I have been researching my first digital camera for almost a month, and I've finally found the best match for my needs... the Canon A5 Zoom (or A5). Unfortunately the stores I have contacted (Best Stop Digital and TriState) all say the A5 and A5 Zoom (for @$340) have been discontinued and only offer the A50 (for about $419), which is just out of my budget considering I need the $119 AC Adapter and NiMH rechargeable battery.

Can anyone help? I'd love a used A5 Zoom or A50 if you want to sell (especially with NiMH battery & charger). Anyone recommend a similar camera (Need CF, small form factor, and near 1Megapixel or more)?

FYI: http://www.imaging-resource.com is by far the best digital camera information resource I found on the Web (and I looked HARD). http://www.pricescan.com is an excellent way of finding the best price for any electronic equipment

Thanks! Zephan Schroeder

-- Zephan Schroeder (zephans@hotmail.com), August 24, 1999

Answers

I'm personally in the process of choosing between the Canon PowerShot A50 and Olympus 340R myself. I think the Olympus offers almost everything the Canon offers minus the Optical zoom.... it's at Best Buys for $299 and on the net for around $263..... whereas Canon is $499 at Best Buys and $425 on the net. Anyone care to share their opinions on Canon PowerShot A50 vs. Olympus 340R?

-Joey Chao

-- Joey Chao (joeychao@hotmail.com), August 27, 1999.

dude, $120 for an ac adaptor? What do you want the ac adaptor for? I think you will find you don't need it if you get 1) the nimh rechargables 2) card reader

I posted comments about 340 vs a50 above, optical zoom makes huge difference in image quality and price so the comparison is not a good one. oly 400 vs A50 would be a more accurate comparison.

-- benoit (foo@bar.com), August 27, 1999.

A couple quick updates: 1. $119 was for the Canon OEM accessory pack which includes AC Adapter, NiMH battery (which is camera battery instead of AA), and battery charger. Given feedback and a little more looking into batteries I may grab batteries and charger elsewhere (Thomas?)to ensure good quality.

2. Canon uses CF cards for storage, which I personally like since I have several Microsoft Handheld PC and Palm-size PC devices. (I work for Microsoft Mobile Electronics Group.) Olympus uses SmartMedia cards (and you need Olympus SM cards if you want panoramic feature in- camera.) See my related thread on CF vs. SmartMedia including updated answers, but for now technically there is no major drawbacks to either media.

Right now I'm still riding the fence between Canon A5 Zoom (or great deal on used A50) or Olympus 340R.

Anyone have general opinion of Canon reliability vs. Olympous reliability?

-- Zephan Schroeder (zephans@hotmail.com), August 31, 1999.

They both look like good cameras. The big diff is the optical zoom on the A50. A50 has a little more res. Hell, I'd splurge for the A50 if I could, sweet camera. If you don't need optical zoom the cheaper 340 would do. A50 vs oly 400 is a more reasonable comparison than A50 vs 340, because of the optical zoom.

-- benoit (foo@bar.com), August 31, 1999.

Zephan, I purchased my A50 on 27 July 1999 and used it on my vacation across the US to the east coast. It is a little more expensive than other cameras in its class, but it is worth every penny. I shot about 220 pixs while on vacation and downloaded to my laptop. The camera performed faultlessly! You can find it cheaper than $499, but you'll have to be careful. Some merchants make up the savings difference on the charger. However, you can buy the Photo Cell 2CR5 Lithium. I took two with me and they lasted the entire trip; two weeks. Be mindfull that I didn't use the LCD panel every single time I shot photos and I used it just like I do my SLR camera turning the power off when not in use. Write me if you want to see some photos or learn more from hands on.

-- Jeff Thomas (Nomad@ukans.edu), September 01, 1999.

I just bought the charger pack from Cameraworld.com for $79.00 including free shipping (ground).

-- Dennis Pereira (dpereira@ultranet.com), September 19, 1999.