Time for a camera upgrade

I have a Fujifilm A330 camera that is on its last leg, and its time for a upgrade. I want a camera that will take good pictures indoors/outdoors. Main reason is for family get togethers and vacations. Pictures will be emailed and maybe 4x6 pictures. Below $300.

Anyone?

How much do you want to do, and how much do you want the camera to do for you?

I want auto and manual controls. I dont know much about the manual controls now, but if I ever wanted to dabble with them it would be nice to have. How are the Canon lcd screens? I see that alot of cameras now are coming without zoom finders. I know that in the summer when the sun is beating down you cant see anything on that lcd screen.

Yes, indoor will be the tough part. I'd suggest saving a bit more and going for the S5 IS or the G9, both of which will let you add an external flash later on. If you can't wait, you can get external slave flash units that will be tripped by the camera's flash going off, but exposure will be tougher to manage. Next step below the S5 or G9 would be the A650IS IMO. Pretty much everything the S5 or G9 has except an external flash shoe and it doesn't have as much zoom. Like the S5, it runs on AA cells (get rechargeables for general use, but in a pinch you can buy some disposable ones).

Thanks for the info Jon. Out of the box will the S5 IS and 650is take decent indoor pictures. Its a little bit more money but looks like this camera will last me a while.

How about the SX100? Read that it takes better low light pictures.

It doesn't have either an optical or electronic viewfinder and it doesn't have an external flash hot shoe. For those reasons, I'd steer clear. The others will do OK, if you let the flash (built-in for now, external later) do its job, don't count on the high ISO settings to eliminate the need for the flash, and don't try to photograph in a large space. The built-in flash is good to maybe 20 ft. at the higher ISO settings.

A720 IS


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I have heard alot of good things about the A720 IS. Will the 720 take as good pictures as the S5 will? And how will it perform indoors? The reason I ask is the S5 is a little bit bigger than I think I want to go. Unless the extra size is worth it.

Not sure. I believe they use the same sensor.

My crude observation is that when buying the "bigger" compacts (S, G series), what you're really buying is a better lens.

The S5 will do 2.7 wide open and 3.5 at full tele.


My mom has the A720 IS and I used it for about two weeks. Was very impressed with it (I have an SD870)

I may get an S5 (or even G9) in the near future. Though I may just skip all that and go for the 1D Classic and 24-70L lens

This was done with the A720 only (and its onboard flash). Never had a problem battery wise that entire time using 2500mah rechargeable Energizers.


http://www.danpassaro.​com/p49671776/

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chris8105 wrote in post #4811957
I have heard alot of good things about the A720 IS. Will the 720 take as good pictures as the S5 will? And how will it perform indoors? The reason I ask is the S5 is a little bit bigger than I think I want to go. Unless the extra size is worth it.

You can compare image quality on this site. http://www.imaging-resource.com/IMCOMP/CO​MPS01.HTM
Compare the higher ISO shots for indoor performance.

Thanks Dan, great pictures. I have been reading about the A720is camera too. Its down between the S5 and A720. The S5 looks like a camera that if I buy I wont have to buy another camera for a long time. And the 720 is $130-$140 cheaper than the S5. Help me decide, which one is it?

chris8105 wrote in post #4812177
Thanks for the info Dan, great pictures. I am going to have to do some reasearch on the 720. I was all set to go out and buy the S5.

They were both on my short list. I actually left the house to buy the S5, but I came back with the 720 based mostly on size and how it felt. The features that were important to me:

Advantages of 720; size, image quality, price
Advantages of S5; 12x zoom, hot shoe, swivel LCD

I'm still intending to buy a larger camera with bigger zoom, maybe the new Fuji S100FS or a dSLR. I figure I'll always have a need for a small all-rounder like the A720.

I have both the S5 IS and the A720 IS. I have found by direct experience that the S5 IS gets noticeably better quality pictures. I tried using the digital zoom with the A720 IS and I always found the quality of those pictures to be not quite acceptable even if it was just set to 1.6x zoom. I did find that I could use the S5 digital zoom with better success but it seems to me there would seldom if ever be any advantage to using digital zoom because anything you take can be cropped and enlarged with PhotoShop or some quality software like that. Then also you have a much better idea of the end result. Also the S5 allows me to put a histogram on the viewfinder LCD screen so I can see as I shoot how the exposure will turn out.

In the A720 photos there was plenty of ambient light. I would not recommend the S series cameras for indoor photos unless you have an external flash. (slave for S3) (hotshoe mount for S5). This necessity IMHO can add a chunk of change to the kit.