Digital Camera Angst -- Advice wanted

[danaeris]

So I'm torn between the Casio EXILIM EX-S3 for $350 and the Fujifilm FinePix A310 Zoom for $300.

The former is ultra ultra thin and small, but has no optical zoom. It just activates my 'nifty gadget' fetish.
The latter has 3x optical zoom, which is nice, but it isn't nearly as exciting and special.

They both received excellent reviews on www.dpreview.com. Opinions/advice, anyone?

Comments

[ericsilverbear.livejournal.com]

My taste goes towards the Fuji, but I think that the Casio is more up your alley for what you stated you wanted... I think you will appreciate the 10MEG On Board storage of the Casio, and you'll just do the USB connect to you MAC...

[auros]

If you think you will ever seriously want to take maximally zoomed-in shots -- say, close-ups of flowers or bugs, or images of an animal that will run away if you get too close, or architectural details that are too high up to get shots up close (all of which are things I've done with mine) -- you definitely want to have both the optical and digital zoom available. And given that the Fuji is cheaper anyhow? *shrug*

[princeofwands.livejournal.com]

I haven't done the side-by-side feature comparo for you, but a lot of my friends are totally smitten with the Minolta Dimage line. Which should be more feature rich than the Casio you've listed, and about the same form factor. I'm not familiar with the brand new x20 model (on Amazon for $250-ish, btw) - but the previous gen model was exceptionally highly regarded. I notice that www.dpreview.com doesn't list Minolta on their main reviews page.