lyneday
05-21-2006, 09:51 PM
My Sony P-200 broke and I need a new one ASAP before I leave for a trip on Thursday.
Budget
* What budget have you allocated for buying this camera? Please be as specific as possible.
$200-$300 price range, though if it blows me away, I'd spend around $400.
Size
* What size camera are you looking for? Or does size not matter at all to you?
Basically I'm looking for something ultra compact to compact. My old camera was 4.3 x 2.1 x 1.0 in. I really don't want to go bigger than that as I almost always have my camera on me, either in my bag or in a pocket.
It needs to be small enough to fit comfortably in a shirt or pants pocket or somewhere that it won't be noticeable (no crazy bulges)
Features
How many megapixels will suffice for you?
5-7
* What optical zoom will you need? (None, Standard = 3x-4x, Ultrazoom = 10x-12x, Other - Specify)
At least standard
* How important is “image quality” to you? (Rate using a scale of 1-10)
8-9
Do you care for manual controls?
I hardly use them
General Usage
* What will you generally use the camera for?
I take the majority of my pix indoors -- concerts, bars, clubs, and lounges. Then family occasions both indoor and outdoor. On my current camera, I would leave the flash setting on auto.
* Will you be making big prints of your photos or not?
I haven't really in the past. An occasional 8x10 but mostly standard 4x6 or 5x7
Will you be shooting a lot of indoor photos or low light photos?
95% of my photo's are indoor with about 80% low light.
Will you be shooting sports and/or action photos?
Yes. I would like something that doesn't take long between shots. I occasionally shoot baseball games, children, animals and people dancing.
Miscellaneous
Are there particular brands you like or hate?
I've owned nothing but Sony's so far. P-9, P-10, p-51, P-72, P-100 so I don't really know anything else.
Are there particular models you already have in mind?
Sony P-200 (I had a P-100 so I have the memory already)
Sony T-9 or T-30 (love the IS but not crazy that they don't have a viewfinder)
Casio Exilim EX-750 EX-850 EX-S500 (wish they had a USB cable rather than cradle, but I don't know how big it actually is)
Cannon SD600
The more I research, the more confused I'm getting.
I'm open to any recommendations at this point.
(If applicable) Do you need any of the following special features? (Wide Angle, Image Stabilization, Weatherproof, Hotshoe, Rotating LCD)
AF assist lamp
I use the LCD screen most of the time, but I like the option of having a viewfinder
Image stabilization is a HUGE plus, but not a requirement
I'd prefer one that lets you know how much battery life is left.
Any store recommendations (Long Island, Queens, Brooklyn or NYC) would be helpful too because at this point ordering online is going to cost too much in shipping in order to get it by Wednesday.
Budget
* What budget have you allocated for buying this camera? Please be as specific as possible.
$200-$300 price range, though if it blows me away, I'd spend around $400.
Size
* What size camera are you looking for? Or does size not matter at all to you?
Basically I'm looking for something ultra compact to compact. My old camera was 4.3 x 2.1 x 1.0 in. I really don't want to go bigger than that as I almost always have my camera on me, either in my bag or in a pocket.
It needs to be small enough to fit comfortably in a shirt or pants pocket or somewhere that it won't be noticeable (no crazy bulges)
Features
How many megapixels will suffice for you?
5-7
* What optical zoom will you need? (None, Standard = 3x-4x, Ultrazoom = 10x-12x, Other - Specify)
At least standard
* How important is “image quality” to you? (Rate using a scale of 1-10)
8-9
Do you care for manual controls?
I hardly use them
General Usage
* What will you generally use the camera for?
I take the majority of my pix indoors -- concerts, bars, clubs, and lounges. Then family occasions both indoor and outdoor. On my current camera, I would leave the flash setting on auto.
* Will you be making big prints of your photos or not?
I haven't really in the past. An occasional 8x10 but mostly standard 4x6 or 5x7
Will you be shooting a lot of indoor photos or low light photos?
95% of my photo's are indoor with about 80% low light.
Will you be shooting sports and/or action photos?
Yes. I would like something that doesn't take long between shots. I occasionally shoot baseball games, children, animals and people dancing.
Miscellaneous
Are there particular brands you like or hate?
I've owned nothing but Sony's so far. P-9, P-10, p-51, P-72, P-100 so I don't really know anything else.
Are there particular models you already have in mind?
Sony P-200 (I had a P-100 so I have the memory already)
Sony T-9 or T-30 (love the IS but not crazy that they don't have a viewfinder)
Casio Exilim EX-750 EX-850 EX-S500 (wish they had a USB cable rather than cradle, but I don't know how big it actually is)
Cannon SD600
The more I research, the more confused I'm getting.
I'm open to any recommendations at this point.
(If applicable) Do you need any of the following special features? (Wide Angle, Image Stabilization, Weatherproof, Hotshoe, Rotating LCD)
AF assist lamp
I use the LCD screen most of the time, but I like the option of having a viewfinder
Image stabilization is a HUGE plus, but not a requirement
I'd prefer one that lets you know how much battery life is left.
Any store recommendations (Long Island, Queens, Brooklyn or NYC) would be helpful too because at this point ordering online is going to cost too much in shipping in order to get it by Wednesday.