if $500 will do..........

[Grice]

what is better for 5x7 pictures? 3.2 MP with 3x zoom or 2 MP with 10x zoom???

 

[SaigonK]

the higher the pixel rate..the better.
Zoom has nothing to do with it, in fact digital zooms will often casue pixelation.
Go with an optical zoom if you can.

 

[nealh]

is the zoom optical or digital..digital zoom only blurs the image...

3mp has higher resolution on pictures 2048x1536 vs 2mp 1600x1200..from what I have been told 1600x1200 does very nice 4x6 and 5x7 may be a bit low for 8x10 but I can not confirm this..3mp will print real nice 8x10

I would assume if 3mp camera will give a sharper image than 2mp camera in 5x7...

I just got a toshiba pdr-m71 and printed 3.5x5 photo..I can get 4 of these on 8x11 photo paper and the picture looks great

do not get sucked in by a high digital zoom make sure it is optical zoom...truly from the lens..I believe the digital is a software enhancement

 

[jeepers94]

A great deal depends on the quality of the optics! I have seen pictures taken with an Oly 2020(2.2),that were much better than an Hp 3+ mp camera.I think we might be able to give a better recommendation if we knew which cameras you want to know about.Olympus,Nikon and Canon have very good optics.

 

[nealh]

I agree Jeepers94..the toshiba comes with a canon zoom lens..just to let you know...