Canon, nikon? Or. ..?

[Azzure_7]

Hi, I'm searching for a camera for my wife.. ..for christmas present.but I really don't know anything about camera. My budget is around 400.. ..maybe a litlle more.. .. Something that she can do with manual.. Not necessalrilly canon. . .Which one is the best catch for this time being?Thanks..

[Dchemist]

Hi Penyuijo,

My spouse has a Canon S400. There are later models but the one she has she can use and the results are great.

Good luck,

Dennis

[Dandaman_24]

depends were your from, 400 what, dollars or pounds sterling ?

[Azzure_7]

US$400.. ..
really. . .there are so many things to look out for..
And just cant make up my mind. Just wanna give her something nice once in a while for christmas.. ..

All right... ..now i'm narrowing it down to . . .
1. G7
2. s3 is
3. nikon coolpix s10 or L1 model.. ..

[O_T]

400 U.S.? Canon S3 IS and a Sandisk memory card.

[Azzure_7]

A 1Gig memory?
Huh? including tax, shipping and handling?
Where is it?

[TooManyHobbies]

Many people buy P&S with the wrong things in consideration. Think about....

Why get IS if the apparature is higher than the non IS version.
Why get over 6MP unless you plan on printing bigger than 10x15.
Signal noise is very important and should be considered before buying high resolution cameras.
Does it shoot RAW - my old canon G5 does, but newer ones don't.
Does it have 30 fps video for quality playback?
Does it have a flip view screen or at least a large one (2")?
Does it have a automatic lens cap?
Is the camera body metal?
How small do I need it?
Will I use an off camera flash? A flash shoe works so much better then using a slave to trigger a flash.
How fast is startup and burst shooting mode?

In this respect, I bought my daughter a Panasonic DMC-LZ3 for $159 and then got a 2GB memory card, a case, and rechargeable batteries and charger. It was 5MP, f2.2?, IS, 30 fps, 2" screen. The other stuff adds up too, so consider that when buying. I'm dissapointed in so many camera manufacturers pushing gimicks that don't improve picture quality.

[Azzure_7]

Photographing is our new hobby.. ..
We'll probably gonna use it both outdoor and indoor. & when we are on holidays.. ..
Yes i did not know much about photography. But what I have plan in mind right now is to just buy a good camera so that we can keep it for a long time.. ..
Then it comes to G7 and S3.. ..

Thanks Jeff!! Your statement really helps me :)

[Gerald-NC]

I ordered a S2 from Amazon today for about $270 I believe. Then went to lensmate.com and bought a UV filter, polarized filter, adapter, 1GB mem card, and batteries (from Amazon I think), for another $150. So I got $420 invested in what I feel will be a great set up to start with. Btw only 1MP difference between the S2 and the S3 so I figured it wouldn't matter much...specially with $100 difference in price. Just read the reviews on Amazon for both of them, they are very very similar :D Both get 4.5 stars!

[bestfromnw]

panasonic dmcfx3k is awesome for the price $199 at circuit city. has IS, great speed, video 30fps and sound. also takes great shots under low light and has up to 30 sec open shutter... plus much more.
if you want to get something little better with wide angle lens then go for 7.2mp DMCFX50 $330 at circuit city.

pretty much from compact and sub-compact i would recommend panasonic

[Azzure_7]

It's hard putting US$500 into something I never try and touch before, or seeing the real product.. . .
Damn it. . .bestbuy,cicuitcity still don't have them for display.. ..
Reading people's review only make me more confuse.. ..

What I need from a camera: easy to carry and powerful which the G7 can fulfill my goal. After reading reviewss ss. . .I got more confused coz some people really states that its not a v. good camera in low light conditions..
Then, it comes to the S3, it's cheaper and I think it's good enough for the family..but it's too bulky..and don't really like the small lcd..And I thought, for US$100 more, I can get a G7, which means 34 more meg pixels and more stuff. . .
I am a person who really believe that more expensive stuff-better.(call me stupid or morron) but it's all in my mind..
But5 for something that I never try using before, I'm hesitate..

[TooManyHobbies]

I am disappointed with Canon and the G7. They are playing the marketting game.

My G5 recently broke due to being thrown (long story), so I looked at replacing it with the G6 or G7. I decided to pay $160 to get my G5 fixed instead. The G5 had the same batteries as my 20D, it shot in RAW, it had a flip out and swivel screen, and it had a fast lens (F2.0 or 2.8). The only thing I wish my G5 did better is faster video and a better lens cap.

The big plus of the G7 like the G5 is the on camera flash shoe. If you aren't going to use this, then I think other cameras would do. I nice $60-150 flash will let the G7 take awesome pictures in low light. The lens got slower, the flipout display went away, and it doesn't do RAW. If IS let's you shoot slower exposures without shake, then why did they not keep the faster lens that would allow you to shoot faster exposures minimizing the shake as well as being more versitile. For the price tag I would get something else/cheaper unless you are going to use the on camera flash shoe.

[Gerald-NC]

I haven't looked at the G7 so idk anything on it :P But take a look on Amazon and you can view photos people took with the cameras and uploaded them to Amazon. There's over 500 for the S2 and over 200 for the S3. The pics range from lanscapes, day-night, inside-out, all the above really lol. These really helped me decide, along with buyer's reviews. The photog even included their cam settings in most of the pics and the situation they shot the photos in.

If you're not blowing up the photos to extreme sizes I wouldn't worry too much about getting the "most MP's money will buy".

[Azzure_7]

Many people buy P&S with the wrong things in consideration. Think about....

Why get IS if the apparature is higher than the non IS version.
Why get over 6MP unless you plan on printing bigger than 10x15.
Signal noise is very important and should be considered before buying high resolution cameras.
Does it shoot RAW - my old canon G5 does, but newer ones don't.
Does it have 30 fps video for quality playback?
Does it have a flip view screen or at least a large one (2")?
Does it have a automatic lens cap?
Is the camera body metal?
How small do I need it?
Will I use an off camera flash? A flash shoe works so much better then using a slave to trigger a flash.
How fast is startup and burst shooting mode?

In this respect, I bought my daughter a Panasonic DMC-LZ3 for $159 and then got a 2GB memory card, a case, and rechargeable batteries and charger. It was 5MP, f2.2?, IS, 30 fps, 2" screen. The other stuff adds up too, so consider that when buying. I'm dissapointed in so many camera manufacturers pushing gimicks that don't improve picture quality.

(quoted)"Why get IS if the apperture is higher than the non-is version"
I don't get it. What's the relation?

[RadAL]

Powershot A630

[KevC]

Fujifilm FinePix F31fd. Amazingly low startup time, shutter lag, clean high ISO images.

[crossthreaded]

radal........the vinoy is in st.petersburg

[TooManyHobbies]

(quoted)"Why get IS if the apperture is higher than the non-is version"
I don't get it. What's the relation?

IS is meant to stabilize the image, the same can be done plus stabilizing the movement of the subject if you use a wider apperature because by using a wider apperature you can use a faster shutter speed. So with DOF aside which would you rater have....

f/3.0 with IS
or
f/2.0 without IS

f/2.0 will get you faster shutter speeds and prevent images from suffering from camera shake and fast subject movement. f/3.0 will only prevent camera shake.

f/2.0 will allow you to blur out the background better. My Canon G5 has a 2.0 appurature, uses the same battery and memory card as my 20D, and has a flipout viewscreen (which is great for shots when you would be shooting blind otherwise...overhead, backed up to a wall, etc.). So the G7 has mucho megapixels. What P&S camera person needs them. Using proper upsizing techniques (not a one shot upsize) you can upsize an image alot and print huge. Croping is the only reason I see for P&S to have large pixel counts and people should try to frame it right the first time.

[cdubya]

well for 400 i'd say the sd800is is rather nice, however its pretty hard to find where i live, i'm also guessing you already picked something up seeing how its past christmas, but i sell camera's for a major retailer and the canon sd models sell the most, i like most of them, nothing like the camera's i like and use but still very good for what they are. unless size is not an issue in which case i'd recommend the a700is or s3is. i've heard real good things about the g7 as well, but have never used one.

[Jon]

IS is meant to stabilize the image, the same can be done plus stabilizing the movement of the subject if you use a wider apperature because by using a wider apperature you can use a faster shutter speed. So with DOF aside which would you rater have....

f/3.0 with IS
or
f/2.0 without IS

f/2.0 will get you faster shutter speeds and prevent images from suffering from camera shake and fast subject movement. f/3.0 will only prevent camera shake.

f/2.0 will allow you to blur out the background better. My Canon G5 has a 2.0 appurature, uses the same battery and memory card as my 20D, and has a flipout viewscreen (which is great for shots when you would be shooting blind otherwise...overhead, backed up to a wall, etc.). So the G7 has mucho megapixels. What P&S camera person needs them. Using proper upsizing techniques (not a one shot upsize) you can upsize an image alot and print huge. Croping is the only reason I see for P&S to have large pixel counts and people should try to frame it right the first time.
However, the slower lens with IS will usually be better for static subjects since IS generally allows 2-3 stops slower shutter speed and doesn't cost more than a stop of aperture. So you're a stop ahead. And depth of field with the focal lengths of P&S cameras is generally so great that an extra stop doesn't really make that much difference.

Extra megapixels can be very helpful to the novice photographer because generally they don't realize how tightly they need to frame a subject to get it to show up well, so they end up needing to crop. It also helps with the limited zoom range on many of the more conveniently-sized models, since you can crop in on the subject later. And the beginner doesn't generally want to mess with a lot of fancy image processing.

[Azzure_7]

However, the slower lens with IS will usually be better for static subjects since IS generally allows 2-3 stops slower shutter speed and doesn't cost more than a stop of aperture. So you're a stop ahead. And depth of field with the focal lengths of P&S cameras is generally so great that an extra stop doesn't really make that much difference.

Extra megapixels can be very helpful to the novice photographer because generally they don't realize how tightly they need to frame a subject to get it to show up well, so they end up needing to crop. It also helps with the limited zoom range on many of the more conveniently-sized models, since you can crop in on the subject later. And the beginner doesn't generally want to mess with a lot of fancy image processing.

I assumed that you refer slower lens to those that is samller(eg: f2.0 is a faster lens than f4.0).
What do you mean by IS generally allows 2-3 stops slower shutter speed?What stops are you talking about?

[mishnogram]

From reading the posts, specially yours, I would suggest either the S3 or G7 but base it on your personal preference of feel and handling. Set either camera in scene mode or P mode and shoot away until you get used to the terms that are being thrown around here (it will make sence eventually.. its finally starting to make sence to me).

The worst part is that you'll understand what these people are talking about and then want to upgrade anyways. If you don't think you'll have the patience to learn all the terms and terminology being mentioned, then stick with the scenes and P mode settings and you'll keep taking good shots for a long time.

[Jon]

I assumed that you refer slower lens to those that is samller(eg: f2.0 is a faster lens than f4.0).
What do you mean by IS generally allows 2-3 stops slower shutter speed?What stops are you talking about?
Right, f/2 is 2 stops faster than f/4. By the same token, 1/30 is 2 stops slower than 1/125. Each doubling or halving of the light allowed through, whether by changing shutter speed or aperture, is referred to as one stop. In terms of exposure it doesn't matter whether you change the aperture or the shutter speed.

[TooManyHobbies]

... And the beginner doesn't generally want to mess with a lot of fancy image processing.

A beginner shouldn't be buying a G7 unless he plans to be more than a P&Ser and Canon should have left some of the great features that were in previous models in the camera. If MP was the cause of losing the faster lens then it wasn't a good enough reason. I'd still rather have 2 more stops then 2-3 stops of IS. With practice and using some shooting tricks you can hold the camera still even with no bracing.

[Azzure_7]

http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/Glossary/Exposure/Aperture_01.htm

Ok. I'd learnt.
How does making the MP smaller may make faster lens?
I read that the Canon is forcing 10 mp into the G7, and it might be better with just 8MP. Is it true? I read it here a while ago in this forum but I can't find the thred at the moment.

[Jon]

http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/Glossary/Exposure/Aperture_01.htm

Ok. I'd learnt.
How does making the MP smaller may make faster lens?
I read that the Canon is forcing 10 mp into the G7, and it might be better with just 8MP. Is it true? I read it here a while ago in this forum but I can't find the thred at the moment.It doesn't require a smaller aperture be used. Somebody was theorizing ahead of his data. We have no way of knowing why Canon decided to go from the f/2.0-f/3.0 lens (at 35-140 mm) of the G5/G6 to the f/2.8-f/4.8 (at 35-210 mm) of the G7, although I suspect that the greater zoom range was a key factor.

When assessing a sensor's megapixel count, we also need to remember that sensor design isn't static. A 4 MP sensor of today is vastly superior to the exact same size 4 MP sensor of even 2-3 years ago. Of course, given two sensors of the same physical dimensions and the exact same state of the art design, we'd expect the sensor with lower density to be somewhat better in terms of noise (if nothing else). But whether you'd notice this in normal picture-taking and printing is another matter altogether. Part of what you're hearing about the G7 is from those people who wanted exactly the same feature set of the G6, but with a newer sensor. Instead, Canon decided that the more reasonable feature-for-feature successor to the G6 was the Digital Rebelll XTi/400D, and made a G7 that's positioned as a Pro 1 follow-on, thus reducing the number of families they have on the market.

[TooManyHobbies]

http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/Glossary/Exposure/Aperture_01.htm

Ok. I'd learnt.
How does making the MP smaller may make faster lens?
I read that the Canon is forcing 10 mp into the G7, and it might be better with just 8MP. Is it true? I read it here a while ago in this forum but I can't find the thred at the moment.

I wasn't implying that technically the larger MP was requiring the lens to be slower, but cost of bringing to market and adding features that appeal to the people who buy using what I'd label the surface detail specs instead of considering more importants specs that people don't technically understand.

Now others may have different priorities than me when selecting a camera, so I'm biased, but arn't we all.

[Nightscape]

Fujifilm FinePix F31fd. Amazingly low startup time, shutter lag, clean high ISO images.


have you used this camera? Can you post any pics at ISO 3200?