Choosing between SD870 and G7

Dear all,

First post - please be gentle!

I'm buying a digital camera for a long move to Africa. I'm most interested in overall image quality and flexibility - I can see this becoming a hobby for me.

The SD870 gets very solid reviews and feels great - it's small enough that I think I'd carry it around with me fairly often.

The G7 I found (used, but in mint condition) runs the same price as the SD870. It's got that lovely 6x zoom, but lacks the wide-angle that the SD870 has that I've been told is good for beginners. While I absolutely love the way it feels and the solid, metal build-quality, I worry that it might be a bit too big for regular use. I'd definitely need to have a bag.

Thoughts? If you had this choice which would you choose? Given that I have almost no experience with photography but am interested in learning - which do you think is the better choice and will result in better all-around pictures? Thanks in advance.

If you want to learn, go with the G7; the SD870 won't give you direct control over shutter speed and aperture; you can only set ISO and you have to take what the camera gives you. The SD models are great if you don't want to get into all the controls and capabilities.

I agree with Jon, with a few more comments...

The SD870 will get you many nice pictures and the wide angle is great. Also, it slips right into your pocket nice and easy.

The G7 will give you tremendously better pictures and more control to get a reasonable picture in lower-light conditions. You can do lots more with the G7, but you will need to learn about it a bit more to take advantage of it. The sensor is also bigger, which means the pictures will be a bit nicer.

6X zoom vs. 3X zoom: if you are far from a lion in Africa and take a picture, if you have to blow it up 100% with the 3X zoom on the 870 to see the lion, you have effectively reduced your picture to 4MP from 8MP. With the G7, the zoom will help a lot if you are shooting things far away (the wide angle helps in close up shots and scenic vistas). So, there's a bit of a trade-off there.

The G7 will slip easily into a baggy pants pocket or a jacket pocket. You don't need a camera bag, unless you only have tight pants and nothing loose/baggy.

Have you played with a G9 at a local store? Same camera body. Only difference really is that the G9 has more MP and the ability to shoot RAW.

p.s. I have the G9 and the 800IS, close enough to the two you are contemplating. If you are willing to learn the camera, I recommend the G7 over the 870 (and the G9 over the G7! If you would learn to work with RAW, that'd be invaluable in Africa). If, however, you really won't use the extra zoom or you don't want to learn how to change aperture and shutter speed, then just stick with the 870.

In either case, buy (at least) one extra battery, and a large memory card (at least 8GB).