Best general budget/mid point and shoot?

divamum

Asking for a friend who's a non-photographer - just wants a nice, moderately-priced PNS.

Any models stand out in particular right now?

ziggy53

My next P&S is likely to be the Fujifilm Finepix F70EXR. While it's far from perfect, it does a lot that's right and the price is reasonable. (A little over $200USD.)

Lo-light is very nice and manual controls are better than most, especially for the price. 10x zoom range and IS complete the basic package.

Nice sample images:

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0909/09092101fujif70exrgallery.asp

Nice reviews:

http://www.digitalcamerareview.com/default.asp?newsID=4154&review=fujifilm+finepix+f70exr
http://www.steves-digicams.com/camera-reviews/fujifilm/finepix-f70exr/fuji-finepix-f70exr-review.html

darkdragon

If manual controls aren't needed, I really like the Canon Elph series - SD1100IS is one of the most recent I beleive, but the number scheme is very confusing (the 800 came out after the 1000... )

I have an SD200 that is sill running strong (though only 3MP)

photokandy

If I bought now, I'd aim for either of the Fuji EXR models -- those look amazing.

Personally, I use the SX110IS, which was about $250 when I purchased it a while back, and I fell in love with the controls when I picked it up. It is a bit bulkier than the typical "slim" point an shoot, but it does 10x zoom, nice screen, AA batteries (a must for me), nice flash, and all sorts of manual controls. It does have "auto" mode, too, for those who could care less about manual. It can also focus to 1cm (!), and is roughly a 36mm to 360mm equivalent, so not extra wide, but decent and decent telephoto as well. IQ is decent -- 9 megapixels helps keep noise controlled a bit (instead of some of the higher density cams). Battery life is okay -- not great, but that's why I got AAs to begin with -- I hate being tied to a small li-ion battery in my P&S. (My dSLR is another matter... it goes FOREVER on a charge)

And, being a geek, the fact that I can add CHDK to it and get RAW output and a lot of other features helped justify it a bit too. ;-) Your friend, I'd assume, could care less about that, but for me, it was important.

Grainbelt

The panasonic lumix lineup is quite compelling right now, with their main benefit over others being the comparatively wide lenses. The ZR1 has a very useful 25-200mm range, and the ZS1 and ZS3 are even longer on the telephoto end. There really isn't a lot of weakness in their lineup, at least from the $200 mark upward.

divamum

Thanks! I've passed on the recommendations.

bloomphotog

My suggestions:

High-end, top of the line: Canon S90




Great value, awesome lens: Canon SD980 IS




Read more here: http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/recommended-cameras.htm