Camera guru's...question

steveinaz

My 6 year old Canon A300 finally bit the dust. What is a good quality point & shoot type digital camera that you feel is a real value?

I won't be doing any serious photography, but would like something nice.

unc2701

Canon SD800 or SD850 or really any of the canon point & shoot's that have image stabilization.

If price is equal, get the IS over more megapixels.

steveinaz

Thanks! I really liked my old Canon, so I was wanting stick with them. Image stabilization--got it!

shawn474

I just got the wife the canon sd800 elph after our powershot bit the dust. SHe loves it and it takes some great pictures. It DOES have image stabilization.

MKZ

unc2701 wrote: »

Canon SD800 or SD850 or really any of the canon point & shoot's that have image stabilization.

If price is equal, get the IS over more megapixels.

+1..

haimoc

I would recommend the new Canon G9.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Canon/canon_g9.asp?dontcount=1

shack

All of my P&S cameras are Kodak Easyshares. The are are a breeze to use, and you can get them as simple or as many bells and whistles as you like. All my SLRs (35mm and digital) are Canon.

steveinaz

Thanks guys for the suggestions, I'll keep researching. I want to keep it at or below $250.

MKZ

I got SD850 for my wife's dad recently. Great pictures and build quality. Made in Japan. Newegg has a little better deal than amazon.

shack

steveinaz wrote: »

Thanks guys for the suggestions, I'll keep researching. I want to keep it at or below $250.

This is the best camera review site on the web IMO. Lots of good info when researching a digital camera.


http://www.steves-digicams.com/

steveinaz

Thanks fellers.

Strong Bad

As a Nikon man, I have to agree with going Canon for the P&S models. Canon is much stronger in this area than all others.

John

VSchneider

Check out Canon's A-series. They are not as sexy or compact as ELPHs, but have an advantage of usually better optics and image quality, and run on AA batteries.

- Val

EDIT: Add imaging-resource.com and dpeview.com to your list of bookmarks; great reviews and forums.

Shizelbs

shack wrote: »

This is the best camera review site on the web IMO. Lots of good info when researching a digital camera.


http://www.steves-digicams.com/

I concur.

shawn474

This might be a little out of the price range, but it is very well reviewed. This is the lowest price I have found. The only drawback is that it doesn't have an optical viewfinder (if that's even important to you).

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?sku=a1284765&cs=19&c=us&l=en&dgc=SS&cid=25682&lid=585555

If you want the viewfinder, you can look at this (which can be had for $229). My wife loves it:

http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-cameras/canon-powershot-sd800-is/4505-6501_7-32069607.html?tag=prod.txt.1

Shawn

halo

Hi Steve,

I've been looking into (buying and testing) compact point & shoot cameras since August. All the cameras listed fit into your budget as I tried to stay around $200 as well (only went over twice). I'm getting closer to narrowing down a winner so here is what I've tried and what I liked or didn't like:

Just FYI the Canon SD800 has had a history of lens issues (I'd avoid it): link.

If you want a great indoor / low light / night shooter the best I've found are the Fujifilm Finepix F40fd followed by the Finepix F50fd (very slight difference here). The F50fd is a better outdoor / daylight shooter - on par with our Canon S2IS (too big, bulky, and heavy for me). The F50 has Dual IS while the F40's IS is essentially an ISO boost. The F50 is a little more advanced in that it also allows for more manual control like aperture or shutter control. The F40 is strictly p & s. You'll give up a little detail with the F40 to allow for useable high ISO indoor & night shots without a flash. The F50 is a little different offering great detail @ low ISO but it gets noisier at higher ISO than the F40 - still better than other manufacturers high ISO to me. The flash (iFlash) from Fuji is excellent. Hardly ever got red eyes. The LCD's on both Fuji cameras are easy to see in all lighting conditions and their menu systems are intuitive / easy to navigate. The F50fd has a rebate for $30. link.

I've also tried a couple of Panasonic cameras. The best of which was the Lumix DMC-TZ3. It gives you 10x zoom @ 7 MP & 12x @ 5MP. It is larger than the other compacts but you also get a wide angle lens. It is available in three colors. Panasonic's menu systems are the easiest to understand / navigate and their Mega OIS is the best out there IMO. This also takes beautiful night shots, but to get the most out of them you'll need a tripod. This is pretty much a point & shoot but it comes with a bunch of scene modes. The downside is that the Venus Engine III image-processing engine can blur away fine details @ ISO's above 100. @ 100 the F50fd and the SD1000 had more detail. Unfortunately the LCD was hard for me to see because I hold the camera lower than "normal" and it was a little heavier causing me to fatigue sooner (I have MS so it shouldn't be a problem for most other people).

I also liked the Panasonic DMC-FX12 but found the F50 had better / sharper details. So did the SD1000 but it lacks IS. FX12 had a lower resolution display than the other cameras (same as the Sony) - washes out easily but the adjustment helps to a lesser degree than on the TZ3.

Just got in an FX33 with wide angle lens but haven't had time to do much testing. FX30 is last years model and can be had for $209 from B&H. Very small (size of a small candybar style cell phone). Long battery life according to the reviews.

The FX33 is the smallest, followed by the Sony DSC-W80, Panasonic FX12, and Canon SD1000. Both Fuji's are about the same size - larger than everything I tested with the exception of the Panasonic TZ3. According to the stats the Canon SD800, 850, & 870 are larger than the Fuji's but smaller than the TZ3.

Panasonic cameras tend to have an overagressive flash on Auto. There is different modes (slow syncro, red eye, auto) one works very well w/ out washing everything out.

Both the Fuji's, Panny's, and Canon's had accurate color representation. I also found that the Fuji's and Panny's did better with sports and action shots than Canon. Canon, Sony, and Panny are fast continuous shooters (hold the button down) - the Fuji's are not.

The Canon SD1000 did great in a well lit environment. But not so much with out the flash (probably due to the lack of IS). For some odd reason Canon's newer elph cameras don't have a battery indicator nor do they show the level of zoom. Canon's LCD's are on similar ground with the Fuji's although with a slightly lower resolution. No IS with the SD1000 but you do get a viewfinder. I was not impressed with the flashless indoor / low light shots from the Canon's (including the S2IS). Night shots were pretty decent. Red eye was also an issue w/ the Canon's.

The SD800 has lens issues so I avoided it but there is a new model - the SD870IS w/ wide angle and in camera red eye but both the SD850 and SD870 were / are too rich for my blood.

I tried a Sony DSC-W80 and it did all right but there better cameras for the money. Colors were a bit off, LCD display was lousy (has a viewfinder though it isn't an accurate one). Detailed pics @ low ISO, decent low light, night shots, nice movie mode. 2nd best IS (behind Panasonic). Have to use Memory Stick Pro or Memory Stick Pro Duo.

I was trying to stay below $200 and Fuji has a $30 rebate that kept the F50 in my budget so the only camera I tried that exceeded my budget was the Panasonic TZ3 (which was $229 when I bought it) but you get a lot of camera for the extra $30.

After reading all the reviews out there it seems that the common problems with compact cameras nowadays have to do with image processing and (overzealous) noise reduction. Both NR & image processors can blur away all the fine details which is why most professional reviwers say to keep the cameras @ the lowest possible ISO. After testing several models from several brands I concur (except for the F40 & to a lesser degree the F50).

Out of everything I tried I liked the F50fd the best. Got as close to "doing it all" out of all the compacts I tried.

Guess it all boils down to what is the camera going to be used for the most often?

Sorry for the long winded post

*edit: got to use the Panasonic FX33 this weekend:

Indoor shots have some noise even @ ISO 100 w/ flash. Not really noticable unless you are viewing 100% on the computer screen. Higher ISO = more noise and loss of detail but still usable for small prints. Nice, accurate colors. Love the wide angle lens. Outdoor daylight shots are really nice. Noise is hardly noticable even @ 100% on the computer screen (ISO 100). Very small, lightweight, black rubberized body (Easy to hold). Nice display - no viewfinder. Great macro function. Didn't even make a dent in the battery life after a lot of flash photography.

If there's anything you want to know about that I didn't cover just ask

Good Luck!

halo

shack wrote: »

This is the best camera review site on the web IMO. Lots of good info when researching a digital camera.


http://www.steves-digicams.com/

I also like:

DCRP (a bit biased toward Canon)

Camera Labs

Digital Camera Info

Cameras.co.uk

By cross referencing all these reviewers (including Steve's Digi Cams) you can put together a more accurate overall review IMO.

shawn474

If you belong to Costco:
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11226168&cm_mmc=BCEmail_254-_-Focus-_-34-_-CanonSD850_BCEmail_254


Shawn

halo

shawn474 wrote: »

If you belong to Costco:
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11226168&cm_mmc=BCEmail_254-_-Focus-_-34-_-CanonSD850_BCEmail_254


Shawn

Amazon has a better deal on the camera itself (no tax and free shipping) but Costco has better deals on the SD memory cards.

Got a 2 pack of Sandisk Ultra II 2GB SD cards for $49 @ Costco. Amazon wants $20 for 1 Ultra II 1GB SD card.