Canon SD800 or S80

I have been looking through the different cameras until I'm blue in the face. I have been looking between the Canon S80 & SD800. It looks to me like the S80 has a few more options and more creativity than the Elph Line. But the Elph line has some more options, smaller size and possibly more durable. The SD800 has Image Stabilization and a better ISO range and better movie capabilities. So how important is the Image Stabilization compared to the increase in ISO and megapixels?
So here is what I hope to get with my camera. A camera that would be good on vacations such as panoramic views, museum shots(low light/no flash) and a decent video recorder. I don’t own a camcorder. Although I know this isn't the same as a camcorders quality, I think they do a decent job. I probably will also take it to parties and such since it is so portable. We also like to snorkel and scuba dive and I think all of them would do just fine for underwater shots.
So knowing what I need. Which one would you suggest? I can possibly get the S80 a little cheaper but money isn't the issue.
I hope someone that has more knowledge about this than I do can help me determine what I need.

Hi Nancy,
Image stabilization is important if you have issues with camera shake. For example if you use your zoom a lot, or if you take pictures "on the fly," or just generally have problems with blurry pics from shaky hands etc., image stabilization can help you. And the stabilization on the SD800 is supposed to be excellent.

The difference between the S80's 8.3 megapixels and the SD800's 7.1 will probably be hardly noticeable. Unless you zoom and crop a lot, or unless you print very large photos, you most likely won't notice a difference at all.

The higher ISO in the SD800 is nice, but be warned that the images in this camera can be very noisy once you get above ISO 800. The High ISO Auto mode helps images somewhat, but all the same ISO 1600 is probably going to be so grainy you won't want to use it very much. Still, this camera offers a wider range of ISO since the 800 is useable, and the S80 only goes up to 400.

The SD800 is a wide-angle lens. If you've never shot in wide angle you may think it's weird or you may love it. Most people love it, particularly for vacation scenery shots etc.

I think the best choice is the SD800. It has full manual mode for plenty of creativity. It's also in my opinion better suited for travel and it's also got an excellent response time- short shutter lag, etc.

Hi Nancy
Jacqui called this one- not sure what camera I was thinking of. The S80 also has a wide angle lens. The SD800 offers manual white balance, ISO and exposure but no manual focus or aperture/ shutter priority. Sorry for the confusion.

Thanks for the help. I have a S50 and love the camera, just wanted an update and more fuctionality. I just bought the SD800 and not sure if I'm totally pleased. The only thing I can say is my S50 takes much better videos than the SD800. In fact the SD800 videos were so grainy, I don't think I will ever use it for video. Now I do realize I'm not buying a camcorder that I'm buying a digital camera. But I took my S50 on a cruise and was surprised how great videos came out(once again not camcorder quality but pretty good). They were surprisingly great with little jitter and no decrease in quality on the night the ocean waves where tossing the ship every which way. Also when they turned down the lights to do a dance, they were still decent but a little grainy. The SD800 is far more grainy and not nearly as bright. Not sure if I'm doing something wrong, if I maybe have a bad camera or if this is just the quality of the video I can expect.
I bought the SD800 because it is suppose to be better with focasing, better in low light situations, better video(which I question), and smaller/durable body than the S80. The photos with the SD800 are amazing and not blurry. I tried with and without the IS. Without image stablization=very blurry, with IS=perfect photos. This camera is fantastic in low lights as well. So I'm impressed with this little guy as a digital point and shoot but just wondering if I should have gone for the S80. Any opinions on this would be greatly appreciated.

Hi, unfortunately the S80 I believe has been discontinued. I will tell you thought that I just bought an SD800 and compared images I just took with that to images I took with my old "brick" Powershot S45 (similar type to the S80, but 4 years older), and the images from my 4.0 megapixel s45 were substantially better than the 7.1 megapixel photos from the new Sd800. These ultracompact cameras look very cool but their photo quality is not very good. I would buy the S80 in a second if it was available, although I am hoping they have a replacement for the S80 soon. It's still small enough to fit inside a guy's blazer pocket or in a purse, and the photos are tremendous. ALSO - the VIDEO from the S80 is phenomenal. It rivals camcorders. Check out the high res movie sample from an S80 camera - http://www.canon.co.jp/Imaging/pss80/sample-e.html

The photo quality of the digital "Elph" cameras blow. More megapixels in a tiny camera means that each of the pixels on the very small CCD chip contain less image information. The result is an image that is not as good as one taken with a 4 or 5 megapixel camera that is slightly larger and has a larger CCD.

Heya Ladies and Gentlemen!

I have a question about the S80. I bought the camera a while ago and had no problems with it.
However when I take pictures using the flash( dark rooms or close caption nigh scenes) I see these weird flakes on the images and it is really annoying. Has anyone of you experienced this? Or do you know a way to get rid of the flakes?

Here is an unsuccessful picture due to this issue:
http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p146/DeusCovrigus/IMG_1463.jpg

To Octavian Biris RE: "Flakes"

These flakes sure look like they may be the result of a dirty lens, though I may be wrong.

The "Flakes" you are talking about are either Rain or Dust on the lens... do some cleaning and it should come up good.