New point and shoot camera, what to get?

[SPIKER]

We have a Samsung camera that has been really good, takes movies and pics. It is 7 meg so a good number of years old but works great. Like others said big meg pic cameras are a waste of space on hard drives and backing up, a 35mm film is around 5 meg pix quality if I remember right... Most web sites dont like the BIG files and uploading them gets long winded.

M

 

[caver]

I've got a Canon Power Shot SX20is that gives me control like an SLR. It's an older model so not sure what the current equivalent is. Only gripe is the controls are a bit confusing. Shoots great video too. Sunset shot in Nevada.

 

[HillStreet]

I own a Nikon Coolpix S5200 and it has been nothing but trouble. Mailed it in twice at my own expense for warranty work. Then it failed again out of warranty so I mailed it in with a letter telling them to keep it, that I could not afford to own it.

They did send back a rehabbed one of same type for free.

 

[dstig1]

Geez Aaron, shouldn't you have picked up a hose instead of taking pics? I'm kind of in the same market now as my Nikon S6300 has seen too much time in my pocket on the construction site, and I am getting a lens error now. My cell phone is not bad, but the pics from the Nikon were always a lot better. I'm wondering if anyone knows about anything a bit more ruggedized but not spendy? Sorry to hijack, but it seems like you are done with this thread now

 

[KennyG]

Dave,

We've had a number of digital cameras in my family over the last 15 or 20 years, mostly Canon and Nikon. As nice as the Nikons are, all ours seemed to eventually get the dreaded "Lens error" problem. The Canons have been much more reliable. I, personally, am just on my second (an A590) in over 15 years and I use it a lot - nearing 5000 pictures on this one. We recently went on a major vacation and bought my wife a Canon S120 for the trip. The quality of the photos are staggering. I was very impressed with it's performance.

 

[aczlan]

Geez Aaron, shouldn't you have picked up a hose instead of taking pics?

If I was in the VFD I would have done that, but I suspect that they would have been unhappy with a random stranger picking up a line.

I'm kind of in the same market now as my Nikon S6300 has seen too much time in my pocket on the construction site, and I am getting a lens error now. My cell phone is not bad, but the pics from the Nikon were always a lot better. I'm wondering if anyone knows about anything a bit more ruggedized but not spendy? Sorry to hijack, but it seems like you are done with this thread now

If you want something more rugged and don't have to have optical zoom, you might try one of the waterproof point and shoot cameras. Less moving parts to jam up that way.

Aaron Z

 

[dstig1]

Just kidding Aaron...

This was my first Nikon, and while I have been a bit rough on it, I didn't think it should have folded this fast. I had a few Olympus ones before that held up well. Back in the days when Cannon required special software and Olympus was plug and play, that was a big deal to me, so I avoided Cannon. Now they all seem to be plug and play so that is not a factor anymore. I do want a good optical zoom - this one was 10x - as that is a big reason to have a camera over a cell phone. I guess I will give Cannon a look this time and see what I can find there.

Thanks!

 

[George2615]

I'm with Bird. I have a Nikon Cool Pix L110, 3" LCD screen, 15X zoom, 12.1 megapixel, HD movie.
Very easy camera to use. Had it for about 5 years now with no problems. Easy to replace batteries. I have an 8 GB card in it that has lots of picture storage.

 

[MikePA]

I have a Canon SX10is I bought several years ago. The current model is the SX20is. My primary requirement is the camera use standard batteries and not a camera specific battery pack. Second requirement is optical, not digital, zoom with image stabilization. Almost all digital cameras will take a great picture. My only 'complaint' with digital cameras is the size of the picture files they create. While more megapixels usually means a better picture, the limiting factor these days is the quality of the monitor we use to view the picture or the printer we use. I am also kept busy helping people with Powerpoint presentations who copy pictures straight from the camera into the presentation then wonder why the resulting .pptx file is so large.

I use software called IrfanView which has a batch feature that lets you read the original files in and automatically reduce their size. I routinely do this to create smaller files for use in presentations or for emailing. Unfortunately, there's no OSX version of Irfanview, so I have to start up a virtual Windows machine to use it. If I had to do this often, I'd search harder for an OS X solution. The photo programs I've seen offer a lot more bells and whistles than I need, which is usually just red eye elimination and shrinking. If I could find software that also could also eliminate 'animal' red eye, that'd be my perfect photo utility.

 

[JerryK]

Samsung DV150 ... has a display on both sides so your grandkids can take ' selfies ' .... Has Wifi too....