Expert: John Oliverio - 6/22/2004

Question
Hi,
I am about to buy a digital camera. I've been looking at the Canon Powershot SD100, and to me it seems good except I'm a little worried about the purple fringing that I've read turns up sometimes, and that it only has 2x optical zoom. Some of the things I really like about it are; the size, its max shutter speed of 1/5000, fast start up time, and that its fast between takeing pictures.
Is there any other camera (within a reasonable price, preferably under $300) that is similar but doesn't have those "bad" things? Or is the purple stuff not that important? If it only shows up occasionally I don't mind but if its constant then its no good...

Sorry if I haven't made alot of sense but digital cameras confuse me!
Karen

Answer
Karen,

Hello. Thanks for the questions.

All digital cameras suffer from the dreaded "purple fringe".  Some more expensive cameras actually have it worse.  (because they have more pixels)  I doubt you'll notice it on prints up to 5x7.  You may see some evidence of it on 8x10.

If you want more zoom, consider the Nikon 3200.  You'll find it for around the same price... or even a little cheaper.  It's got a 3x zoom and the same pixels.

You are mistaken about the 1/5000th second shutterspeed.  It's probably more like 1/500th.  It's not possible to go much faster with that kind of shutter.

Oh, if you want a really big zoom and can spend just a little more, consider the Olympus C740.  It's got a 10X zoom.

John