I’m looking for a new camera–small to carry but takes pretty good pictures on top of it. Anyone have any suggestions? Nikon Coolpix was recommended but I find it takes very grainy pictures.
Cameras take grainy pictures because they are pushing the ISO up in low light. Newer P&S cameras, while better in many respects, aren’t that much better in low light with a few exceptions. Most P&S will need the flash in low light.
How much are you willing to spend? How much zoom would you like? Do you want manual controls or strictly P&S? Are you going to be shooing mainly indoors? Do you want to take action photos?
I’d recommend anything from a Canon SD1200 to the Fuji F200 to the Canon S90 depending on a bunch of factors.
December 2009 Consumer Reports gives the Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS Elph the highest rating for up to $200 in the Subcompact point and shoot family. It has an optical image stabilizer, which I personally prefer over mechanical or simulated ones. You can step up to $300 for PowerShot SD880 and get a better image quality, in their opinion–that one got the number 1 rating from CR.
Lots of sites on the web rate cameras also. Most have various ways to filter for your key preferences such as price or features.
Here’s one: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare.asp
There are many others.
The Canon SD960 is excellent and shoots surprisingly good 16:9 720 HD video. The LCD is widescreen, nice for the video. It takes excellent pictures for a point and shoot camera. Canon’s user interface is logical and simple to learn.
I have one, Mom has one, a buddy has one.
Shop online for best price.
I have this Canon. It does such a great job, that an insurance inspector that comes to our shop dumped his High end DSLR for his inspections and bought one just like mine for his inspection work. He finds it easier to work with and it produces a superb picture under some very trying conditions.
FTR, his side job is as a pro photographer on the weekends.
I love this camera!
I’ve had a Canon G10 for about a year now and it has surpassed my expectations in every way. Super easy to use in auto mode but with all the manual controls you could want to manipulate the image to your hearts’ content.
For me it’s all the power of a dSLR I would ever realistically use in a compact well made package.
And the G11 is significantly better, because it has fewer megapixels which leads to better image quality, but also the rotating LCD and much better low light performance.
So, can I interest you in my 0.1 megapixel toy camera? I mean, that’s got to be the pinnacle of quality.
Ah, there are limits. It’s a very good sign that the camera manufacturers are dropping out the MegaPixel wars. With current P&S sensor sizes and technology, more than 12 MP is really counter-productive.
Lotsa Canon recommendations here!
They really are a great choice.
I’m gonna jump in on the Canon lovefest. I’ve had an SD500 for about 3 years now, and have loved every minute of it. My wife bought an SD780is a few months back, and even better. Canon makes a great point and shoot camera.