Digital Camera Question

[IQ89]

I've been looking for a Non-SLR digital camera with a 12X (or more) zoom (I'm too cheap to buy an SLR). Narrowed it down to one, but a certain reviewer's complaint with the Canon PowerShot S3 IS, is that it "lacks raw format support." What does this mean? And would this cause you to look for another camera?

Thanks

PS: If anyone would like to recommend a camera that has at least a 12X zoom w/image stabilization, and decent short-video capabilities (9 minutes minimum) for under $600 I'd appreciate it.

[jjshabado]

OOT has had a few camera threads recently that recommended good cameras. I'm too lazy to search for them. I don't know anything about cameras, so I have nothing else to add.

[kerowo]

RAW is the data captured by the sensor, it's equivalent to a digital negative in that you can do a lot more work on the image in a photoshop or whatever without losing image quality. JPGs are a little limited in how much you can tweak them before they start looking crappy. For a point and shoot it's probably not that big a deal.

[planB]

some of the best site for digital camera reviews:
http://www.steves-digicams.com/
http://www.dpreview.com/
http://www.megapixel.net/html/cover.php
http://www.imaging-resource.com/
http://www.letsgodigital.org/en/index.html

[Beavis68]

Dont worry about RAW unless you are a digital wizard with Photoshop and the like. RAW are pretty huge anyway.

[PantsOnFire]

Raw format is non-compressed digital. Bitmap is a raw format. Jpeg is a compressed format. So what does that mean? Some camera purists will want to save their photos in raw since absolutely no information is lost. Most people store their photos as Jpeg which is compressed.

Raw format uses up tons of memory both on the camera and then on your hard drive. With number of megapixels these days, Jpeg is absolutely fine for most people. The only exception might be is when you want to blow up photos larger than 8x10 or 11x17. However, if you're into that, you're probably buying a $2000 camera not a $500 one.

BTW, the S-5 has replaced the S-3 in the Canon model line.

As for a recommended camera, if you want minimum 9 minute video clips, you might want to check out this type of camera: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/spec.../canon_tx1.asp

[IQ89]

[ QUOTE ]
BTW, the S-5 has replaced the S-3 in the Canon model line.

[/ QUOTE ]

The S5 is up to $150 more, everybody still has the S3 available for $349.99. Not sure which way to go. The S5 has a flash attachment, the S3 doesn't. One reviewer's complaint about the S5 is vignetting (dark corners). No review has that complaint about the S3. Jeff Keller provides the most thorough review I've seen so far on the internet. He says he'll have a review for the S5 in July, but I'm tired of waiting. I'd like to see his review of the Sony H7 & H9 too (15x zoom).

Thanks everybody for the RAW data explanation, I won't let that influence my decision now.

[IQ89]

[ QUOTE ]
some of the best site for digital camera reviews:
http://www.steves-digicams.com/
http://www.dpreview.com/
http://www.megapixel.net/html/cover.php
http://www.imaging-resource.com/
http://www.letsgodigital.org/en/index.html

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks planB, I was only familiar with one of these sites.