to dpreview.com and
http://www.steves-digicams.com/
Your answer should be within those two review sites.
There are so many options for digital cameras; almost all will do a reasonable job as long as you're not a pro or specifically want something super special, so you can almost just pin the donkey if you really can't decide.
I chose the sony W1 cos I wanted good response time and all the other features were there that I wanted (most have more features than the average joe like me could want). (and it got great reviews).
If you want to get fancy, make sure to get one with manual setting possibilities, but I doubt it from your description.