Sd300 Vs A95

[NemesisHunter]

Hi guys,

I've been researching and reading reviews and talking with other fellow amateur photographers at my school photography club and I can't seem to decide between the Canon Powershot A95 and the Canon SD300 Digital ELPH. They're both terrific!!!! AAHH!

Anyway, I've narrowed my choice to these 2 top chart cameras. Here are my tastes : I enjoy compactness, but not to the point that it hinders gravely picture quality. I love manual controls, but I also enjoy small size so I can take my camera anywhere and take a snap right out of my pocket for those precious second-only moments. The fast start-up time from the sd300 is really impressive, and the suberb 60 fps video mode is amazing to capture fast motion events like sports clips. Even though the video capability of the sd300 is a nice extra feature, it isn't my major concern, but it does make a nice bonus. I've heard about the purple fringing of the sd300 and its poor lighting in the dark and short flash range, but its cute and stylish and cool and it isn't as bulky as the a95. Besides, even though it doesn't have aperture adjust mode, it has very fast load times, start up times, low shutter lags, and even in playback mode, you can switch from image to image instantly. Quite convenient for the person always "in a rush" or "on the go".

The A95, although large in comparison with the sd300, is much better equipped. Battery life is superior, lcd swivel screen gives me all sorts of angles to shoot from. The A95 has deep innovative manual control, from shutter speed to aperture control. Its simplicity is useful for simpletons yet deep and satisfying for the more experience user such as myself.

In conclusion, I want a camera that will give me quite detailed and sharp pictures from everyday and travel, along with occasional professional feel shots (like a butterfly on a lily flower or a shot of the Kilimandjaro mountain with the quality of what might resemble National Geographic pictures) and that has a quality high enough to take wonderful shots from up close or landscape pictures. As an amateur photographer, I like taking flowers and animals and mountains and landscapes like the Grand Canyon and I enjoy travelling a lot (I'm only a high school student btw). The SD300 is quite small and simple to carry around, but yet heavy enough to feel solid in your grip. It is useful to carry around wherever you go. Yet the robust feeling of the A95 and its pumped up features along with its solid feel in the hands makes it a worthy opponent to the sd300. I don't care about battery life really, just for versatility and performance with a touch of professional photo shooting along with style that will surely last.

As a side note, I had the Konica Dimage E323 which was really really poor performing to me. Either of the cameras I wish to acquire will surely be a big jump in quality and performance, as they are both high end cameras and are scaling high in camera reviews all around the net. Thx in advance guys for the time you took to reading my thread ^_^. :D

A Passionate Beginning Photographer,

Peter :p

PS : Sorry for the long post, I've put a lot of time into analyzing which dc to choose, and the a95 and sd300 are really my only choices left ^^

[PhilR.]

The short answer - if you are a photographer, get the A95. If you just take snapshots, then get the SD300.

On the other hand, it seems that you might be someone who will take photography quite seriously in the future. No reason why you couldn't have both a small P&S like the 300 for on-the-go shooting, and a more capable camera for the times when you are concentrating on photography - something along the lines of perhaps the G6 or dslr. That is the way I would go....

By the way -- your post, although a bit long, was actually well-constructed, and had better grammar and spelling than often seen in posts by people much older than you....

PhilR.

[NemesisHunter]

Why thank you PhilR, I appreciate your comment ^_^.

Well, you've suggested me interesting cameras indeed, such as the G6. I've looked into other digital SLRs, and seeing my tight budget at the moment, I'll stick with the A95. This camera is packed with features for someone on a budget and who is still aiming for a decently priced mid-high end camera. When my budget will increase, I will be able to afford possibly a mid-priced SLR, but until then, I'll go for the A95.

To all the readers out there, feel free to post any comments or suggestions. I await any reply whatsoever, each of your comments mean a lot to me.

[olias]

I second what Phil said. I recommend having both a "go-anywhere" camera and an dSLR, budget permitting of course. I have an SD300 and have been very happy with it. I took some low-light, handheld shots in Muir Woods this last weekend between storms and I find the SD300 to be quite capable. Have a look if you like:

www.pbase.com/winterwhitedwarf

In short, a nice combo would be an SD300 and Rebel XT!

[NemesisHunter]

Great pics olias!

Indeed, getting a day-to-day snapshot camera for everyday use with a dSLR will be quite combo. Here I am with a fancy portable camera on one hand and a professional looking gadget on the other ^_^.

Now, if I think about it, getting the SD300 will not be a loss if I intend to get a dSLR later, but if I get the A95, then an SLR, I sorta wasted my money on the A95. But let's assume I'm not getting an SLR for the next, umm let's say 2 years (I'll finish school first, gotta finish grade 11 and 12), should I stick with an SD300 or an A95? Because one vs the other are quite an even match I believe. For now, I'm leaning towards the A95, but if anyone can prove me otherwise, feel free to post your ideas here.

[MrForgetable]

I'm in the same grade as you, and have an SD300. I liked the idea of an A95, but the size and the speed of the SD300 cannot be matched and sometimes that is what counts when you're in high school :p The A95 is a good choice too, with manual controls (which I kind of miss on the SD300) and the swivel screen. Using the stock 16mb card, I can pretty much hold down the shutter and it will just keep taking pics until the card is full. I counted about 2-3 frames per second.

SD300->Speed, Size
A95->Manual Controls, Picture Quality is a little bit better, Swivel Screen

It's all up to you!

[jbcm]

I would get the A95 so you can learn how to use the manual controls so in the future you know what you want in a more Professional type camera.

[Thalas'shaya]

if you were budgeted to buy an slr in the next six months, i'd say you should get the sd300. but you're not. basically, you have a choice between buying a tool that isn't perfect at either task, but does both well (a95), or buying a tool specialized to only one task (sd300). in that case, i would say you should get the a95, because it allows you to do all the tasks you want to do, albeit a little slower than a less versatile camera.

[NemesisHunter]

Ya, I thought the A95 might be more capable to develop my photography skills. It justs bugs me when I look at how large and bulky the camera is in comparison with the SD300. I absolutely drool over the SD300's modern and compact feel, but the advanced manual features on the A95 cannot be missed either. Besides, I don't find the color of the A95's case to be quite appealing as the A85 for example (which has that black color palette on the battery compartment section). Ah well, I guess it'll be more important for me to aim for features rather than appearances, I hate when I have to come to these decisions because I like style and speed (you know at my age, we're sorta hyper lol), but I love photography and I like the A95 for its features. Sadly, it has to boil down to only one. I'm still leaning towards the A95 (I feel real bad ditching the SD300 atm, but I'll feel just as equally bad if I ditch the A95 for the SD300). Keep the posts up! I'll be buying my camera over the weekend holiday so opinions can still come. ^_^

[richwolf]

Here is my story. I had an Olympus 2020Z and although a nice camera for the time and full of manual controls it was just too big. I bought the SD300 for the size, because I am a bicyclist and I can throw it in my jersey pocket. It's a situation of getting the picture or not at all since I rarely carried my Oly with me.
I found I rarely used the manual controls on the oly anyways and the movie mode on the SD300 is incredible. I look at what the SD300 is capable of doing and then look at the size and say oh my gosh!
The SD 300 is not perfect though. But how can it be with such tiny optics? If size is not that big of deal and you want the best picture possible with manual controls then the SD300 will probably dissapoint. If you want a go anywhere camera with a good movie mode and decent photo quality then choose the SD300. Nirvana is not here yet.

[NemesisHunter]

Well, I finally bought my A95 today, and I must say it was tough for me to even decide in the first place. As I walked into the store, I asked the guy to show me both the SD300 and the A95. The SD300's compact size overwhelmed me! But I told myself : you've spent months looking for your digital camera and you were leaning towards the A95, why change now? So I got it, no regrets. Been playing around with it and I am quickly learning its functionalities. I've got two questions regarding the A95 : How can you check the remaining battery power on the camera without having to wait for the warning sign to pop up? Secondly, the manual states that you can only use AA Alkanine batteries or the designated Canon NB-2AH nimH batteries. Does that signify that I cannot use other nimH battery brands (like Duracell and Energizer nimH batteries)? Or are they just saying that to earn more profit?

[PhilR.]

Congrats on the new cam. You can use other brands of batteries. Just make sure that the milli-amp rating is at least as high as the ones that Canon recommends. If there is no recommendation listed in the instruction booklet, then go with at least 2000mah as a minimum, or preferably ~2300 if possible.

PhilR.

[NemesisHunter]

Ah ok thx Phil, that helps a lot. I'll fetch a pack of nimH batteries later this afternoon. Are the batteries consumed even when the camera is connected to a pc? Usually other digital cameras withdraw their power source from the pc through the USB connection.

[MrForgetable]

No P+S camera except Sony has that battery indicator. That's one thing I kinda miss from Sony, the InfoLithium battery.

[Bluedog]

You can get the Energizer AA NiMH 2500 mAh Batteries @ Wal Mart or Best Buy and they last a very long time in my A95. I also picked up one the Energizer 15 minute fast chargers and it's the best $30 you'll ever spend.

The only issue I have with the A95 is the Purple Fringe in high contrast situations but its not that bad really unless looking at something thats the actual size and you can get a FREE plug in for PS to help remove it for end results.