best bang for buck in P&S?

[Falloutboy]

would love a dslr, but I don't think the other half would find it easy to use, and she is the one that wants a camera more than me so figure I should stick to a P&S. would like to spend 200-300 what would be the best bang for the buck in that range. size isn't a major concern, but good low light and overall picture quality is. I was looking at a p300 or maybe stretching my budget for a s95 (hoping they will show up on that canon exchange soonish, I have a broken canon camera for that)

 

[abaez]

s95

 

[Falloutboy]

any other options I man I know the 295 is great but its at the very top of my price range, is there something in the lower end thats close?

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

With P&S, I always figured that you get what you pay for. You might as well go look at them and try them out in store and decide that way.

If you can afford DSLR ($450 ish), I'd do it though. They are not any harder to use but you get much better photographs out of them. What I am saying is that DSLRs still have auto focus and an automatic flash just like P&S.

 

[Munky]

The Nikon p300 is a good cheaper alternative to the s95, and it has some advantages like a better screen and better video capabilities.

 

[JACKHAMMER]

Sony NEX? They can be had on clearance for around your range.

 

[KingerXI]

A DSLR can be just as easy as a P&S. Put it in Program mode and then Point and shoot. There is nothing else you need to do.

I just got lucky... trolled my local C-list and found a Nikon D40 with an 18-55mm lens, two batteries, a nice 8GB Sandisk Ultra, the manual, etc. for $275. It only had 6,700 actuations and is in perfect shape. I bought it for my mother-in-law who has never had a DSLR. I made sure all the settings were right (KenRockwell.com helps make this easy), put it in Program mode, and all she has to do is pop the flash up when she needs it. Everything else is point-and-shoot. And it takes much better photos than a true P&S (except maybe the S95, and I still think the Nikon DSLR is superior).

Good luck.