Digital camera choices
 

G'day Folks,

I need some help choosing a new digital camera.

The internet seems to be flooded with sites that are meant to help but I can't find one with out BS. Does anyone know of a good site?

All I want is a 10mp+ point and shoot camera preferably that runs on AA batteries that can take several shots per second and does quite a good job in poor light.

I've used canon point and shoots for years but they all seem to suffer from poor light problems and boy have they been slow. Press the shutter button => child gets bored wanders off, goes to school, leaves for university, gets married... then the bloody thing takes a picture...

1st, how old is the Canon you were using that had the delay issues. Just trying to get a benchmark, since cameras get better every three to six months.

2nd, what's your budget for the P&S?

I purchased a replacement digital camera for the wife.. Specifically because it had the shortest ramp up time in it's class at the time. Without it you cannot photograph many things. She does like the 18X zoom with an additional 4X digital zoom though. The image stabilization seems to be well above average as well. Even at 18X zoom.

People are not estatic about their digital camera purchases so all brands and models appear on ebay as used very frequently after. Hugely discounted compared to new. This was a panasonic by the way I got her. So far she is basically happy with it.

Still a comprimise as certain other features are better on other brands of cameras in the same class. I have not kept up so do not know if low light imaging has really improved a lot. It has been a sore point for a long time with digital cameras. Or I have heard many endless complaints of it.

As was mentioned by another poster MTI they are refined fairly often so anything aquired that is a straight diogital is going to be fairly obsolite in a short enough time. That is why I decided to limit the cost by using ebay. Most of these cameras also have a point and shoot function. The problem is they are a little larger. Not as large as a single lens reflex digital. Perhaps half the size though.

I totally understand that there is a vast difference overall between a single lens reflex digital camera and a normal digital camera. So much so that if I wanted a digital camera for myself I would go for the slr. Unfortunatly in my opinion there is still not much comparison between the two. Straight digitals are always going to have some things you possibly really do not like still at this point of their evolution.

Check out Ken Rockwell's site

Search KenRockwell.com

I've got a canon powershot A480 at the moment. It is a 10mp camera which takes great pictures of things that are not moving when it is sunny!

Budget-wise I'm right at the bottom of the food chain! (Say up to $200)

Thanks for the link Patrick and thanks for your input Barry - point and shoot is all about compromise as far as I can make out... well unless you believe what they say about the Nikon 1.

I don't want a bulky SLR thing - I don't want the weight of that thing around my neck and I don't want the "oh look tourist" or "oh look rich kid" effect.

50% of the time I'm taking pictures of the daft things my three children are doing - and the rest of the time I'm usually crawling about in the dirt taking pictures of car parts / machinery.

I'm fond of my Panasonic Lumix DMC ZS7, altho it takes a dedicated battery. I bought another and it stays in the charger. If you go on a trip, take a fully charged battery.

I picked up a BIG SDXC card too, cost almost as much as the camera. HOWEVER, that card can't be read with a Mac Leopard, but works fine with Snow Leopard, I upgraded my laptop, so both computers can read the pics and videos.

Has GPS, I think I used it once, but I don't travel.

Has an automatic macro setting.

EDIT: http://www.dpreview.com/news/2010/1/26/panazs7

Canon SX130is
 

Get it on Ebay for $190. Takes 2 AA's, has 10X zoom (optical), durable, 12 MP imaging chip.

Finding a decent P&S that runs on AA's is not easy. Everyone has gone to Lithiums, which IMHO suck for durability ion cold and using flash and cost $$$ for a spare or replacement. Plus Chinese knockoff Li-on batteries have a tendency to explode (ask any Android Smart Phone user).

I scored a Fuji AX200 on closeout at Walgreen's for $21 a couple of months ago. 12mp. AA batteries .Does the job and don't need to worry much about it. Replaces a Canon A340 (?) that I paid $150 for 5 years ago.

They do seem to be going away from AA batteries, just as they did away with eye level viewfinders. Pity- I must be getting old. Still have my Rollei 35, but who needs it?

I cut my teeth on blind focus 620 film format folding cameras. Got an AA in photo and spent countless hours in a darkroom processing Kodak C4, C6 etc. Color printing.....view cameras, SLRs, TLRs .... Any idiot can do it now. Another craft shot to hell thanks to technology.

I've always found this place to be pretty helpful for information on camera products:

Digital Camera Reviews, Canon Cameras, Nikon Cameras, DSLR and SLR Cameras

Hope that helps.

Thanks for the help folks.

So far right at the top of the budget on toomany's advice I've found a Panasonic DMC-Zs10 (couldn't find specifications for the 7) that does 10 shots per second. Now that sounds like technology that might help.

I'll check to see if the prices here are similar to the US. Bummer about the AA battery that doesn't exist on this one though...

...I completely agree with you Stoney Li-ion re-chargeables are a pain in the arse. I've got a cordless screw driver that runs on Li-ion; it hardly gives you any warning that it needs to be back in the charger before it craps out at the most inconvenient moment. I've usually got three wood screws in my mouth one hand on the drill and the other hand holding the two bits of wood together whilst standing on one foot on the top rung of the step ladder that has been balanced on top of four empty paint cans and it is just starting to rain really rain this time and the children are still trying to do doughnuts on their bikes in the wife's flower beds... beam me up Scotty!

And all that stuff cost an absolute fortune I guess - back in the days when we all had to save up for our power tools eh?

Interesting observation since it exhaults the ability of technology to advance a craft while sounding sour about it at the same time.

Pictures that are well exposed, in focus and otherwise technically well done due to technology is a good thing. While I may get nostalgic for hours under safe lights and the aroma of D76, Dektol and Fixer . . . I'm not prepared at this stage of my life to go back

As we used to say "Anyone can take a picture, but not everyone is a photographer."

I had always hoped to get a nice Leica rangefinder camera with a few lenses, just because they are so darn nice. It would be hard to justify doing that now.

I bought one of these several years ago and it still works great. I can highly recommend it unless you do a lot of shooting at 2mp. 2mp is considered the best for Ebay and a lot of other sites, but if you need a 2mp you can get a good one super cheap and save the Panasonic for real photos.