I've been hunting for a digital camera lately, and I have narrowed my choice to 2 models, SD630 and SD600.

Pros and cons:
SD630 has a 3.0 inch screen but has no viewfinder.
SD600 has a 2.5 inch screen with a viewfinder.
SD600 is $50 cheaper than SD630.

I've read that the viewfinder is useful when taking pictures in a sunny day and, of course, when the battery is low.

Which one do you think is better?
If you have one of these cameras, can you tell me your opinion about yours?

Hi,

You may want to fully read the reviews on both, which is too much reading for me at this moment:

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2006_reviews/sd630.html
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2006_reviews/sd600.html

I notice that Steve's Digicams places SD630 on their "best cameras" list in 6-8 megapixel category, over SD600.  Another site has SD630 (again, not SD600) in their "top click-through" list, suggesting that there is a greater interest in SD630.  Neither of these alone would make me choose one over another, but it's worth researching why.

The consideration about LCD screens being practically useless in bright sunlight is valid and there have been times I've found the optical viewfinder on my camera handy.  However, keep in mind the viewfinders on small cameras like these are not terribly accurate as far as correctly showing the boundaries of the picture; they usually exaggerate zoom (the picture will have many more things in it than what you see in viewfinder) and are slightly off center.

Hiya Adeptus,

Yeah, I did read the whole reviews on both cameras in www.steves-digicams.com before posting here, but I was forgetting the Steve's Digicams' "best cameras" list. Thanks for reminding.

I've come across many users' reviews and came up with a conclusion: since both SD630 and SD600 almost have identical features, the only difference is about the willingness of the buyers to sacrifice a viewfinder and $50.

Well, I'm planning to compare both cameras in store in a few days.

I will be interested to hear what you decide.

Something that puzzles me is that the specs of the two cameras appear to be perfectly identical, but it's the SD600 that is less expensive.  I would think that the production cost of the optical viewfinder for a zoom camera would be higher than another .5" of LCD, so it follows the SD630 should be cheaper if everything else is truly the same.  Hmm...

I ended up buying SD630.

I guess I didn't pay a $50 extra for nothing.
It's beautiful and it has some cool features, like when you move the  LCD screen 90 degrees, the picture will also be tilted.
(Maybe it's cool for me because I didn't know it before ).
And, being a Canon, everything is easy.
Maybe it's like Nokia for cellphone.

I wish I could post some pictures, but I'm still stuck with my summer courses until next week

Great decision. The recent Canon digi cameras have been great Hope you take loads of great shots with it.