What's The Sharpest P&S With Hd Video

Selling my t2i as it's starting to get expensive and can use the extra money. I'm looking for a new nice p&s that has nice sharp pictures hate soft photos and shoots video in Hd btw price range is $399 tops thanks.

Its Me David - You're going from a DSLR and want something P&S to almost match it - and do HD video... You didn't say Full HD, 1920 x 1080, or Std HD, 1280 x 720.

If you want Full HD, pin-sharp images, and fast action / time between shots, fast-continuous, so on - as far as I know - and I have 3 bridge-zooms, including SX10 and Fuji HS10 - that doesn't all come in one package.

If you want good video - forget the HS10 - it has Full and Std HD, but the controls are woeful. It does very good images - IF you stay clear of Auto and Program, and "tell it what to do"...

If you want excellent video - Std HD - the Canon SX30... But it has 14Mpix on a 1/2.3" sensor - so noise from ISO 400 up isn't any fun. Images in good light are adequate - the HS10 beats it on low-light / high ISO.

The SX30 does 1.3fps continuous - HS10 12/7/5/3fps JPEG, 5/3fps RAW and RAW+JPEG. The SX30 doesn't have RAW or Superfine JPEG as standard - does with CHDK - but not good continuous...

You might look at Panasonic's FZ100 - has 2 levels of HD video, good fast continuous, RAW, and the JPEGs look quite adequate, if not startling. It has even more settings and adjustments than the Fuji HS10, from the Reviews and spec-sheets.

Definitely worth a close look, the FZ100...

I'm about to get a DSLR (Pentax K-R) - but if I was buying a bridge-zoom at present, I'd bypass the Canon SX30, the Nikon P100 isn't at all too good, the Pentax X90 is "old era" and not too hot, and I wouldn't risk the new Fuji HS20 - with 16Mpix on a 1/2.0" sensor, and EXR gimmicks to learn and fiddle with to make that work - video not improved from the HS10 - and still a cheap plastic tripod mount, that unless treated very gently, cracks through to the battery housing - er, it's pretty 'avoidable' - as I said, I have an HS10....

From what's available at present - I'd like to boast that what I have is "superb", but unless you like "interesting challenges" - the HS10 isn't - I'd have to say, the FZ100 is probably the pick of them.

It's "only" a 24x-zoom - but that might be a good thing. The HS10 at 30x, and the SX30 at 35x - are quite awkward to get good, or even fast, AF lock-on at full zoom..., and the HS10 at least, at full zoom is best/sharpest focus on a tripod or solid rest.

So have a look at the FZ100 - if I hadn't bought the HS10 - and wasn't now about to complete DSLR savings - it's the one I'd buy...

- Incidentally - the FZ100 has a Panasonic, made for it, 1.7x screw-on Teleconverter - that makes the 24x up to 40.8x - if you needed that reach.

Dave.

i own the S95 and pretty happy with the results I'm getting in my photos and videos, plus its very compact so i can always carry it with me when I'm not lugging my DSLR.

I think for a P&S to replace a DSLR I'd be looking at the G12. I don't particularly like the ergonomics, but lots of folks obviously are fine with them. I think it gives you the best feature set and good opportunity to get very sharp photos.

Looks like about $430 ATM, but I think it has been around the $400 mark on sale.

You don't buy a P&S for image sharpness.

Hi

How about the Casio FH 100? Dp review raved about it

Sp1207 wrote in post #11911050
You don't buy a P&S for image sharpness.

BINGO!

That being said, only for your price range OP, only camera Id recommend is the G12.

Ben_R - Even with those usual incredibly low camera prices in the US - can you get a G12 for the OP's $399.00 budget limit?

The RRP for the G12 here in Sydney is $799.00 - and one of our larger Camera-etc chains is "generously" discounting that to $629.00...

The Canon SX30 here is RRP $649.00 - "discount" price is $549.00.

The large "discount chain" (Dick Smiths) price for 4 x AA Eneloops is $22.00. The SHDC cards we get here are not, surprisingly, gold-plated and diamond-inlaid - as one would expect from the prices....

These prices might have somewhat "explainable" when the AUD was under USD-80-cents - but our dollar today (Saturday 26th) is USD$1.01.....

The day any Camera Maker sells cameras and accessories in the US, at the very low US prices - with an International Warranty valid in Australia - would be the day from when very few Cameras would be sold here....

The ripoff-rorting Oz market Corporations could either go broke - or re-arrange their rorting - er, pricing - structure, here...

While one of course can't suggest anything illegal on a respectable Forum - if, er, some enterprising type bought-up shipping container loads of cameras at US prices, and provided a warranty..... koff-koff...

Dave.

Sp1207 wrote in post #11911050
You don't buy a P&S for image sharpness.

Ridiculous statement. What do you buy it for? RAW capable P&S cameras are more than capable of giving you results sharp enough for anyones taste.

You buy a P&S shoot for the portability and simplicity offered compared to a DSLR. I don't think sharpness is that relevant to either the photographic process (like a viewfinder or phase-AF can be) or the final product (sharper pictures aren't automatically better).

Sp1207 wrote in post #11915474
You buy a P&S shoot for the portability and simplicity offered compared to a DSLR. I don't think sharpness is that relevant to either the photographic process (like a viewfinder or phase-AF can be) or the final product (sharper pictures aren't automatically better).

I agree with you to some extent, but I don't think people pick a camera, find out it takes soft photos, and are happy with that. Sharpness does have a factor in a camera purchase I think.

August23 - Yes, totally agree with both of your posts in this thread!

Some - not all - P&S cameras are quite capable of more than adequately sharp images. I haven't seen too many complaints about the Canon G-Series images...

The G-Series cameras are 'specialist', though - and this discussion is about the more general-use P&S cameras.

The last Canon bridge camera to do "very good JPEGs", unmodified, was the SX10 - and it does them on the basis of a good lens setup, a 1/2.3" 10Mpix sensor that has fairly low noise to ISO 400, usable at 800, as the receptors are larger and less crowded than the 12 and 14Mpix - but same 1/2.3" size - sensors in the SX20 and SX30. That might just be a "marginal" difference in a P&S - but it's there.

The lady friend who bought an SX20 after using my SX10, though - will still swap her SX20 for my SX10, plus $50.00 - on the image quality... She doesn't want to try using CHDK.

These cameras are identical apart from 12Mpix on the sensor and no "Superfine" Save in the SX20. (HD video and fewer fine-adjustments in the SX20 doesn't affect basic image quality.)

Even though it has 2Mpix less than the SX20, the SX10 saves larger Superfine - lower compression, less JPEG artifacting - filesize JPEGs than the SX20, at up to 8-9MB. (The dimensions are 3648 x 2736, and 4000 x 3000)

The SX10 just "does sharper, better colour, etc", images directly out of the camera - but - if you save at Std, not Superfine, JPEG - the images are so similar to the SX20s, you often have to check the dimensions - 4000 x 3000 tells you it's SX20 - to tell 'which camera'. And yes, I've done hundreds of images with my friend's SX20, usually with the SX10 taking images alongside it, under identical conditions.

I've seen here, and on other Forums, that the CHDK with Superfine "noticeably improves" the SX20 JPEG images.

I'm now seeing User posts around, that with the SX30, Superfine level saving "makes such a huge difference to sharpness and Colour", etc, that they have no needs to try using the RAW that CHDK also allows.

Apparently, Superfine makes an even larger difference with the SX30 than with the SX20, on perceived/visual sharpness and colour....

Sounds as if CHDK is almost an "essential" with an SX30 - and that the SX30 would have been a rather more popular camera - had Canon "put it back in", after dropping it for the SX20.

Sadly - Review Sites test images at Auto or Program - at the highest available JPEG quality. Which now seems as if that isn't showing the best of what the SX30 can actually do, after all.....

And yes, the Reviewers did the same with the Fuji HS10 - which was even worse, as not only does it not have a "Superfine" JPEG level - it doesn't work at all well in Auto or Program, either.

Dave.

august23 wrote in post #11915034
Ridiculous statement. What do you buy it for? RAW capable P&S cameras are more than capable of giving you results sharp enough for anyones taste.

Yeah!

RAW Canon S95 Manual mode in LOW LIGHT shooting...

I was reading the S95 thread and picture thread just alot of people were complaining of too many
Soft photos and the low light video seemed to lack color to me. I'll look into the g12 or canon sx20 and sx10 but I'm also leaning towards the panasonic fx40 what have you fellow forum members think of this panny.

Olympus XZ1 looks very nice....