Which Compact Digital Camera is the Absolute Best for Travel?

Find a camera that is perfect for your Travel or Vacation needs!

Canon PowerShot SX20 IS, PowerShot SX200IS, or Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3

The requirements for a good travel/vacation camera include great Image Quality, the ability to take Landscapes and Cityscapes with wide angle lens, yet also able to zoom in on a distant scene. Another essential feature is being able to capture images in low light and bright light ranges. All these cameras qualify, and all have excellent video capabilities.

Cameras in the travel/vacation category were chosen because they have excellent ratings by camera review sites and buyers alike. There is nothing like the recommendation of a fellow buyer who actually uses the camera for its intended purpose.

Canon PowerShot SX20 IS

From the Manufacturer:

Discover the HD difference. With the classically stylish PowerShot SX20 IS, you can produce magnificent HD movies and dazzling photos. Loaded with features, it’s got a high-powered 20x wide-angle optical zoom with Optical Image Stabilizer, 12.1 megapixels, a big 2.5-inch Vari-Angle LCD, Blink Detection and more.

The PowerShot SX20 IS is equipped with many of the same features as a higher-end camera: an ultra-powerful zoom, eye-popping resolution and advanced picture-improving technology. 12.1 megapixels of resolution gives your photography incomparable depth and ensures that any section of any shot can be enlarged and cropped with no loss in quality when you edit the image even if you choose to print the image. It can create crisp, clear 13 x 19-inch posters.

Features at a glance:

• 12.1 megapixel resolution
• 20x wide angle optical zoom (28-560mm equivalent)
• Image stabilizer to reduce camera shake
• 2.5" LCD with vari-angle (articulates to multiple positions)
• DIGIC 4 Image Processor - Canon's newest processor
• Smart Auto intelligently selects from 22 possible shooting situations
• 720p HD video with stereo sound and playback to your HDTV

User ratings at Amazon.com are very good with 4.22 out of 5 stars, while at dpreview.com the rating is 4.12 out of 5 stars.

I found this review by Kirk Tuck on amazon quite informative. And since he is a professional photographer, I think his opinion would carry a lot of weight:

All in all the build quality and the easy operation make the camera a winner for me. These days clients are more interested in using images and video in a wide range of multimedia and the SX 20 is a great tool for anything that's headed to the web. I still own traditional DLSR cameras and use them but left to my own devices I find the smaller sensor cameras to be highly competent and very usable.

You can read the full review at Amazon.com.

Canon Powershot SX200 IS

A quote from the Canon press release:

"The SX series cameras are designed for tech-savvy consumers looking for a little gusto in their camera with affordable high-power zoom performance. Packed with features sure to please, the new PowerShot SX200 IS Digital Camera offers an array of shooting options enabling the user to choose a product that is customized to fit their needs and enhance their overall shooting experience."

The important stuff:

• 12.1 megapixels
• 12x Zoom (28-336 mm equivalent)
• Optical image stabilization
• 720p HD video
• 3" LCD
• ISO capability of up to 1600
• 15 shooting modes, 11 Scene Modes including Movie Snap Mode
• Program, Shutter-Priority, Aperture-Priority and Manual Exposure Mode (**this is a real plus if you like to have control over your camera's output; the trend for most compact camera manufacturers is to not include these manual controls)

Always look at the user ratings. This will tell you what people who actually bought the camera think of it.

Amazon buyers (69 of them) have posted an impressive 4.32 out of 5 rating, while at DPReview, 21 users have posted an average of 3.96 out of 5

Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3

Panasonic has a history as "King of the Zoom Hill"

A great feature set:

• 10.1 effective Megapixels
• 12x Zoom (25-300mm equiv)
• 720p HD video (AVCHD Lite), 60 fps
• 3.0-inch LCD with 460,000 dots resolution
• Optical Image Stabilizer
• ISO sensitivity up to 1600
• Face Detection and Tracking
• 27 scene modes and Intelligent Auto Mode with scene selector
• Battery life: 300 shots (CIPA standard)

User ratings are excellent for the ZS3. At Amazon.com 85 (mostly) satisfied customers submitted and average rating of 4.5 out of 5, and at DPReview.com 41 users have posted an average rating of 4.32 out of 5.

Here is an excerp from one customer at Amazon:

"Oh my goodness, what a camera!... I have a pro friend who got a review copy of this for a couple of days. He let me use it for one of them, as he hasn't shot with a point and shoot in a long time. I ordered my own within the first hour. What a camera. The zoom on this baby is amazing. It has a true wide angle and a long reach. Photos on both ends of the reach are sharp and have good color and saturation." (read the whole review..)

The Bottom Line

While I am a total fan of the ability to control what the camera is doing, which is possible with the Canon Powershot SX200 IS and SX20 IS, I can not deny the user ratings and instant popularity of the Panasonic Lumix DMS-ZS3. This camera is also the winner of the DPReview "Compact Super Zoom Camera Group Test". That along with Panasonic's reputation in the point and shoot cameras would force me to put my $$$ on the ZS3. Find links to all these special digital compact vacation cameras at the Camera Store.