help needed

[fn8uup]

I've been wanting to take quality pics of my fish for a long time and now have the funds to get a decent start

here is what I'm looking at

http://http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7740126&type=product&productCategoryId=cat15197&id=1140393352648 (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7740126&type=product&productCategoryId=cat15197&id=1140393352648)

is this the best bang for my buck as far as a point and shoot?

comparing it to the other point and shoot cams it looks like it would be a good choice to get my foot in the door

i don't want a SLR with a ton of lenses although it would be nice i don't want to put that kind of money into something i only use to post pics of my fish although this could turn into another hobby and then who knows

what ever i get it'll be at best buy(I've got a gift card) so if there is something you think is better at best buy please chime in they have lots of cams and this will be my first cam purchase so help me out please

i don't know much about the mechanics of the camera but i think i know enough that this cam has a fairly good lens for a point and shoot and the 12x optical zoom should give me good close shots right? i don't like using the digital zoom at least on my current cam

also I've never used raw but its an option with this cam and not on any others in its price range

also does this cam have good aperture range for fish pics? it has a lot better range vrs the others in its price range

anyways I'm starting to ramble

feel free to give me any info you can think of

[alanhill]

This looks like a nice package. The lens and the sensor should be capable of delivering good results for 'ordinary' photography.
I agree with you about the importance of RAW and the optical zoom; the macro facility is important too - but it may only work at the shortest focal length. That may or may not suit the way you work. This is why I always recommend that you should handle a camera before you buy it. You need to try focussing on a fish-sized object at the sort of distance that you will shooting from.
I alos recommend that you check that you can see through the viewfinder as an alternative to looking at the LCD (you may prefer it and it will extend the battery life - which might be quite short). P&S cameras often have quite a long delay between pressing the button and the shutter actually opening, which make aquatic photograohy really difficult - the website says this model is better than other cameras, but check it yourself if you can.
The other thing I would look for is the position of the flash tube. It isn't shown in the photos, but I assume it will flip up above the lens. The key question is how far from the lens is the flash? The further the flash is from the lens, the better a camera is for aquarium work, because it makes it easier to control the reflections from the flash.
Hope this helps.

Alan

[frankman]

Just to add to Alan's comments - check the reviews here:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonyh5/

You may want to also look at the other brands/models mentioned in this article by way of comparison. Handling is important - sometimes this can be the deciding factor. I don't know whether the others handle RAW, which is a very useful feature, especially with the different lighting setups in tanks.

HTH, Frank