help me decide on digi cam for mom...

[r2d2]

Hello to you all,
I am shopping for a digi cam for my mom. I am looking for a very simple point and shoot. I do not see her using ANY manual modes at all. Mostly just snap shots of family, her dog and her soon to be grandchild (she needs her own camera-if she asks for one more picture of my prego belly I am going to hurt someone). She is NOT wanting to learn too much and becomes easily frustrated.

Anyhoo, I was looking at the AD 200/300- Too compact, although the large LCD would come in handy

The A510/520 look nice- The rear of the camera does not look intimidating at all, however I am wondering about the aperture range. IT says it is 3.8 to about 5.5.....seems to not close down very far...is that normal? will it yield good shots in bright light?

Another suggestions to look at? I have been noticing that the a85/95 are better cameras but my moms also impatient, if it is not at the store for immediate use she wants no part of it...

Sorry so long...Any help would be most appreciated...:)

[lostdoggy]

I think you are a little confuse on the aperature there. f/3.8/5.5 is the widest (largest) aperature available at a given focal length. This means that at widest focal length the aximum aperature is f/3.8 and at the furthest focal length its f/5.5.

Your choice of camera for your mom should be base on what would fell confortable in her hands. They are all very capable cameras for P&S.

[nitsch]

I've been looking at small P&S cameras too (for my wife) - she wants something small and easy to literally Point and Shoot. After a bit of research I think I've decided to get her the A510, it seems like a great little camera for the money and the reviews / sample shots I have seen have all been very favourable. It also has a few more advanced manual controls should she want to get into it.

I think it would suit your Mom well too, or the A520 which is the same but has the higher pixel count.

[rssfhs]

I suggest the The PowerShot SD20. Read about it here:
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2004_reviews/sd20.html

[LastLine]

For what it's worth, I recommend the ixus 700 - fantastic toy for me to use when I don';t want to carry the DSLR with me.

[cjm]

I recommend the A85 or A95 for anyone. Please see this thread, it will give you some great suggestions.

Click here (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=83214)

[flak]

I recommend the A85 or A95 for anyone. Please see this thread, it will give you some great suggestions.

Click here (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=83214)


yup, A95 is the way to go :)

[Spirit]

The A95 would be my first recommendation to anyone who wants to learn about digital photography, but it might be a little bit bulky for your mom, and if all she wants is a point and shoot, the A95 will give her that... along with a bunch of other features that she may never use... and it's a larger camera.

I'd just take her shopping. Find something compact, and a good price, maybe a 3-4mp/3x optical zoom (forget digital zoom), and go from there. Personally (if you're going to stick with canon), I like the PowerShot A400 or S60 for something like what you want for your mom (for shape and features).

Good luck. :)

[cjm]

A95 isn't bulky. My mom uses a A60 just find and likes the size. Bluky is the late 1990's P&S film cameras. Now those are bulky ;)

[Spirit]

hehe! I meant in comparrison, silly. My A70 is a BIT too bulky for a "pocket camera". Maybe I should have specified on the differences in shape? Meh... If she doesnt' mind the shape of the A95, then yes... That is my first and only reccommendation for a beginner digicam. :)

I gave it to my mom a few weeks ago when I got my S2 but she said it's too big and wanted something "more pocket sized", and from what I can tell, her friends feel the same way (if company is over, the camera is out). That's the only reason I mentioned it's size.

*I* don't think it's bulky AT ALL. But my mom thinks it's huge. lol ;)

[Voyager13b]

I like all of the suggestions, but if I were choosing a camera for dear old Mom to use, I would stick with a digital Elph that didn't offer much in the way of choices. A 4 to 7 megapixel CCD, combimed with a 3x zoom will do the trick.

Most Moms are not interested in becoming semi-pro photographers at this point in life, no matter how hard we push them. An Elph will offer great photos, ease of use, and the ability to have a camera available no matter where you go.

No matter how tempting it might be, don't sell your Mom on buying the camera you would like to have. Set her up with a camera that she will always have in her purse, and that she will always be ready to use.

Voyager

[mdude85]

I'm not sure where you got this figure of f3.5 for the A510 from. I am holding the A510 in my hand and it lists an aperture value of 2.6 - 5.5. Needless to say, it has no problems with letting in light in almost all situations. In fact, I find that in FULL AUTO mode, it lets in a little too much light. The photos often end up a little bit overexposed. If you shoot in P mode, you might want to underexpose a third stop or so. I like the A510. For a beginner (I am not a beginner, my main outfit is a DSLR) this is a good camera, simple to use and the battery power is OK. It has some good manual features that can be difficult to use, but they don't interfere with the basic camera use. In other words, the camera is very simple to use if you don't engage the advanced features. You'd think this would be obvious but some cameras have so many features they become difficult to even know where the shutter button is.

[mdude85]

I like all of the suggestions, but if I were choosing a camera for dear old Mom to use, I would stick with a digital Elph that didn't offer much in the way of choices. A 4 to 7 megapixel CCD, combimed with a 3x zoom will do the trick.

Most Moms are not interested in becoming semi-pro photographers at this point in life, no matter how hard we push them. An Elph will offer great photos, ease of use, and the ability to have a camera available no matter where you go.

No matter how tempting it might be, don't sell your Mom on buying the camera you would like to have. Set her up with a camera that she will always have in her purse, and that she will always be ready to use.

Voyager

4 - 7 megapixels! Most Moms are about as interested in becoming semi-pro photographers as they are interested in resizing their giant shots. I have a mom who likes to upload her photos to webshots. She has had much trouble trying to even figure out how to change the size of her photos before she uploads them to the internet so they load in a reasonable time on her 56k modem. If it were me I'd buy a mom a 2-4 MP camera, so the picture size is manageable.