I'm looking for a good camera.

I don't have any brands in mind besides name brands.
What I plan is using it for vacations so some good video recording might be needed.

I want to be able to zoom in pretty close when needed without getting the picture quality going to crap (grainy).
Budget is flexible to an extent but prefer $300 or less.

Place I'd prefer to buy from is newegg.

Canon S100 is a good deal ;-)

Yes, great camera!

Although, if yours has a lens error - SEND IT BACK - Canon will be fixing these errors with or without warranty free of charge. They had just emailed me about it. This is only on the Canon S100. Great camera though! Mine does not have this error as of yet, and I hope it does not. But several have had to send theirs in to fix it. You'll pay a little over 400 for this camera, though...

This post was edited by Chantal7 on Jul 8 2012 10:27pm

yeah agree, either go for the
s90 used (doubt there are any new 1s avail)
s95 or s100

i actually own a s100 with that lens arrow and have been in the desert using it. no problems at all till now... we `ll see if it occures in the future, otherwise i will just have it repaired...
If you`re lucky you can get it for 300 with sd card..

s95 is just slightly worse.... :S

not used the s95 properly, but hav tested it as well as the s100
have the s90 and it is brilliant

If you've had the problem, you can send it in a fix it! It's just something that disconnected inside that makes the lens do that. I'd highly suggest to send it in when you can!

@chantal,

sry what i meant to say... its a tough camera even if it has the flaw.
I was in the desert with it and no error occured. so everything is still fine and no need to send it back and having it fixed :-)

@ Lucifer20

you can also look for a lumix lx-4 or lx-5

Ahh, I misunderstood That is true, does seem like a pretty tough camera!

Hello, good luck with your camera search

I recommend the Canon G12

If you do some reading on the camera, I'm sure you will like what you see! It is also within your budget.