Help choosing a camera please!

jmathew

Posting for a friend.....

who is in need of a sub-$500 camera - non-dslr for primarily indoor, mostly natural light pics of her growing (and mobile) child/toddler.

She's mainly concerned I think, with shutter-lag (having less of it). She has no interest in changing lenses or getting overly technical, but does want to get out of auto-mode and get better at photography. Video/movie capability would be a plus, but not a requirement.

Any suggestions on fast/wide aperture, short shutter lag prosumer cameras?

The Fuji S9000 was my rec. to her based on the heated exhcanges I've read here in the past! Any advice would be appreciated, thanks!

DanielB

jmathew wrote:

Posting for a friend.....

who is in need of a sub-$500 camera - non-dslr for primarily indoor, mostly natural light pics of her growing (and mobile) child/toddler.

She's mainly concerned I think, with shutter-lag (having less of it). She has no interest in changing lenses or getting overly technical, but does want to get out of auto-mode and get better at photography. Video/movie capability would be a plus, but not a requirement.

Any suggestions on fast/wide aperture, short shutter lag prosumer cameras?

The Fuji S9000 was my rec. to her based on the heated exhcanges I've read here in the past! Any advice would be appreciated, thanks!

Minolta Z3 is a nice one.

DJ-S1

The Panasonic Lumix FZ line is very good, comes with a big lens, 10x or 12x? optical zoom, and image stabilization. Has all the SLR modes, I think as well if you want manual controls at some point.

Bob Bell

DJ-S1 wrote:

The Panasonic Lumix FZ line is very good, comes with a big lens, 10x or 12x? optical zoom, and image stabilization. Has all the SLR modes, I think as well if you want manual controls at some point.

I agree on the lumix line, I think the top of the line is the FZ30. I think its 12x optical, has built in image stabilization and oh yea its leitz/leica glass. I think the aperture is constant or goes up 1/3 step. Im too lazy to look it up.

arroyoshark

Canon 610/520

Lots of megapixels, aperture & Shutter priority options plus the Digic II processor. Works with rechargeable AA batteries. 4x zoom also.

Justiceiro

Pre-20d I had a Fuji s5000. The lens was very nice, and prints looked a lot better than one would imagine you could get out of 3.8 megapixels. Slight vignetting problem, occasionally, but I heard that Fuji fixed that.

Anyway, it was light, easy to use, and I think you can get the latest version was well under $500.

Anyway, here is an image I took with the s-5000. If only I had an s-7000 or my 20d at the time. It still looks good for a 3.8mp camera.

DJ-S1

arroyoshark wrote:

Canon 610/520

Lots of megapixels, aperture & Shutter priority options plus the Digic II processor. Works with rechargeable AA batteries. 4x zoom also.

I have the 520 and I recommend the 610 highly to friends, but the post specifically said "mostly indoor, available light" shots, so that's why I went with the Lumix over the 610. A bigger lens and IS really would help out.

Bob&Glennie

Personally I'd stay away from Fuji. I had an S5100 4mp for a year and my buddy has an S9000. They're not bad but that much zoom range in one lens has to be a compromize. My S5100 was mushy at full zoom (on a tripod) and chromatic aberation was terrible:cry :cry :cry Both cameras render Jpeg's with too much contrast and the 5100 doesn't allow the contrast to be adjusted in camera. The long 10x zoom range is not entirely the result of incredible lens design ... they achieve that in part by using a smaller CCD and, hence more noise.

My wife has an old, well used Olympus C2040Z 2mp that renders a better looking image (up to 8x10) than the Fuji. I'd reccomend something in the Olympus line but stay away from extreme zooms. A 4-5 mp camera with something around a 5x zoom would do very nicely.

kini62

Seeing that indoor natural light photos is a requested feature/use than I don't think your friend would be happy with any P&S other than the Sony R1 which is about $1000.

I'd have your friend try the Fuji F10/11 for less than $300. This camera has very good high ISO performance for a P&S.

Don't know how fast it is as far as focusing and shot to shot.

Also, based on my experience of using my DSLR (E-300) for mostly the same purpose and assuming the "natural" light in my house is similar to others, your friend will become frustrated very quickly with trying to take these type of photos of children indoors, unless they are sleeping.

If I had the money I'd have a Nikon D2HS just for the purpose of taking shots of my kids playing indoors, etc...

This kind of photography, lots of random movements, many times rapid, inability to sit still for more than .1 of a second, in a dimly lit, close quarter environmnet is every bit as challenging as taking high speed sports shots indoors, maybe even harder do to the close working distances in the typical house.

My DSLR is marginal during the day time on a sunny day indoors, and frustrating at night under artificial light.

Save your friend some money and frustration now and point him/her to at least an entry level DSLR like the nikon D50 with the $100 50 F1.8. This would be about $600-$650 or so.

My 3 cents

Gene

ScottMcLeod

Fuji F10.

Trumps every other P&S camera for indoor shots. Seriously.

We sell SO many of these at work once people see the kind of shots it can produce.

6mp, 1600ISO, 'nuff said?

NHBubba

ScottMcLeod wrote:

Fuji F10.

Trumps every other P&S camera for indoor shots. Seriously.

But lacks ANY form of manual control.. Total bummer if you ask me.

The F11 is supposed to fix (some) of that.. but it doesn't seem to be available.

jmathew

Thanks to all for the great suggestions - right now she's trying to choose between the Fuji s9000, Lumix FZ20 or 30, or....saving up and getting a Nikon D50

ScottMcLeod

NHBubba wrote:

But lacks ANY form of manual control.. Total bummer if you ask me.

The F11 is supposed to fix (some) of that.. but it doesn't seem to be available.

Olympus Stylus 600 and 800 then.

800 ISO, but allows manual control?

Not as good as the Fuji though.

kini62

jmathew wrote:

Thanks to all for the great suggestions - right now she's trying to choose between the Fuji s9000, Lumix FZ20 or 30, or....saving up and getting a Nikon D50

Saving for the D50 is the best choice if any indoor low light no flash shots are required.

Gene