Help choosing a camera.

[Fish Toys]

I’m going to upgrade from my old Epson 650. Mostly wildlife & some landscape pictures. I’ll be carrying it with in the pickup & tractor & combine. I want it to have a good optical lens. I’m also thinking of it having video capabilities for a short advertising video. I think I’ve narrowed it down to a S3 or S5. I looked at the D40X and the DMC-FZ8.

Reading about the cameras for me I get lost not knowing much about all the details of what the cameras do. Some of the prices are comparable where I’ve looked. Amazon and some of the stores mentioned in another post. hsolist has lots of different cameras and come with different accessories. I don’t think I’ll do much printing of the pictures.

Any input will help me decide on one of these or if someone has an opinion on a different brand.

[WifeKidsandDog]

If the movie mode is something you're going to use a lot, I'd definitely go with an S3 or S5 -- that Canon line has a very good movie feature. I know it records sound in stereo. I've used my S3 at my daughters' recitals and been very happy with the clips. Plus they have other features you're looking for such as a zoom lens.

The S5 has a hot shoe so you can attach an external flash, whereas the S3 doesn't, as well as having more megapixels.

I don't think you can go wrong with either.

[Fish Toys]

I’ve kind of decided on the S5. What accessories should I try to get? There are still some new S3 available also.

[WifeKidsandDog]

A decent sized memory card and a carrying case, oh, and rechargeable batteries if you don't already have any.

[Fish Toys]

The S5 came yesterday. Amazon was the cheapest. Just the basic camera with batteries and books, CD. Geesh for buttons and options compared to my old Epson 650. To cold out to take some pixs outside so took a few in the shop on auto. Crisp and clear even when it said to flip the flash up and didn’t. Yup I need a charger & more batteries plus a bigger card & card reader. Sears has a charger that is 110 and an adapter that plugs into the cigarette lighter. Will this charger be any good? When I was at Best Buy the gal didn’t know much about it but I got to play with it a little in the store. The other places in Grand Forks didn’t have any on hand. Seems like it should have a better dust cover for the lens being you can look at it and it might fall off. Should be a good camera once I figure it all out?