Suggestions On New Point and Shoot Camera?

[Gabriel Yeager]

Thats cool Heath.

I just need to sell my aquarium now so I can get a camera! lol!

I played with the Canon A550 for a minute at BestBuy the other day. I'm not sure if I liked the way it handled. I'll have to look at it again some more next time.

~Gabriel

[Leigh Wanstead]

Hi Gabriel,

I look forward to your taking photos soon. ;-)

Regards
Leigh

[Jaron Berman]

only one cam fits that description - fuji f31fd. Lowest noise of any consumer p&s bar none. Check the reviews, check the sample images, and decide yourself. I shoot 1dmkII's and 5d's as my normal cameras, but needed a compact to pocket. Looked EVERYWHERE, tried everything, then found this gem. Before buying, I printed test shots from basically every high-end p&s out there, including the ricoh rangefinder, the epson rd1, canon g7, nikon (HORRIBLE image quality, which sucks because the ergo is awesome) etc... In the prints, the fuji was equal up to about 400 iso, at which point it wiped the floor with ALL of the higher priced cams. It's usable to 800, and for small prints up to 1600 iso. When I got it, it was about $219... now I believe its even lower.

Don't believe the megapixel hype, trust the images you see. It's by far the finest p&s I've ever seen or used. I'm a die-hard canon guy, and trust me when I say it was hard to buy another brand over a Canon... but I will never regret that purchase. May pick up another while they're still available. I actually used it today, and when I transmitted the images, they couldn't believe I wasn't using a DSLR.

[Leigh Wanstead]

Hi Jaron,

I would like to suggest that noise is not so important. Even noise highly visible on LCD screen at 100% viewing, I can't see that noise on commercial print from the shop.

Regards
Leigh

[Jaron Berman]

agreed, prints often conceal a lot of noise. However, this is the first p&s I've ever seen whose noise isnt awful. It's one thing that most can shoot with acceptable noise to 200 iso, this can do 800 no sweat. That's a big difference! Have you tried printing a p&s shot at 800iso? Without extensive post-process noise reduction and specific compositions, it's basically worthless.

[Leigh Wanstead]

Originally Posted by Jaron Berman

agreed, prints often conceal a lot of noise. However, this is the first p&s I've ever seen whose noise isnt awful. It's one thing that most can shoot with acceptable noise to 200 iso, this can do 800 no sweat. That's a big difference! Have you tried printing a p&s shot at 800iso? Without extensive post-process noise reduction and specific compositions, it's basically worthless.

I mostly shoot with iso 200 and do not have lots of experience with iso 800.

Frankly speaking, I don't see there is so much price difference on a p/s camera for $200 and a d40 for around $500 with a lense. Just around double the price and the speed to take photos jump from 6 seconds to half second. I always bring my d40 with me. I think the weight of d40 is ok.

The thing I don't like about d40 is that the shutter mech might die some time from now. I hate that feeling.

[Jaron Berman]

In actual dollars, you have a point - the price difference between p&s and dSlr is closing rapidly. However, dSlr's aren't always the right tools. Sometimes, as this post requests, you just want a p&s.

I have nice Canons, and love them for the majority of the things I shoot. However for both personal and work material, there are often times where small pocketable cams are the only solution. D40, digital rebel, etc... are fantastic small dSlr's, but they are still large in comparison to miniature p&s. Yes, they are much more flexible and expandable, but they dont slip in a pocket, and they draw far more attention than consumer-looking p&s cams do. Also, many people buy kit lenses, but claw to find the highest megapixel body on earth. WTF? A nice lens on a 3 year old dSlr will look drastically better than the newest, highest megapixel body with the kit lens. This much is proven.

I can honestly say that when I shopped for a pocket camera, I was willing to spend anything to get good image quality. For me it wasn't a happy-snap camera, it was something to use for portfolio or assignment work, but still go anywhere. I.e. something to replace a contax g2 rangefinder. There is, and will always be places where slr's aren't the right tools. And sometimes I just dont want to lug a nice camera and real lens around, when I know I could take excellent shots with a tiny and inexpensive cam safely tucked in my pocket.

[Lisa Shofner]

Originally Posted by Jaron Berman

In actual dollars, you have a point - the price difference between p&s and dSlr is closing rapidly. However, dSlr's aren't always the right tools. Sometimes, as this post requests, you just want a p&s.

I agree 100% on this. I have a dSLR but I can't carry that gear everywhere with me. My P&S is small, fits in my pocket or whatever bag i'm using. I can take good shots with either, and of course the dSLR has expandability and more range. I would never choose a small dSLR over my P&S though, for the same reasons Jaron mentioned. I surely wouldn't want to be lugging it around and risking $2000+ equipment getting lost/stolen/damaged if I don't need to. So everywhere I go, I take my LX2 P&S but when I go to "take photos" I take the 40D.

[Gabriel Yeager]

Hey guys/gals!

I think I finally made my decision... I'm gonna go with the Samsung L73. Its really nice, and comfortable. The images looked nice, from what I could tell. B&H has it for a great price! My local wal-mart was selling it for $180, B&H has it for $144.95!!! I could not believe that when I saw it...

I am just completely sold on this camera... If all goes well, I plan on ordering it sometime next week...

Now I'm just trying to decide on how to order it. Should I just order the camera, and use my 512mb card that I have for now? Or should I order a 1 or 2gb card? Should I get the case for it from B&H? Or should I not worry about that, and when I decide I want one to just buy it locally for half the price? Should I get it with the Basic Accessory Kit? Is that really worth it? I think it might be better to buy the camera by itself, and then get a 2gb card with it; but what is your opinion? I'm pretty new to it all, so I don't know whats the best things to do when buying a digital camera. So any ideas on this would be great!
Also, is another battery a must have?

Can't wait to get it! I'm so excited!

Thanks in advance for any help!
~Gabriel

[Leigh Wanstead]

Hi Gabriel,

Have you got your new camera?

Regards
Leigh

[Gabriel Yeager]

Not yet... :(

Still waiting to make that little bit of extra cash before I can.... hopefully soon though!

~Gabriel

[Gints Klimanis]

I went with a Canon S3 for its larger lens, reasonably-sized sensor, real optical image stabilization, stereo sound, zoom-during movie. The Canon S5 is a mild update. This camera suffers from the usual focus problems of point&shoot cameras, but there is an external MF button to lock the focus point. I'd say it's one of the best of the lot and definitely better than the 2007 models by Canon, of which I bought one for my sister. Completely unimpressed. If you want a smaller camera, the Canon G9 shoots in RAW mode.

[Gabriel Yeager]

Thanks Gints. I'll look into those... But I think their over my budget this time around. :(

~Gabriel

[Lisa Shofner]

Gabriel,

Regarding your questions on what to get with your camera. I'd say the only thing you need is Memory and a small case. 512MB is not going to get you very far with 7MP camera. You should probably take a look at the cases they have at your local walmart/best buy/frys and see what you like best before getting one though. Some cases look very good on spec sheets but not so great as far as usability - maybe too bulky or hard to get into, etc.

I have to highly recommend that you purchase a SanDisk SD Plus USB card. You can get a 2GB for around $40. Yes, it costs a little more than a standard 2GB card. HOWEVER. Imagine this...you have your camera out with you and you snap a picture of you and your friends. You are at your friend's house and he wants a copy of the picture. With the SanDisk, you just pop the memory card out, transform it to USB and stick it in his computer - no adapters necessary. No cables needed. No extra software. It's just great.

I have 3 (one for my LX2 camera, one for my phone, and one for my bulletcam). I don't even use the non-usb SD cards anymore.

Here's a link to the manufacturer's info on the card. I don't recommend buying it from them as you'd probably get a better deal from B&H or anyone else.

http://www.sandisk.com/Products/Item...s_USB_2GB.aspx

[Gabriel Yeager]

Thanks Lisa, thats really helpful.

The idea of that card is amazing... I'll have to go with that one.... Thanks for pointing me to it!

Can't wait to be able to purchase it!!! I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas... hahaha.
~Gabriel