would I notice a 2 mm decrease in wide angle, and is that trivial enough to justify 5x zoom? I guess the wide angle is when you zoom all the way out?

I use my wide angle lens (often out to 28mm) far more than I use my zoom lens; however, if you want to zoom in at concerts, I would go for the longer zoom of the 890. Unless you are doing a lot of landscapes, it is unlikely you would notice the difference between 28 and 37.

Oh, thanks. Well, doing the math on that, it looks like the 37/35 difference is fairly trivial, whereas the 37/28 and 185/112 differences are quite significant. In fact, it seems like the "4x" for the A530 is truly 4x, whereas it's 3.2x on the SD880. Which means I would feel like I could zoom in less because I would be starting out so much wider, right? So, going from the A530 to the SD890, I wouldn't notice too much how wide I could go but I would notice I could zoom in much more, whereas I would have the opposite experience going to the SD880. But since my major complaint is not being able to zoom...I should go with the SD890 (since I rarely feel like my angle isn't wide enough). Is all that reasoning sound? Am I thinking about this right?

Oh, and I don't think you'd notice a difference between 35 and 37 at the wide angle end, but you'd definitely notice a difference with the 28 on the 880.

Just as I thought!

I use my wide angle lens (often out to 28mm) far more than I use my zoom lens; however, if you want to zoom in at concerts, I would go for the longer zoom of the 890. Unless you are doing a lot of landscapes, it is unlikely you would notice the difference between 28 and 37.

Yeah, I don't do a lot of landscapes. Any wide shots I've ever done with my A530, I was pretty satisfied with how wide I got.

Thanks for all the help and advice, guys! I think the SD890 looks like the best bet, and a good deal. Just over $200 for a $350 camera!

Yeah, depends how close you are to the stage at the con. If you're pretty close, and you want to get a shot of the whole panel, you may be happier with a lens that's got a wider angle option. If you tend to be further back, you'll be happier with a bigger zoom.

t on edit Wow! I wrote this before P-Cow's previous post, but it makes total sense following it. Wacky!

If you're pretty close, and you want to get a shot of the whole panel, you may be happier with a lens that's got a wider angle option.

Ha! Now that I think about it, that is one of the few times I've ever wished for a little wider. But I am more irritated that even though I am sitting in the front row, I can't zoom in on their damn faces.

If it helps, 50mm is the standard "what your eye sees" lens. Numbers lower than that widen the picture out; numbers higher than that narrow in on something.

Oooh! Thanks, that does help me understand the numbers more.

Also, that explains why the camera sees more than I do. I was always freaked out and confused by that.

Keep in mind that all of the 50mm standards are based on 35mm film. The image sensor on digital cameras is quite a bit smaller which screws with all of the math. It's part of the reason the really high end digital SLR cameras jump in price so much, they use a full size CCD inside which means the lenses actually perform as expected.

I think I'm drawn to the SD890 because of the 5x zoom.

Keep in mind that if you get a camera that is high megapixel (I'd say 8 MP or above) you can crop and zoom after the fact and actually get excellent results. The optics on the extremely small zoom systems in most of these compact cameras leaves a lot to be desired. I'd go for one with less of a zoom but better quality shots and with a 10 MP resolution and just shoot the extra area in the field and then crop and zoom when I got the footage home.

Here is a more complete explanation of crop factor in lenses and how it can lead to misleading information from camera manufacturers:

[link]

Both the SD880 and the SD890 are 10 MP, but I wasn't thinking I would be shooting at that high resolution anyway because the file size would be so goddamn huge. My A530 is 5 MP, and that seems to do pretty well (they're pretty gigantic at 1 MB already!). I don't really know how to do much photo editing beyond the standard resize and crop. I like to just use what I shoot. I might shoot some hi-res photos and see what you mean about crop-and-zoom, though.

Here is a more complete explanation of crop factor in lenses and how it can lead to misleading information from camera manufacturers:

I don't think I understood any of that. But since I don't know much about photography, I guess it won't affect me.

God, I haven't even opened the box to my new digital camera, and already I'm missing my Pentax K1000.