Camera recommendations?

[Jotul]

I'm looking for my perfect camera. :D Can anyone help?

 

I have a Canon Digital Rebel SLR right now, but it's bulky. So, I'm looking for something:

 

1) With lots of MP (I crop pictures a lot, so need to make sure I retain high res, even when cropped).

2) Is good in both indoors in dim light and outside in the Caribbean sun.

3) Is very compact.

4) Takes as good a picture as my SLR.

5) Has a decent shutter speed, to keep up w/ my active kids.

 

Anything like that exist? I've read a lot of reviews, but I'm not a pro, so a lot of the stats and numbers mean nothing to me.

 

Thanks!

[GORDONCHICK]

Most compact cameras aren't going to keep up with your DSL, so you need to decide which is more important - the options of the DSL or compactness. Some compacts can come close, but most cannot.

 

Personally, I'm a Nikon girl, but I love my compact Canon S3-IS. It's only 6MP, but it's great for a compact camera. And it has 12X optical zoom.

[pierces]

Have to add my vote for the S3-IS or the Sony DSC-H5. Both are near the equal of your Rebel in good light and neither will perform in dim light anywhere near as well.

 

Since I've been hauling 30+ lbs of camera gear on trips for ever, I'm not bothered by the bulk of my DSLR and lenses. I carry the DSLR for the response, resolution and versatility of interchangeable lenses. That being said, I also own an 8MP Konica-Minolta A2 all-in-one compact digicam and use it on walkabout shopping days on shore when I want to travel light. For all other situations I also carry a tiny Canon PowerShot SD800IS pretty much 24/7 "just in case" (my Wonderful Wife calls it the "dinner camera" because it doesn't ruin the lines of a suit :D ).

 

Bottom line could be:

a) The perfect camera does not exist.

b) The perfect camera is actually three cameras.

c) All of the above.

 

I took "c"...

 

 

Dave

[zackiedawg]

Carmen's right - you're not going to be able to get something that keeps up with your DSLR. Any compact camera will be some measure of compromise...it just depends on which areas you want to compromise on to gain the advantages you get (one body to carry, much smaller, much lighter, live preview, live histogram, etc).

 

Super-zoom cameras are certainly a worthy category to consider...they aren't pocketable though, so the form factor will be a bit more like having a miniature SLR. Carmen's S3 IS, my Sony H5, Oly's 5500, and the Panasonic FZ series all fit in this category (and a few Kodak and Fuji models too). The upcoming (release late May) Sony H9 seems to really be extending the capabilities of the super-zoom market - if all the promises can be fulfilled: 31mm wide - 465mm tele optically with image stabilization, 2.2 frames per second burst up to 100 frames at full resolution, up to 1/4000 shutter speeds, ISO80-3200, 3" movable LCD, 8MP, Bionz processor from their Alpha DSLR line plus Dynamic Range Optimizer, Nightshot infrared shooting, predictive autofocus mode, face detection, full remote control for shooting and playback comes with the camera, and high-def outputs. If it can do half of what it advertises...it should be an incredible beast for only $499 retail.

 

If you are looking for an all-purpose compact - something to insert in a pocket and compliment your DSLR - I'd recommend a look at either the Fuji F30 or the Sony W90 or T100.

 

The F30 is still the standard for high ISO capability (and therefore low-light shooting) in a compact camera...noone else seems capable of making such a noise-free sensor in a compact. The rest of the camera is average - not very feature-laden, nor fancy-looking - but it does the job and has lots of flexibility.

 

The W90 and T100 that just came out are the first compacts I've seen that seem to come at least CLOSE to the Fuji in high-ISO capability, though still a couple of stops shy of the Fuji. However, they add more features, and much nicer looking designs.

 

The T100 is the style camera - with a sleek metal and plastic body, huge 3" hi-res LCD, and an internal folded lens for up to 5x zoom with no lens protruding from the body of the camera. That makes it a great pocketable camera. And unlike earlier T-series cams from Sony, this one is finally capable of delivering low-noise shots through ISO400, and usable results at ISO800 too.

 

The W90 has the same guts as the T100 - the processor and sensor are the same and both are 8MP for plenty of crop room. The W90 has an externally protruding lens, so is not ultimately as slim as the T100 when in use, and only gets 3x optical zoom...but it has the advantage of a wider aperture of F2.8 versus the T100's F3.5, meaning it has a 1-stop advantage when shooting low light. Given the same ISO, the W90 should perform better, giving usable results up to ISO1600 or so.

 

With the Sonys, you'll get multiple metering modes, focus modes, live histograms, infolithium batteries with time remaining readouts, and both of these cameras get Sony's Bionz processing from the DSLR line with dynamic range control, the 2.2FPS full-res burst mode up to 100 shots, and hi-def outputs...definately more feature-laden than the Fuji. But the Fuji F30 will still deliver cleaner and less noisy results than the Sonys at ISO400-1600, and will even still deliver a usable ISO3200 result for small prints (the Sonys will be a noisy mess by 3200 with little detail remaining).

 

This is only my opinion of course...but so far, I don't think any other manufacturer can deliver better noise results in low light and at higher ISOs in a compact camera than Fuji, with Sony in second place. Canon seems to be a notch better than the rest of the field, but a hair below the Sony and still far off the Fuji. Olympus, Kodak, Pentax, Nikon, and Panasonic suffer pretty harsh noise and tons of detail loss at higher ISOs. On a noise and detail scale of 100 for compacts, I'd rank Fuji at 100, Sony at 85, Canon at 82, and everyone else below 70. (DSLRs not included!!!).

 

As usual...compromises. You just have to decide which compromises are worth taking!

[Jotul]

Thanks so much for all of the recommendations so far. Looks like I'll have lots of reading to do tonight, to familiarize myself with the models you've all listed.

 

I figured my "perfect" camera wasn't out there. I guess, really, I'm looking for something small and easy that'll take pictures good enough to print in 4x6, even with some cropping. Won't give up my dSLR, but want to have something a little less cumbersome for mostly internal shots (karate meets, dinner on the cruise, swim meets, etc). Hopefully, it will also perform well for outside shots where I don't bring the dSLR.

 

Thanks again.

[dolfansam]

Thanks so much for all of the recommendations so far. Looks like I'll have lots of reading to do tonight, to familiarize myself with the models you've all listed.

 

I figured my "perfect" camera wasn't out there. I guess, really, I'm looking for something small and easy that'll take pictures good enough to print in 4x6, even with some cropping. Won't give up my dSLR, but want to have something a little less cumbersome for mostly internal shots (karate meets, dinner on the cruise, swim meets, etc). Hopefully, it will also perform well for outside shots where I don't bring the dSLR.

 

Thanks again.

 

Last week I came across a Sony 7.2 MP camera, which is about the same size as a Cannon Powershot, for 119 at Sears.com. I was looking for a small and inexpensive camera for use in an Aquapac and not have to worry about if it leaked. I used it for my nieces Confirmation over the past weekend and have been impressed with the pictures. Of course I am still playing with it and learning all the bells and whistles.

[WIT]

Megapixels are helpful when cropping but the amount of optical zoom is the other half of the equation. (MP X 'xOptZoom' = your photo before cropping)

 

A 7MP camera with a 3x lens takes much the same photo as a my 5 MP Panasonic TZ-1 when zoomed to 4X. Fortunately, the zoom continues to 10X which gives more cropping options. Seach this thread for the camera to read my full discussion. WIT