Creative photography

[zoom]

I've been looking at the Canon SD700 and SD800 Blogs at this site (very helpful). They both seem like nice cameras but I am wondering which is more useful: wide angle or telephoto?

Thank you in advance for your opinions. I need to get off the fence and make up my mind.  

Oh, my chosen screen name for this forum isn't meant to be prophetic.  

[bdery]

Hi zoom and welcome!

Both wide angle and telephoto can be very necessary to a photographer. But it strongly depends on the subjects and photographic style.

If you plan to photograph, say, birds in flight, or kids playing ports, then telephoto is better. For landscapes, buildings, group pictures, etc, then wide angle is more suited.

So to answer your question, we would need to know what you intend to do with the camera. Then we could give you more specific advice.

[zoom]

Thanks for the response.

I'm just a casual photographer. I'll probably never photograph a bird in flight.    Just want something that's good for family vacations and holidays, to take photos of my kids and the like.

I'm too new at this to know which will be better for me. What I do know is that I want a camera that is easy to carry around and easy to use.

The both seem like very nice cameras. Maybe I should flip a coin?  

[ShutterbugGail]

imho, you can't go wrong with either camera so if the deciding gets too tough, flip a coin.  

A few things to remember is that the SD800 is a newer camera so it has a few features not found on the SD700:

- slightly better high ISO performance,

- face recognition

- accepts Secure Digital High Capacity memory cards (not everyone needs them).

Though I don't own the SD800, I've added it to my blog as a 'wish list' item. You can read some pros and cons about both cameras at my blogs:

http://www.digicamhelp.com/camera-logs/

Ultimately, you should make up your own mind what focal length serves you best. I would pick the longer telephoto lens over wide angle but not everyone feels the same.

[zoom]

After reading the blogs, I think I'm going to get the one with the longer zoom. Plus the camera is less expensive and, I think, better made.

I appreciate all the help.