I would like to purchase a new point and shoot camera. This camera needs to be small and take indoor closeups (people) well. Our existing camera is old and no longer taking what I consider to be good pictures.
Can anyone point me to a site with good reviews? Or recommend a camera?
I can google thousands of sites, but clearly I need help in filtering the information…
dcresource and dpreview
The usual go to site for digital cameras is DP Review www.dpreview.com
They cover a wide range of cameras, and have very comprehensive reviews, and also have occasional coverage reviews of lower end cameras. It is hard to go wrong with modern digital cameras - a significant part of the technology has pretty much matured (we are no longer in an idiotic race of meaningless megapixel counts) and there are some astoundingly capable cameras.
Personally, I have a Panasonic Lumix LX-3 as my point and shoot. It is a very capable camera that performs very well, and its introduction sparked a bit of a catchup in the high quality P&S market segment. But you need to decide what it is you both need and are prepared to spend. You might decide a Leica M9 is what you want. (Which is you care to check its price will leave most people floored.)
I’d add Imaging Resource and Cameralabs to the list.
Edit: I use a dslr as my ‘main’ camera, but I also have a Panasonic FZ28 for casual use, and it’s an excellent camera. I believe it has been succeeded by even more competent models now.
Another site isSteve’s Digicams
You don’t say what your current “old” camera is. I’m assuming that it’s a film type camera. You can find a great digital camera for well under $150 and probably under $100 to do what you want if that’s mostly inside people pictures. While the cameras have many settings, they always have one default automatic setting that functions as point and shoot.
Since you stress point and shoot, I also assume you don’t want to get into the minutia of setting ISO, aperture, shutter speed, exposure balance and so on. However, if you ever decide to study these aspects, a digital with the manual settings allows you to cheaply experiment and perfect your ability.
Another vote for dpreview. But if your noobish, they are not shy about tossing around the jargon. That can be a little intimidating and can make it rough to really understand the reviews. But if you’ve been around cameras for a while, even film cameras, a lot of the terminology will probably be familiar and you’ll only need to focus on the new stuff.
If you just want a flat out thumbs up or down, spring for a subscription to Consumer reports on line and see what they have to say. You won’t get the detailed insights you get from dpreview, but they won’t steer you wrong.
And what is with the M9? Their newest SLR is under a grand, but people are paying nearly 10k for the M9? {shakes head violently from side to side} I no understand. Does this mean the optics on their SLR’s are shit by comparison? Is it just a matter of charging what the traffic will bear? Help me out here.
I assume you’re looking for something other than Amazon? They’re probably going to have the greatest number of reviews, most of them pretty good.