Point and Shoots

Dogdots · November 22, 2009

My Aunt needs a point and shoot and I've been reading reviews to the point I don't want to read any more

I'm hoping someone here might know of a decent p&s around $200. Something that has a good image quality to it. It doesn't need to be fancy...just a good image.

Thanks -- I hope someone can help me

CoryUT · November 22, 2009

I've read a lot of good things about the Canon SD880IS, if video is not a concern.

Edit: Nevermind @ price

. Didn't realize it was so expensive.

I just bought my fiance an SD780IS, and it seems fine. Colors look good, has IS, face detection, and does HD video. $200 at Best Buy and pretty much everywhere else right now. A lot of people are happy with the SD1200IS as well, and it's a bit cheaper.

Dogdots · November 22, 2009

Thanks Cory

I'll check those out.

Right now I have the Powershot SX120IS and I'm just not sure about it. Even took a couple photos with it. This is just sooooo confusing

CoryUT · November 22, 2009

Sure! Good luck with it. I know what you mean. Before I got the SD780IS, I spent a lot of time and effort looking at reviews and different cameras (specs, tests, and samples). I decided that my fiance would never know the difference at the level I was analyzing the P&S capabilities, and I made myself stop analyzing.

I obviously don't know where your Aunt sits in terms of camera needs, but consider not beating yourself up over it

Dogdots · November 22, 2009

CoryUT wrote:

Sure! Good luck with it. I know what you mean. Before I got the SD780IS, I spent a lot of time and effort looking at reviews and different cameras (specs, tests, and samples). I decided that my fiance would never know the difference at the level I was analyzing the P&S capabilities, and I made myself stop analyzing.

I obviously don't know where your Aunt sits in terms of camera needs, but consider not beating yourself up over it

I'm trying not to beat myself up, but I seem to be doing a pretty good job of it with this issue

Your right..they won't notice the difference like we do. I keep telling myself that, but when I looked at the photos coming out of the SX120 -- well they sure do need a boost in saturation. Will she notice that...not a clue. And if she takes card in to have some photos developed will the place boost up the color?

Picking out a camera for myself is soooo easy -- if only I could buy it tho :cry

swintonphoto · November 22, 2009

The Olympus Stylus series are nice, affordable, feature packed, and have good image quality.

Dogdots · November 22, 2009

swintonphoto wrote:

The Olympus Stylus series are nice, affordable, feature packed, and have good image quality.

Thanks

-- I'm off to check out hte Olympus Stylus

DsrtVW · November 22, 2009

I am a Nikon fan in DSRL ergonomics, but point and shoots I have always liked Canons.
I have had 3 and the oldest one finally gave up after 5 years. I have the A1000 IS and love it. I bought it for 149.00 Last Xmas.

Dogdots · November 22, 2009

DsrtVW wrote:

I am a Nikon fan in DSRL ergonomics, but point and shoots I have always liked Canons.
I have had 3 and the oldest one finally gave up after 5 years. I have the A1000 IS and love it. I bought it for 149.00 Last Xmas.

A Nikon and Canon fan

I looked at the A1100 and thought about that. I think that's the newer model to yours. It was on sale for $129. Hmmmmmmmm..... How is your mode dial holding up? I was alittle concerned about the mode dial on the A1100.

Grainbelt · November 22, 2009

Panasonics tend to have wider lenses, so I lean that direction

Dogdots · November 22, 2009

Grainbelt wrote:

Panasonics tend to have wider lenses, so I lean that direction

My brother has a Lumix and loves it, but it's able to have other lenses added to it which he never does

Is there a good Lumix under $200? I'll have to check that out. My problem I think is I've put a $200 cap on the spending.

Grainbelt · November 22, 2009

Dogdots wrote:

Is there a good Lumix under $200? I'll have to check that out. My problem I think is I've put a $200 cap on the spending.

I don't think there is a bad camera in their lineup. I've shot a little with my sister in law's camera, and looked at a ton of their honeymoon pics. Color rendition was fantastic.

B&H has the really good ZR1 for $226 with free shipping, which I might buy now that I saw the price.

25-200mm equivalent, stabilized, in a compact body. cool stuff.

They also have the more compact FS25 (29-145mm zoom)for $167.

The even cheaper LZ8 won dpreviews budget camera comparison last December.

here's a side-by-side of the three.

Happy Shopping!

Dogdots · November 22, 2009

Grainbelt wrote:

I don't think there is a bad camera in their lineup. I've shot a little with my sister in law's camera, and looked at a ton of their honeymoon pics. Color rendition was fantastic.

B&H has the really good ZR1 for $226 with free shipping, which I might buy now that I saw the price. 25-200mm equivalent, stabilized, in a compact body. cool stuff.

They also have the more compact FS25 (29-145mm zoom)for $167.

The even cheaper LZ8 won dpreviews budget camera comparison last December.

here's a side-by-side of the three.

Happy Shopping!

Thank you for all this information

Its a big help. Tomorrow I expect to sit down and pick the camera.

Art Scott · November 23, 2009

I am still shooting with a KONICA MINOLTA A2........fantastic camera....andi have no idea how I will replace it, as sony does not have a comparble cam.....no one does:cry :cry :cry......so I am watching this thread CLOSELY!!

Dogdots · November 23, 2009

Art Scott wrote:

I am still shooting with a KONICA MINOLTA A2........fantastic camera....andi have no idea how I will replace it, as sony does not have a comparble cam.....no one does:cry :cry :cry......so I am watching this thread CLOSELY!!

I'm finding that picking out a point and shoot is really hard. I need to step back on the image quality, but look for something that will not look cheap. Some of the buttons are just plastic while others aren't. And they are so dang small.

But in my reading it seems the cons come about mostly from people who have camera's other then point and shoots. They don't like that the options are less or the white balance is off. Is my aunt going to know that the white balance is off???? Is she going to notice that the photos look dull? Maybe she'll notice that.

It's really hard to look at a point and shoot when your shooting with something that is so much better.

I'm still huntin'

ziggy53 · November 23, 2009

Mary, if you don't know what your Aunt wants for a camera, how can we possibly know?

I suggest you find maybe 3 possible cameras from which to choose, and then show your Aunt the choices and images from each so that she can contribute to the choice.

For $200 you should concentrate on image quality for sure. Yes, I would bet that most people will want fairly good images straight from the camera, including extra saturation and sharpness with good flesh tones.

Dogdots · November 23, 2009

ziggy53 wrote:

Mary, if you don't know what your Aunt wants for a camera, how can we possibly know?

I suggest you find maybe 3 possible cameras from which to choose, and then show your Aunt the choices and images from each so that she can contribute to the choice.

For $200 you should concentrate on image quality for sure. Yes, I would bet that most people will want fairly good images straight from the camera, including extra saturation and sharpness with good flesh tones.[/quote\]

Hi Ziggy,

I think I stated it wrong I know my aunt would want a good image and good color too, but I don't know if she would know the difference.

When I look at all the point and shoots and the reviews left by people you get a "yes" this is a great camera...images are great...color is good while the next person thinks the image quality is poor and that the camera is crap. Two extremes. I'm just thinking the ones giving the poorer reviews are people who shoot anything other then a point and shoot, but picked one up to have an extra camera in their pocket or backpack. When you compare a point and shoot with my 40D .. well there is a difference.

So do I try to match up the quality of the photos I get to the quality of the photos a point and shoot can put out. I know I'm hurting myself with my price range of $200.00, but I could go alittle more.

Showing her 3 camera's would be wonderful, but she wouldn't pick one out. She's pass that off to me thinking I would know. If only she knew how hard it is for me

I've looked at the Canon SX120 and the A1100. I actually shot the SX120.

In the end I want the best camera I can get in my price range. She's shooting film right now and its getting expensive. So a point and shoot would be the best thing for her.

Here's a few images. All were taken using Auto. The last two were zoomed out all the way. Didn't help the lighting was terrible. Misting out too. I think the inside photo looks alittle noisy or I need to do some dusting

Maybe I'm expecting to much and if so please tell me as I would want to know.

Thanks for helping me with this

CoryUT · November 24, 2009

Mary, here is a link to some samples from the SD780IS:

http://cjk.smugmug.com/Family/heathercam/

Most are without flash. The last two are same setting, with and without flash. The yellowish tint on a couple of them is from the lighting in the bathroom.

Grainbelt · November 24, 2009

Dogdots wrote:

Maybe I'm expecting to much and if so please tell me as I would want to know.

Thanks for helping me with this

From what I've personally witnessed my friends and family do with cameras, I don't think your choice will have as much impact as her ability to use it. A great camera used to shoot a backlit portrait without flash will always look bad. A snapshot of a sporting event will be blurry if shutter speed isn't fast enough.

You might consider downloading a program like Picasa for her that is hugely simple to use for basic edits and photo organizing. It has an export to smugmug button as well as its own built in (free) online galleries. Her ability to view and share the resulting photos is likely as or more important as the shooting experience.

Dogdots · November 24, 2009

CoryUT wrote:

Mary, here is a link to some samples from the SD780IS:

http://cjk.smugmug.com/Family/heathercam/

Most are without flash. The last two are same setting, with and without flash. The yellowish tint on a couple of them is from the lighting in the bathroom.

Your photos have much better color then the one's I posted. I'll check this one out.

As for the dogs -- your black one looks like our dog we had years ago....sure do miss her. I swear I saw a tear in your other dogs eye....was it bath time

Thank you for taking the time to help me out

Dogdots · November 24, 2009

Grainbelt wrote:

From what I've personally witnessed my friends and family do with cameras, I don't think your choice will have as much impact as her ability to use it. A great camera used to shoot a backlit portrait without flash will always look bad. A snapshot of a sporting event will be blurry if shutter speed isn't fast enough.

You might consider downloading a program like Picasa for her that is hugely simple to use for basic edits and photo organizing. It has an export to smugmug button as well as its own built in (free) online galleries. Her ability to view and share the resulting photos is likely as or more important as the shooting experience.

I thought about downloading a software program for her so she could bump up the color, but then I thought it best not to. You haven't met my Aunt

Although if she really got into the digital world of photos she just might want to learn.

Thank-you for taking the time to help me out

ziggy53 · November 24, 2009

Steve's Digicams reviewed both the Canon PowerShot SX120 IS and the Powershot A1100 IS, and he seems to favor the Powershot A1100 IS:

http://www.steves-digicams.com/camera-reviews/canon/powershot-sx120-is/canon-powershot-sx120-is-review.html

http://www.steves-digicams.com/camera-reviews/canon/powershot-a1100-is/canon-powershot-a1100-is-review.html

I suggest also looking at the Powershot SD780 if a more standard 3x zoom range is suitable. (33-100mm equivalence)

http://www.steves-digicams.com/camera-reviews/canon/powershot-sd780-is/canon-powershot-sd780-is-review.html

The Fujifilm Finepix F70EXR is also a contender, with a larger imager and chip based IS it seems to produce fairly good low-light images:

http://www.steves-digicams.com/camera-reviews/fujifilm/finepix-f70exr/fuji-finepix-f70exr-review.html

If I were buying a P&S for myself today, the F70EXR is probably the camera I would get, and the "Auto" mode seems to work well enough that I could pass the camera to almost anyone and expect decent results.

You can see a consensus of the professional reviewers here:

http://www.dphotojournal.com/fujifilm-f70exr-review-sample-photos-user-manual/

Dogdots · November 28, 2009

ziggy53 wrote:

Steve's Digicams reviewed both the Canon PowerShot SX120 IS and the Powershot A1100 IS, and he seems to favor the Powershot A1100 IS:

http://www.steves-digicams.com/camera-reviews/canon/powershot-sx120-is/canon-powershot-sx120-is-review.html

http://www.steves-digicams.com/camera-reviews/canon/powershot-a1100-is/canon-powershot-a1100-is-review.html

I suggest also looking at the Powershot SD780 if a more standard 3x zoom range is suitable. (33-100mm equivalence)

http://www.steves-digicams.com/camera-reviews/canon/powershot-sd780-is/canon-powershot-sd780-is-review.html

The Fujifilm Finepix F70EXR is also a contender, with a larger imager and chip based IS it seems to produce fairly good low-light images:

http://www.steves-digicams.com/camera-reviews/fujifilm/finepix-f70exr/fuji-finepix-f70exr-review.html

If I were buying a P&S for myself today, the F70EXR is probably the camera I would get, and the "Auto" mode seems to work well enough that I could pass the camera to almost anyone and expect decent results.

You can see a consensus of the professional reviewers here:

http://www.dphotojournal.com/fujifilm-f70exr-review-sample-photos-user-manual/

Sorry I haven't gotten back to this in awhile. This Thanksgiving has been hectic with company.

Ziggy this is a wealth of information. Thanks

I'll have time to go through all of it tomorrow.

Point and Shoots

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