looking for new P&S camera

[xj-boonie]

I'm looking to replace our Canon SD700 with something with more zoom, and possibly to use with Eye-fi SDHC cards.

I'm trying out the Panasonic ZS3, love the zoom and lcd, getting use to the controls, but the battery seems to be shot lived, i haven't found a spare yet (still in return period) and today my wife used it but the pictures were kinda crap - dark or the flash only lighting up close objects - while the video looked good. It was in a school gym with lots of light (for indoors).

Budget

$250 to 350

Size

Compact - similar to my SD700

Features

How many Megapixels?

What' we've got now works, so anything over 6 I'd say.


* What optical zoom will you need? (None, Standard = 3x-4x, Ultrazoom = 10x-12x, Other - Specify)

Would like at least 5, if not 10 ish

* How important is “image quality” to you? (Rate using a scale of 1-10)

8+

Do you care for manual controls?

Not really

General Usage

* What will you generally use the camera for?

Mostly my kids at christmas concerts (1st grade) and hockey practice, some travel too.

* Will you be making big prints of your photos or not?

Mostly 5x7 or 4x6

Will you be shooting a lot of indoor photos or low light photos?

majority indoor

Will you be shooting sports and/or action photos?

Son's hockey

Miscellaneous

Are there particular brands you like or hate?

Partial to Canon - don't like Sony's use of non-standard flash memory

Are there particular models you already have in mind?

Panasonic ZS3, Canon SD970

(If applicable) Do you need any of the following special features? (Wide Angle, Image Stabilization, Weatherproof, Hotshoe, Rotating LCD)

Image Stabilization (cause we have it), don't need a view finder

Thanks,
Mike

[David Metsky]

It was in a school gym with lots of light (for indoors).
This is a very tough environment, no matter how much light you think is present. Moving subjects, low light, a distance from your subject all adds up to difficult conditions for a P&S camera. Granted, the ZS3 isn't known for its low light performance, so it may be worse. But hockey rinks and school plays are notoriously difficult to shoot.

[jeffdrafttech]

Based on reviews here, maybe the Fuji F70EXR (http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/cameraDetail.php?cam=1399)?

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/fuji/finepix_f70exr-review/using
Look at the above review and check out the lit high ISO examples. Click on them for full size examples.

The F70 shoots usable photos in the higher ISO range better than most compacts, so you may be able to get a few indoor action shots to turn out. Flash on a compact is only good for objects within about ten feet, so you need a cam that can take pics using available indoor lighting. Higher ISOs allow you make photos with less light, but the photos are often grainy. Fuji EXR cams do better than a lot of other compacts at higher ISO, but nothing is perfect because the sensors in compacts are really tiny. At ISO 3200, you'll probably get 1/60 sec shutter taking pics at the hockey rink. This will result in motion blur in some shots, but some will be usable. To freeze fast action, you'll need 1/500 sec, but you won't be doing that from a distance indoors with much less than a $2000+ SLR setup.

The canon S90, Sony WX1, and Panasonic LX3 are also known for shooting better than average high ISO shots using available indoor light, but they are out of your price range and lack the ability to zoom in as close as you are expecting.

Don't shrug off manual controls completely. It isn't dificult to understand how to set up a cam manually to take better shots. The hard part is really the vocabulary, once you understand what everything does it's really pretty self-explanatory and you can learn-by-doing after that.

Look up and try to understand these terms, and you'll choose a better camera, understand the reviews, and do a better job adjusting the camera that you end up with:

stop
ISO
Shutter speed
Aperture
When to use image stabilization

[speaklightly]

Mike-

As David mentioned previously, school plays and hockey games are very difficult photo environments in which to take photos. Your $250 to $300 budget can only purchase a P+S camera that is only capable of very marginal (even the the Fuji F-70EXR) photo results with equally marginal image quality.

It might be the more prudent choice to consider an entry level DSLR camera, using your $250 to $300 budget as a nest egg toward that entry level DSLR purchase.

Sarah Joyce

[SheersShurn]

Buy used if you are new. The picture quality depends highly on the lens so dont worry about getting an older model camera. If I were looking for one, Id want one with at least higher than or equal to 8mp like a canon 350d. You can get one for about 300 with lens if you look around.