The three cameras are very much alike.
All have short shutter lags.
The two Nikons have better LCD screens with more pixels.
The main difference between the three is the optical zoom.
For the extra money, the Nikon S9100 gives you 18X.
But to be realistic, anything over 10X is only useful to a photographer with a tripod.
Unless you plan to carry a tripod, you might as well save some money and get the S8100.
The Canon Elph 300 HS has less optical zoom (5X), but it is the smallest of the bunch.
I would base my choice on how much optical zoom I wanted.
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I am between the canon300hs, nikon s9100, and s8100. Best Buy has the canon for $229.00 , s9100 for $300.00 and the s8100 for $236.00. I have a 2 year old so I was told the Nikon has little shutter lag. Is it worth extra $44.00 for the s9100? Which one of these cameras are my best bet.

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