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[xsarien]

So, long story short, I'm not exactly pining for my old digital camera, wherever it may have gone in my massive amounts of cleaning. I'm sure it'll turn up again, but longing for a floppy disk-based Mavica from the late '90s is like waxing nostalgic for when cars had manual chokes.

So I've given myself a range of about $400-$500. I'm aiming for a point-and-shoot that will let me have manual control of f-stops, focus, ISO, etc. Not much else, obviously I don't plan on doing much "professional" stuff, a purchase for that will come later on when I'm more comfortable with the advancements of the quality of these things.

I'm not married to any particular model, but as a point of reference, the Canon Powershot S50/S60 and the Sony Cybershot DSC-P100 will do.

Point me in the right direction, GAF. I'd like to make this purchase within the next few weeks, as I'm taking a few days off to visit some friends in Chicago. I'd like to finally end the jokes about my camera needing flash powder.

 

[Marty Chinn]

I just got this camera:

http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INT...c_DIDigitalCameras_CybershotProDigitalCameras

It does everything you want it to with options for more. I think it can be had for around $400.

 

[Shogmaster]

A Sony camera with a viewfinder! @_o

 

[nitewulf]

canon powershot S1 ultrazoom, unless you want a very small camera like the digital elphs.
my second recommendation would be the A80.

edit: i was going to recommend the dsc V1 as well, which is a fantastic camera, but perhaps a bit more than what you are looking for.

 

[Mad Hatter]

My recommendation would be a Canon Powershot A80... and it's well below your price range! or you could spend more and get a Canon G3

 

[crisdecuba]

canon powershot S1 ultrazoom, unless you want a very small camera like the digital elphs.
my second recommendation would be the A80.

I second the vote for the Canon Powershot S1 IS.

(Just thought I'd show off a pic I took w/ it. )

~Cris

 

[GG-Duo]

wow, that's pretty good.

i'm in the market for a new digicam as well... hopefully something small and compact.

 

[B'z-chan]

Get the s60 you wont be disapointed. Trust me canon is making the best improvements on there already great cameras and i've already owned two. They are great and well worth the money.

 

[alejob]

I have a Cybershot DSC P72. When I got it I didn´t need it for anything special but now I would like to take outdoor (mostly animals) shots but it doesn´t do well. I need a lot more than 3X zoom.

 

[Sagitario]

I just got Cyber-shot® Digital Camera
DSC-P41...

Nothing special but it gets the job done ^___^

 

[xsarien]

canon powershot S1 ultrazoom, unless you want a very small camera like the digital elphs.
my second recommendation would be the A80.

edit: i was going to recommend the dsc V1 as well, which is a fantastic camera, but perhaps a bit more than what you are looking for.

You know what's odd, it's that the V1 and P100 are nigh-identical. (Run the comparison from Marty's initial link to sonystyle.com, apparently a cold URL link to the forum won't work.) There are slight differences, and the V1 is $100 more. But, you know, this is Sony. They're second only to Apple when it comes to stubborn pricing.

You mentioned size, which is something I completely forgot to mention. I'm looking for a lot of camera in as small a package as possible (relatively speaking, of course, most digital cameras are, as Reducto says, "Fun Sized.") It comes from trucking around my old digital camera, which was, to put it bluntly, a pain in the ass to haul around and I don't want to be in that situation ever again.

But right now, I think I'm largely split evenly between Canon and Sony. Thanks to a freelance project, I'm kinda too intimate with Canon and their DIGIC stuff (from what I was actually able to UNDERSTAND, anyway), but in contrast, I know next to nothing about Sony and their cameras beyond Consumer Reports (whom I trust) saying that - as baffling as it may sound - their cameras have the best reliability, with Canon edging into a close second. But cost is a factor, too. This isn't the camera I'm buying for wall-sized prints, it's the one I'm buying for "Is the X-Ray machine going to screw up my pictures from the top of the Sears Tower, Mr. Homeland Security Dude?"

But I also want the pictures to look great.

 

[Vgamer]

I just picked up a Canon Powershot A75 a few weeks ago. It does it all, has plenty of manual modes, and takes sweet pics! Great camera I highly reccomend it. Go here to read a review of it http://www.steves-digicams.com/2004_reviews/a75.html

 

[nitewulf]

ok, from what i could tell, Sony's own site has some wrong information about their own camera. I checked out the specs of the P100 from two other sites, CNET and dpreview and compared both models.

DSC V1 has a better optical zoom: 4x
P100: 3x
very important difference.

DSC V1 also has a 4x digi zoom making the total zoom 16x, as opposed to 2x digital zoom on the P100.

Faster maximum shutter speed for the V1, 1/2000 as opposed to the 1/1000 for the P100 (all three sites have different info on this, but taking the price into account i'd assume these numbers)

No hot-shoe for an external flash on the P100, you can buy flash accesories for it though, but you cant just use any external flash like you could with the V1.

No aperture priority or shutter priority modes on the P100, mind you, you can control the whole thing in manual but those modes do come into play when you dont have the time, or just not that proficient in taking fully manual pictures.

First advantage of the P100, it has a better continuous shooting mode, :thumbs up.

Going back to disadvantages, it does not allow saving of uncompressed images, but probably shouldnt matter to you as the highest jpg res would be more than enough for printing 8X10 and above.

Better light metering on the V1.

Better LCD resolution on the P100.

I'll conclude, the V1 is a higher priced camera because its focused towards prosumers, people who are a bit serious about their pictures, but for regular users the differences are negligible.

 

[nitewulf]

I second the vote for the Canon Powershot S1 IS.

(Just thought I'd show off a pic I took w/ it. )

~Cris

fantastic shot, how far were you?
i believe you posted a topic on the old board about this camera, and i whole heartedly recommended it.

 

[Claus]

I heard the S1 has some pretty bad chromatic abberation problems. I'd go with the A80 or the S60.

 

[crisdecuba]

I heard the S1 has some pretty bad chromatic abberation problems. I'd go with the A80 or the S60.

I've noticed that only on high contrast shots that are zoomed in all the way. As far as I'm aware, pretty much all the ultra-zooms in this price range (fz-10, fuji s7000, etc) suffer from this at the highest zoom levels. At 3x zoom (the closest that the a80 or the s60 can zoom), I don't believe this is an issue.

This is why I like it:

* 10x zoom with image stablization
* Swivel-out LCD (making it easier to take pictures at different angles or behind you, etc).
* FAST and quiet zoom lens (by fast I mean how quickly it zooms in, not aperture)
* Uses Compact Flash - the cheapest and highest capacity format.
* Runs on AA's, which I can get anywhere (and lasts through 2 day's worth of shooting on my 15-minute Rayovac rechargeables
* Excellent video-mode (640x480 at 30 FPS)
* Controls allow you to access most functions without digging through menus too much.
* Shortcut button for often-used functions
* Ergonomic design feels comfortable to hold
* Optional remote control and underwater casing

This is what I didn't like:

* No auto-focus assist light (though you can cheat around this by using the red-eye reduction light as an AF-assist... eh, I don't like having to pull a macguyver to get a feature that should have been included to begin with).
* Only 3.2MP, though my 5 x 7 prints so far have been perfect.

Oh, oh, and here are some more pics.

(wish I could've eliminated the marquis...)

~Cris

 

[mint]

Wow chris, you are my #1 photographer now. Can you give some tips on manual controls? Like when taking far shots, close shots?

I got the s60 as well, and really happy with the results. 28mm is a great improvement, I don't have to keep telling people to squish in now

 

[nitewulf]

yeah, you can definitely see the purple fringing in the second to last shot. but purple firnging never really bothered me THAT much, i could live with it, and frankly speaking, most digi cams have it to some extent.
here are some i took w/ my powershot G5:

mind you these are all resized for photobucket, tehy have a size limit, so obviously detail is lost from the original shots.

 

[Vgamer]

Here are a couple of Pics from my Canon Powershot A75.

 

[Sagitario]

I took this one the day before yesterday...

 

[goodcow]

I upgraded from my P72 to the P100 today.

 

[xsarien]

Quick bump to thank everyone, I decided to go with the Canon Powershot S60 after an intense, intense mental shootout between it and the S1 IS. Ultimately, the wider-angled lens (it goes to elev...28mm) and the better AF system (for when I just want to get a quick shot off) pushed me towards the former. Make no mistake, it was otherwise a very difficult choice to make.

Now go help this dude:
http://www.ga-forum.com/showthread.php?t=3394