Digital Camera selection

we had a Canon A610 that we liked a lot, but it slowly began going down the hill. It would focus stupidly, not flash etc. The zoom finally stopped working, and I took it apart. It's a lost cause, some pieces were gone and mangled and it's too difficult to put it back together properly without really knowing how those pieces were supposed to look in the first place.

I want to be able to print 8x10s, take pics of the kids with a minimal of setup, have the ability to zoom realistically to something the kid drew on the ground to grabbing a pic of the kid on a swingset from the kitchen window.

Good video is important, too, we get a surprising amount of kid video. I have seen some are around HD resolution, which is fine.

I want to spend less than $200, but you tell me what I have to spend to get something really decent. That new-ish SD1300 IS is $100!!!

Point and shoot unless there is some amazing DSLP that comes close to my price point and is easy to use, I don't know much about photography. Quick picture taking is somewhat important though, the previous Canon we had took like 5 seconds between shots, and that sucked.

I obviously had a thing for Canon, but it doesn't really matter.

I forgot, some Sony something or other had a fun mode where you could sweep across the shot to get a widescreen type picture - that would be neat.

This thread is relevant to my interests.

The wife and I are getting ready to purchase a new point-and-shoot as well.

http://www.testfreaks.com/digitalcameras/fujifilm-finepix-s2500hd/

?

Reasonable $ and 18X optical zoom? Is that really right?

Stick with Canon and Nikon.

Just picked up a Canon SD1400IS for the wife for Christmas, nice little camera, especially for close up work. You can live it in full automatic mode and just snap off pics, or if you want to push it a little, it'll let you tinker with a bunch of different settings.

I am not a photographer, just a car nut that takes a lot of photos... that said, the Canon Powershot SX100 IS has been fantastic other than the learning curve of manual ops & light source settings. A major consideration for me was AA battery vs custom battery pack... I never want to run out of power...

tuna55 wrote: http://www.testfreaks.com/digitalcameras/fujifilm-finepix-s2500hd/ ? Reasonable $ and 18X optical zoom? Is that really right?

I grew up in "Kodak Town" Fuji is a four letter word here...

Is the Canon SX series powershot worth the cost over the SD series?

tuna55 wrote: Is the Canon SX series powershot worth the cost over the SD series?

I bought mine 2 yrs ago and it wasn't that expensive then, about $180 ???

Chebbie_SB wrote: I am not a photographer, just a car nut that takes a lot of photos... that said, the Canon Powershot SX100 IS has been fantastic other than the learning curve of manual ops & light source settings. A major consideration for me was AA battery vs custom battery pack... I never want to run out of power...

I agree with this very much. Awesome little camera.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Canon+-+PowerShot+14.1-Megapixel+Digital+Camera+-+Black/9766919.p?id=1218170030335&skuId=9766919&ci_src=5784816&ci_sku=9766919&ref=25&loc=PGR

Our old Olympus' light meter was starting to go and giving us funky contrasts. It pretty much gave up the ghost around Christmas. Weren't ready to step up to a pro quality camera, and got a Panasonic Lumix something or other. Appeared to be the best bang for the buck on sale. So far I haven't been real impressed with the coloring in the images.

Just got a memory card for it so I'm going to play around some more, but I can't really recommend this one yet. I'll probably go Olympus or Canon for the good one.

tuna55 wrote: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Canon+-+PowerShot+14.1-Megapixel+Digital+Camera+-+Black/9766919.p?id=1218170030335&skuId=9766919&ci_src=5784816&ci_sku=9766919&ref=25&loc=PGR

FYI, that store's return policy on digital cameras is much shorter than their other electronics. Found out a couple days past the cutoff.

Hard to go wrong with a Canon Powershot. We have a couple here at work, and my personal camera is a Canon Elph.

It sounds like it's too late now, but Canon had a recall on some Powershots because of problems with the internal connections to the CCD chip that may have been what was wrong with your old camera...one of our work cameras and my personal camera had to be fixed, and they took care of it very professionally - no cost, the cameras were returned quickly, plus their call center is in Illinois so the process was painless.

stuart in mn wrote: Hard to go wrong with a Canon Powershot. We have a couple here at work, and my personal camera is a Canon Elph. It sounds like it's too late now, but Canon had a recall on some Powershots because of problems with the internal connections to the CCD chip that may have been what was wrong with your old camera...one of our work cameras and my personal camera had to be fixed, and they took care of it very professionally - no cost, the cameras were returned quickly, plus their call center is in Illinois so the process was painless.

Appreciate the heads up - this one was physically mangled with regard to the connection between the zoom knob and the switch on the circuitboard. It was definitely a kid related failure. Both of my kids have grabbed the camera, the oldest, 2.5 years old, has managed to take pictures with it when we weren't looking. Not too bad, either.

I have a PowerShot SD1300 IS and really like it. I bought it like the day it came out and paid about $199 for it.

Pros:

Fits in my pocket.

More or less functions like any other Canon I have used.

Takes video.

Takes nice photos.

Battery life is amazing.

It's not designed for action and isn't super-awesome in low light, but it's a good point and shoot and I'm happy. I got the brown one.

Any Panasonic/Lieca. Best quality/$ - they don't spend a fortune on advertising and retail co-op. Best rated for reliability. We have had a few brands, and the Panasonic Lumix ones are my favorite and have never had a failure. The one I use most now is a Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS5. About $190 12mp, 12X optical zoom 720 HD movie, etc.

David S. Wallens wrote: I have a PowerShot SD1300 IS and really like it. I bought it like the day it came out and paid about $199 for it.

I'll second the PowerShot. Almost idiot-proof, telephotos enough for me. At work I have a bore scope, basically a 200 inch long periscope for looking down the barrel of guns; the Powershot is the only thing that fits to the eyepiece well enough for decent images.

And it fits in your pocket....

I bought a Fuji something or other less than a year ago - size of a deck of cards.

Wifey's little Canon powershot walks all over it. My ancient A590 work camera also takes a much better picture.

914Driver wrote:

David S. Wallens wrote: I have a PowerShot SD1300 IS and really like it. I bought it like the day it came out and paid about $199 for it.

I'll second the PowerShot. Almost idiot-proof, telephotos enough for me. At work I have a bore scope, basically a 200 inch long periscope for looking down the barrel of guns; the Powershot is the only thing that fits to the eyepiece well enough for decent images. And it fits in your pocket....

The pocket thing was big for me. For real photos, we have a DSLR. I wanted something I could carry when off-duty. It's also less threatening when going out to dinner and stuff with friends and family. Someone needs to make a small camera with a bounce flash, though. That would rule. Oh, and it can't cost more than $200.

I mostly use a Canon Rebel or Canon 50D but they can't look down a small hole. I do like their resolution though.

Dan

914Driver wrote: I mostly use a Canon Rebel or Canon 50D but they can't look down a small hole. I do like their resolution though. Dan

How about an adapter ring? This one is from a company about 5 minutes from my office and is designed to adapt a camera to a boreseope: http://www.hawkeyeblue.com/catalog/item/457843/621883.htm Here's another one: http://www.uniqueproductsonline.com/caadforinbo.html And another: http://www.machidascope.com/2009/07/camera-adapters/

Thanks Pigeon, but not this week. I just bought a Macro lens for close up work.

Dan

We bought one of those super panorama Sonys a while back. It's a great feature. It'll do vertical panoramas as well, perfect for when you're standing at the top of Hoover Dam and trying to get a shot of both the river and the new bridge. To pick a random example. Picture quality isn't bad - doesn't touch my original Digital Rebel DSLR for quality even though that one is megapixel retarded by current standards - but it suits the job.

The only downside is that the selector dial on the back can get a little funky at times. But I love that autostitch panorama.

the biggest thing holding back point and shoot is the sensor size... and the contrast based auto focus (why they focus so slowly vs a DSLR)

I still have my sony 5.1mp from 5+ years back... it still not bad... although it's time to upgrade for those days that the SLR isn't practical but I want better than my phone will shoot

for the auto panorama mode... I used a few and didn't care for them... it's much easier IMHO to take the shots planning to stitch them on the computer... no extra settings just snap-rotate-snap-rotate-snap (leave about a 50% overlap)

I shot this in Costa Rica with that old 5.1mp sony... another same area

I used microsoft ICE to stitch it (although there are better options out there even for free)... I even did some fun 360 shots in the rooms I stayed in, with the right software you can get some neat looks

sorry not much help on the camera itself... might look into something with image stabilization... thats always a nice thing to have especially if you have a longer zoom range