Canon digital cameras or Sony??

I would like to buy a digital camera. My friends say go for Canon. I am not a professional photographer but would like to get good quality pictures for the web. 

Any ideas?? thanks 

I have a canon, my mom got it for me for christmas 2 years ago. When she went to buy it she knew nothing and asked the customer service people to help her and they reccommeded it.  They told her that canon mostly focuses on the average consumser, not the super I live my life for photography people. So they make much better cameras at a much better price. 

 The one i have is the power shot SD600. I know they made a 750 last year which would be the newer model of mine, but who knows that might have an 800 or something now.

I have a Canon SX100 IS which I'm extremely happy with.  I don't know what your price range is, but it's a good mid-range camera that lets you go from using the automatic settings all the way up to fully manual settings.  It's not a full digital SLR though, you can't change lenses or put filters on it. 

Edit: the picture in my avatar was taken with that camera.

nikon has better lenses than both.  if you're looking for quality, i'd go that way every time.

*Cannons go boom.

*Canons go click.

It depends on what type of camera you're looking for.  Do you want an SLR?  Where are most of your pictures going to be taken?  Outside?  Inside?  Low light?  What type of pictures?  Landscape?  Portrait?  Fast moving?  What is your price range?

I have a Sony Cybershot and it's perfect for my needs.  I compared the specs with all cameras in the same price range.  The Cybershot was the best all around camera so that's what I bought.  Been pretty happy with it. 

My avatar picture was taken with the Sony using the macro setting while inside under CF light.  If you look close you can see my iris's texture.  Not too shabby for a point a shoot digital camera.

Schnood

hehehee.

Original Post by pgeorgian:

nikon has better lenses than both.  if you're looking for quality, i'd go that way every time.

mmhmm, just came in to agree

I love Nikon!

My wife just upgraded her camera from a Canon Rebel XT to a Sony Alpha (I know nothing about cameras).  Don't know why she didn't look at the Nikons.

I've personally owned a Canon and a Sony. Both were excellent cameras. I'm a little hesitant over Sony right now with how their fiances are and how they pulled their entire camera line for almost a year to develop new models. To me, 100% new says they found a way to make things cheaper. Not always good. =/

But Nikon's are also great. They are all high quality.

Took my Canon Powershot to Italy. Wanna see some of the pics? Check 'em out here. (LARGE image warning. They are cropped into thumbnails but once you click these are the full, unaltered pictures as the came out of the camera so they are quite large.)

Edited to Add: Make sure to check a few if you go to the website. Some of them that were taken at night aren't so high quality because I was still learning the settings. Haha!

Neither. Like others have said... Nikon. If you're 100% set on Canon or Sony... go with Canon.

i have had sony and now i have nikon. the nikon one i have is a little slow to react when you press it...but i find that issue in almost all the cameras i try, maybe its me?

overall, though i liked, not loved both my sony and nikon dig cameras.my friend has a canon and i believe she is satisfied...look on shopping comparision sites for consumer reviews and such, although they tend to be a bit skewed.

Nikon = best,  then Canon, Sony

Thanks everyone. I went to Nikon website and basically spent a whole hour trying to figure out the best camera for me but I couldn't. 

I was like WHAT? $8000 for their new camera? 

My price range $300-$400.

I want to capture good quality pictures for the web and also I am interested in nature. I don't know if I should go for digital SLR or compact digital cameras? I am hoping to get some photography classes in the future. 

I don't think you can get an SLR for 300-400$ (for sure not a good one), I got the Canon XTi which was 700 or 800.

The camera I got before this was a Fuji A210. It was my first camera and I just went to the stores and looked at what they had, reading all the specifications like looking for optical zoom (its better than digital zoom), over 3.0 megapixels (which is probably low by todays standards lol, ps. the more megapixels the clearer the image), size of the lcd screen etc, and then also compared prices. After that I went online and researched each camera a bit to find out what the reviews were like.

I've had my Canon Powershot A300 for 11 years! It recently passed on and I'm also looking to get a new camera and I'm going to settle for the Canon Powershot SD1100 IS in "Rhythm & Blue". :) My old canon (sitting on my desk staring at me as I write this) has never let me down and it was the best money I spent on a camera ever. So... I'm obviously bias towards Canons. :)

i have two canons, one of which is an SLR, they are both decent so i'd vote canon over sony. however i agree that nikon is way better than both. my dad's got a nikon slr which is a total beast. i wish i'd listened to him and got one instead of my canon :\

It depends on what you want to do with the camera.  At a $300-$400 price point, you can afford pretty much any point & shoot camera, but that's not quite enough to get into the DSLR category.

So here are a few basic questions to answer:

1.  Is size important?  Do you want to be able to carry it around in your pocket?

2.  What will be your subject matter?  Mostly indoor, mostly outdoor?  This will help determine if you're looking for a camera with more zoom and/or low light capability.

3.  Are there any features you must have?  HD Video? Image Stabilization?

4.  Do you want a wide range of user controls, or will you be using the auto settings 99% of the time?

Also, make sure you know what powers them (battery life) and the type of memory card they use.

Lastly, don't get caught up in megapixels.  It's the biggest myth in digital cameras.  Unless you plan on printing out billboards, anything over 6 megpixels will serve the average user.

If you're interested in outdoor photography then a camera with a bigger zoom may be more your style.

No one has mentioned the Panasonic Lumix series of cameras in this thread and they would be a good option.  You can get "baby DSLRs" like the DMC-FZ18 or smaller models like the DMC-TZ5.

If you would prefer an ultra compact camera, you generally can't beat the Canon SD series.  But generally, at this point in time, most digital cameras will give you similar performance, it's mostly a matter of personal taste.

Whatever you do, make sure you try it before you buy it.  Make sure it feels comfortable in your hands.  And look through online galleries of people who own and use the camera you intend to buy.  See if you like the colours and results that the camera can produce in real environments.

And if you're still stuck, the discussion forums at http://www.dpreview.com/ are a good place to start.

thank you so much for all the replies. I will go for Nikon. 

Mistyglen, these are great questions. i don't really care about the size. I will take this camera outdoors. I have no idea about what type of memory card is good. 

Also, I am not sure about the user controls because I am a beginner but I would love to learn that art. 

maybe it is a good idea to just wait until I can afford a DSLR.

I've always had HPs..currenly I've got an HP camera (6.2 MP ) and love it. It's easy to use and mine has seen Vienna and Budapest :)

I find that many people who own DSLRs also have a smaller point & shoot camera for times when they don't want to lug around a (comparatively) bigger piece of equipment.

So if you're new to photography, you may want to wait on the DSLR until you know if it's going to be a more permanent hobby.  You can still do lots of manual settings with most smaller point and shoot models.

And as you can tell by the responses to this thread, you're going to find people who swear by nearly every brand made, so it's purely a personal choice.