Any Camera People Here?? Need advice!

tophatjohnny · December 2012

Wife wants a good (easy to use) Digital camera for Christmas and not sure which direction to go. I thought I'd ask here to see if anyone had a good handle on it and could steer me to a purchase. I know this is not sound related, but I find the members here pretty knowledgeable and friendly, so setting it out. I appreciate any help here. Thanks

Jimbo18 · December 2012

tophatjohnny wrote: »

Wife wants a good (easy to use) Digital camera for Christmas and not sure which direction to go. I thought I'd ask here to see if anyone had a good handle on it and could steer me to a purchase. I know this is not sound related, but I find the members here pretty knowledgeable and friendly, so setting it out. I appreciate any help here. Thanks

We have one of these http://www.amazon.com/Canon-PowerShot-SX130IS-Stabilized-3-0-Inch/dp/B003ZSHNG8/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1354913348&sr=8-16&keywords=canon+camera

You can probably find it on sale for Christmas with a little searching. 12 megapix with 12x zoom and pretty good video and sound. A little bulkier - won't fit in a shirt pocket- but we wanted it for the zoom. Nice pictures and feels solidly built.

If you want small, I haven't used, but heard good things about this one http://www.amazon.com/Canon-PowerShot-Stabilized-Wide-Angle-Recording/dp/B006UMM1UO/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1354914061&sr=1-2&keywords=canon+camera

ViperZ · December 2012

Point-and-shoot or SLR? What's your price range? What features are you looking for? Any good camera brand is good nowadays for point and shoot - Canon and Nikon obviously leading the way.
I can vouch for Elph 510hs, the new model is 530hs (has built-in Wi-Fi!). If you want more features, Canon G15 is an amazing camera. A bit bigger, but you can go fully manual and use additional lenses.

Big Dawg · December 2012

I assume you want a point and shoot with a good zoom and sharp lens that can take decent photos in low light. If so, I recommend the Panasonic lumix series. I got my wife this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-Sensitivity-Digital-Camera-Optical/dp/B00728ZBA2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1354915075&sr=8-2&keywords=lumix+dmc-zs20

About 6 months ago and it's been perfect.

dkr919 · December 2012

I'm looking at the Panasonic LUMIX DMC-LX7. 24mm ultra-wide angle lens that boasts a F1.4 brightness at wide-end and F2.3 at tele-end that should take excellent low light photos.

http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-DMC-LX7K-Digital-Intelligent-3-0-inch/dp/B008MB719C/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1354916140&sr=1-1&keywords=lumix+lx7

Pro review....

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonic-lumix-dmc-lx7/

Syndil · December 2012

tophatjohnny wrote: »

Wife wants a good (easy to use) Digital camera for Christmas...

Been using one form or another of a Canon Powershot Elph since the SD600 in 2006. The reasons I went with the Canon initially were:

1) It's small. If a camera is too much of a pain in the butt to tote around, then you aren't going to tote it around, so there's no point of having it anyway. (Same applies to guns, btw, but that's another topic.)

2) Has to take decent quality pictures without having to fiddle with settings. This is even more true with their current models. They have a three-way switch: Auto, manual, or video. For most things you can just leave it in auto, press the button, and get surprisingly good pictures. So easy my grandma can use one.

3) Has to perform well indoors. This was the cincher for me. The Canons IMO take the best indoor shots of any point-and-shoot. I did a ton of researching on this at sites like DPreview and Megapixel.net, comparing sample shots from various cameras, and the Canon was the clear winner.

Not sure how the competition compares today, but Canon hasn't given me a reason to shop around. Have purchased a total of four more Canon Powershot Elph since the first, some for various family members. Everyone loves them.

I'd jump on that bargain for the 110HS, buy a spare NB-11L battery, and an official Canon hard leather case for it--the PSC-1000, specifically. The case is important. You want it to be fitted so it doesn't bulk it up, so don't buy some universal soft case. Amazon carries the PSC-1000 in several different colors for pretty cheap. If your wife likes pink, they even have a pink(ish) one for $7 shipped: http://www.amazon.com/Canon-PSC-1000-Leather-SD770IS-Digital/dp/B0015DTGV0/ref=sr_1_5?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1354917122&sr=1-5&keywords=psc-1000