gijikiki
05-23-2006, 07:17 AM
Hello,
I have been looking for a replacement for our backpacking camera, a Nikon Coolpix 3100. I have now bought 2 cameras from Compusa and returned both of them because their picture quality doesn't seem to match my 3 year old coolpix. Here are the problems. FYI - All tests performed on out of the box Full-Automatic, no tweaking of settings at all.
Sony DSC-W70
Pros:
Weight, size, intuitive controls, calendaring software
Cons:
Buildings, objects, and people look sharp, but landscapes (trees, grassy hillsides, etc) look completely unrealistic, being not only too green, but blurry (saturation overkill?).
Canon PowerShot SD550
Pros:
Can tweak a lot of settings,controls fairly intuitive, size
Cons:
Buildings, objects, and people look sharp, but landscapes again look a bit too unrealistic, blurry, and the color is off. It appears as if the camera is trying to spruce up the shot (color saturation?). Also, the auto-white balance didn't seem to work as well as my 3 year old coolpix with our house looking blueish gray, rather than piano keys white.
Help!
Budget:
$300-$700
Size:
Compact, 170 grams or less ideal, like to fit in pocket while backpacking. The Canon 550 is about the heaviest I would care for. The sony was perfect, other than the color saturation/blurry factor.
Features
6-8 megapixels
3x optical zoom or higher
image quality = 9-10 (I want images to look real, not doctored)
I like exposure control (to overexpose and underexpose shots), but thats about it.
General Usage
Pictures of mountain landscapes, meadows, flowers, animals, trees, some people.
Prints of at least 8x10, some bigger
Not many low light photos, possibly some northern lights if I could figure out how.
Not too many action photos
Miscellaneous
I want a camera that takes true color landscape pictures, I don't care what brand. I am curious what model would be the 8 megapixel equivalent of my Nikon Coolpix 3100.
An optical viewer would be nice, but isn't required. However, a power button that doesn't come on in a pack or pocket is a high priority.
Thanks,
Gijikiki
I have been looking for a replacement for our backpacking camera, a Nikon Coolpix 3100. I have now bought 2 cameras from Compusa and returned both of them because their picture quality doesn't seem to match my 3 year old coolpix. Here are the problems. FYI - All tests performed on out of the box Full-Automatic, no tweaking of settings at all.
Sony DSC-W70
Pros:
Weight, size, intuitive controls, calendaring software
Cons:
Buildings, objects, and people look sharp, but landscapes (trees, grassy hillsides, etc) look completely unrealistic, being not only too green, but blurry (saturation overkill?).
Canon PowerShot SD550
Pros:
Can tweak a lot of settings,controls fairly intuitive, size
Cons:
Buildings, objects, and people look sharp, but landscapes again look a bit too unrealistic, blurry, and the color is off. It appears as if the camera is trying to spruce up the shot (color saturation?). Also, the auto-white balance didn't seem to work as well as my 3 year old coolpix with our house looking blueish gray, rather than piano keys white.
Help!
Budget:
$300-$700
Size:
Compact, 170 grams or less ideal, like to fit in pocket while backpacking. The Canon 550 is about the heaviest I would care for. The sony was perfect, other than the color saturation/blurry factor.
Features
6-8 megapixels
3x optical zoom or higher
image quality = 9-10 (I want images to look real, not doctored)
I like exposure control (to overexpose and underexpose shots), but thats about it.
General Usage
Pictures of mountain landscapes, meadows, flowers, animals, trees, some people.
Prints of at least 8x10, some bigger
Not many low light photos, possibly some northern lights if I could figure out how.
Not too many action photos
Miscellaneous
I want a camera that takes true color landscape pictures, I don't care what brand. I am curious what model would be the 8 megapixel equivalent of my Nikon Coolpix 3100.
An optical viewer would be nice, but isn't required. However, a power button that doesn't come on in a pack or pocket is a high priority.
Thanks,
Gijikiki