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Nikon CoolPix P500 OR Canon PowerShot Sx30 IS?

So far I have narrowed it down to these two, but if you know of another camera out there that would be in the same range feel free to list it. I want to know the pros/cons of each of these? If in general one is better then the other? Which one has less problems/which ones stronger? Which one takes better distant shots? Macro shots? Portrait shots? (In general?) Nikon CoolPix P500: http://www.nikonusa.com/Nikon-Products/P… 12.1 MP 36X Optical Zoom / 4X Digital Zoom 3 In Display (Tilts) 102MB Internal Memory Cost: $399.00 (BestBuy) Canon PowerShot Sx30 IS: http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/p… 14.1MP 35X Optical Zoom / 4X Digital Zoom 2.7 In Display (Flips Open/Flips to face front/Flips Closed) NO internal memory? Cost: $399.00 (BestBuy) Any & all comments/suggestions welcome. Please let me know which camera would be the best. I plan on doing a little bit of everything with the camera: Close ups of nature/animals, far distant shots of scenery/wild life, portraits, action pics, ect I have been in to photography for a while & have been doing ok with my basic 10mp/3X zoom but really wanna upgrade & learn a WHOLE lot more. Thanks in advance! Also which one is more "user" friendly?

Public Comments

1. Recommend Nikon CoolPix P500. - Light and easy to hold, which makes it a good travelling camera. Less than half the weight of my dslr with an 18-200mm lens attached. - Tilting 3 inch LCD screen. - Humungous zoom. I write before that the Fujifilm HS10 720mm zoom was huge. 810mm is even huger! (This is the zoom range it should have been in the p100 imho, but as they say, better late than never). You will truly see things you'd never thought you'd see when you zoom out to 810mm. - Easy to use...relatively. Since I've already used several Nikons, I'm more used to it than you might be if you are new to the brand, so I didn't find it especially difficult to navigate. If you are a pure point and shoot person using little compact cameras, you might find the functions available a bit daunting and you'll need to look up both the manual, and a FAQ section of photography terms and functions to know how to alter things like shutter speed and aperture. I use shutter speed sometimes, but not aperture, since it's nothing to shout about. If I want thin sections of focus, I go to my dlsr and f1.4 prime lens :) - Photo quality is not bad for this type of camera. Definitely not dslr quality. But if you just want that photo (and you'll take heaps with 22.5-810mm on tap) then this will more than satisfy you. - Macros: macro photo quality have always been quite reasonable in the Nikon p90, p100, and this model too. In some ways, they give dslr's a run for their money because while not in the same league pixel peeping wise, you can get a heck of a lot closer with the p90, p100 and p500, so the colour and detail is quite decent imho. Colour is not as full and bright as some other brands, but is quite acceptable in good light. It's a bit faded indoors or in poor light.
2. You should go with Nikon P500 camera rather go with Canon PowerShot Sx30 IS camera. ^^