A Canon with good movie func

[aayrash]

Hi All.
Can you help me decide my cam choice please. My requirement basically is for a digicam with a good movie with sound function. I am using a NIKON E4300 right now, and i am happy with even 2mp pics.
I have zeroed in on A550 after searching the net for hours.
Its 7.1MP and has movie shoot at 30fps at 640*480 resolution.
Can anyone plz tell me:
1. How good is its movie mode? (I am happy with all its other specs)
2. How much storage space does a avi movie shot with it take (in MBs/GBs), e.g. what length can i shoot with a 1GB memory card.
3. Is there any 5MP or under camera model with a decent movie+sound feature..
Thanks in advance..

[casaaviocar]

The S1/S2/S3/S5 cameras are all known for their great movie modes. When the S1 came out it was a breakthrough camera, the 30fps 640x480 was unheard of at the time. Many cameras have caught up now, but few(if any)have the ability to use the optical zoom while in movie mode. The S series cameras also feature IS(image stabilization)that also stabilizes the movie mode.
I am not sure about the movie mode on the A550, if it's any where near as good as the S2 it's pretty good.
You can get about 8 minutes of movie time on a 1 gig card, that coincidentally is the max length for most canon still cameras at this time.
Yes the S2, unfortunately there are no new S2s out there that I have found. The S3 has another MP but is a slightly better camera than the S2 and is still available new. The S5 is the latest in this series.

[Jon]

The A620 has also got the 640x480x30 fps movie mode and it's good quality - enough so that I don't bother with a video camera much at all any more. 640x480x30 is around (and slightly better than) standard TV resolution as a reference. I get about 9 min/GB, so around 8 or 8.5 min. on a 1 GB card ("marketing GB" , or 1,000,000,000 bytes vs. "real GB" or 1,073,741,824 bytes). The upper limit for a single clip is 1 "real GB", so using a 2 GB card will get you a tad more than using a 1 GB card.

[mishnogram]

I think the S2/S3 would suit your needs. The movie mode is extremely nice. We don't use our video camera anymore, most of our clips are just a few minutes but I think a 1GB car can take a little over 7 minutes worth of video.