Sounds rediculous but: SD800 or G7?

I know they're two completely different classes of camera, but I am torn between them for a couple reasons.

I love the SD800 because of the 28mm lens.
I love the G7 because of the manual controls.
I hate the SD800 because of no manual controls.
I hate the G7 because it has a 35mm lens.

I'm going to Italy this summer, so I might just wait and see what the next line-up of cameras brings to the table, but right now I'm picking between these two. I'm thinking at this point, I'm not going to notice a difference in image quality. Granted I can control the aperature and exposure on the G7, so it is superior for night shots, but the SD800 is almost as capable of taking night shots (theyll be on a tripod either way), however it has a 28mm lens.

I'm really torn. I want to take nice shots of St. Peter's Basilica, the Coloseum, the Spanish Steps, and general night life of Rome. I also want the cleanest, sharpest images I can get during the day with my friends and the sights we see. Which would you choose for this situation?

Oh and P.S - no DSLR recommendations. I'm into photography and taking nice pictures, but not THAT into it where I will lug around a giant body and kit. =D

Italy has a lot of architecture to photograph, so you will need a wideangle lens for that. I would go with SD800IS.

Very true. But at the same time, will I be able to capture night shots as good as on the G7 with all its manual controls? Because most of the architecture I'll be photographing will be at night. The stuff I see during the day though I see what your saying, plus a nice group shot of me and my friends with the telephoto lens would really be nice. Does the G7 have a conversion lens for wide angle? I know the camera supports external lenses.

There is a wideangle add-on lens - WC-DC58N, but I'm not sure about the optical quality of it and the quality of the pictures you will be getting with this add-on.

If you want manual controls, I think that you may also want to look into the A710IS - it has IS, 35-210mm lens (x6 zoom) , manual modes, a very nice 2.5" LCD screen, it is small, light and not that expensive (much more cheaper than the G7).

never thought about the quality of the g7's images getting worse with a converter lens....peoples reviews of it say the image quality isnt a loss, but theres barrel distortion, which can be expected from any wide angle lens?

All add-on lenses degrade the quality of the output image. Is the amount of degradation critical for you - only you can tell I suggest you to study image samples made with this lens.

I find that image quality of the SD800 compares with my Canon 20D. Of course it doesent have all the goodies of the 20D, but quite often I use it instead of the 20D.

sjprg, thats a bold statement saying the IQ of a p&s compares with an slr. the only thing thats bothering me about it is no manual control. at least if i have control over the camera, i might get the night shots i want. with the sd800, its whatever the camera tells me to do. =(

It's not quite "whatever the camera tells me . . . ". Camera M gives you a 2 stops each way of EC, ISO control, . . .

yea but no control over aperature, meaning my DOF will always be shallow...right? or is there some way to make the camera choose a higher aperature?

As you will see from my signature I have a dslr, an S3IS & an SD800 (Ixus). I'd take the SD800 for its wide angle - you will find that the night shots are perfectly adequate. SJPRG made a bold statement - I can't say that my SD800 has IQ as good as either of my other 2 cameras, but it is very good for a P & S. You can't tell the images from my S3 or 400D apart at 200 iso, recorded jpeg, but you could tell the difference with the 800 - it's that tad less sharp.

thanks for your input dave. Just curious though, granted you do have those 3 cameras, would you say the IQ of the G7 would better suit my needs? Or can the SD800 really take Rome at night?

Shallow DoF and P&S cameras don't go together. One of the mst frequently-asked questions around here is "How do I get a shallow DoF?" Wide open, your hyperfocal distance at tele is about 29 ft.; at wide angle, it's just over 4 ft.

? wait are u saying p&s cameras have a large dof?