My wife and I (Late 60s) have a trip to Egypt scheduled for mid March 2010. In the late 80s I used my Minolta 35mm with wide angle, and telephoto lens. Pictures were very good. No I have a Canon Elph 800 with stabilization. Great Camer and pictures rival those with the Minolta. Problem is Egypt has so many really huge temples, etc The Canon is not wide angle and to get a full picture one must stand quite a distance away. A wide angle lens would be great - but... I really don't look forward to carrying the big Minolta and its lens around.
Any suggestions or recommendations would be appreciated.

With your old Minolta, what is the wide angle lens focal length that you like, 21mm, 24mm, 28mm, 35mm???

I think the Canon SD800 you have is 28mm at the wide end.

regards - tom

Why not take them both!!.. My wife and I are also planning a trip to Egypt in mid March (14th).. I'm taking my Sony point and shoot and my Nikon D300 with lenses... maybe we will run into each other... I'll be the guy complaining about lugging all the photo gear around!!..

Decisions, decisions.....My husband has been pondering the camera situation too. He's wondering if he should take a second one... apart from his Nikon D90. He's also wondering if he should buy a video camera.

cary999: Wide angle lens is 35mm to 52mm. Canon Powershot sd800 is 4.6 max wide angle to 17.3 max telephoto.

john61: We also depart 14 March. Odysessy??? - Maybe your right, taking both does not necessarily mean I would have to carry both around all the time.

missgreen: A movie camera is always nice but I don't want to get into that. I like the slide shows with dissolve and captions.

Thanks to all for responding.

Check out the specs on your SD 800-
http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/co...elTechSpecsAct
The SD 800 at 4.6mm wide end is equivalent to a 28mm wide lens in 35mm slide/film photography. So it says there.

If as you say your Minolta wide angle lens is 35mm focal length, then the Canon at 28mm (equivalent) focal length is significantly more wide angle (than 35mm). You're good to go.

regards - tom