Canon vs. Sony Cameras

[wacki]

I just got a Canon A80 digital camera, thank to the unanimous advice from this forum. However many of my family members say that the Sony DCS-P10 is the same price and is 5 Megapixels vs. A80's 4 Megapixels. Also the Canon uses 4 AA batteries which makes it big and heavy vs. Sony's Lithium. The Sony also seems to have alot of features that the A80 doesn't. Everyone at this forum seems to agree that the A80 is the way to go, yet the Sony is lighter, smaller and has more features. Why then, do so many other people recommend the A80? Also, what tests can I do, since I have access to both cameras, to prove to my family members that the 4 megapixel Canon A80 is better than the similarly priced 5 megapixel Sony DSC-P90?

Will post results in this thread if you wish.

-- thanks,
wacki

 

[0roo0roo]

sony mem stick is a huge strike against it. i will never buy sony. any price difference will be obliterated once sony rapes you on various proprietary memory/battery and other assorted accessory prices. do not be decieved.

 

[Nocturnal]

Trust me your A80 is ten times better than the P-10. If you're gonna go Sony go with the new 828 or the 717. Do not bother with the P-10. It is not as great as your A80 at all even if it's one mega pixel less than the Sony.

 

[Rhombuss]

The only problem that I have personally with Sony is that they force you to use a lot of proprietary technology that only their hardware supports. Memory Stick is one of them - whereas Compact Flash is much more widely supported and cheaper to purchase. Again, it's definitely not a bad thing that your A80 uses AA batteries. I try to get cameras with standard battery types almost exclusively now, because if your lithium-ion battery dies, it'll cost you an arm and a leg just to replace it.

 

[Macro2]

If you want a lot of MP for the buck get a Kodak.

 

[ndee]

mpixel isn't the most important thing. I'd rather have 4mpixel from Canon then 5 mpixel from Sony. Canon pwwwwns j00

 

[arsbanned]

The AA batteries are an advantage, IMO. Also, the digital cam reivew Sites all recommend AA, since you can use rechargeables and have a spare set with you if you're out in the field. The propriatary memory stick stuff is a disadvantage.
As others here have noted, high pixel count !=better camera.
Stick with the Canon. It's a better cam all the way around. Get some rechareable batteries and a big CF card, a CF card reader, and you're good to go for a couple years.

 

[Dug]

Does either do well on low light indoor scenes?

 

[Nocturnal]

The new 828 actually takes not only Sony's proprietary memory stick but also Compact Flash!!!

 

[RanDum72]

Sony actually has very good CCD technology. DPReview rates the 717 as one of the highest in terms of low noise, and overall picture quality (and better than its Canon counterparts in its class, including the G series). The Memory stick is a sore spot, but tnow there are aftermarket brands making Memory sticks so prices shouldn't be too bad..although CF is still the best in terms of MB/dollar. Canon usually makes well-rounded cameras that are easy to operate and has very good picture quality.

 

[wacki]

Ya, you guys are right. I just compared pictures of the 5 megapixel Sony P10 vs the Canon A80 and the canon was much sharper. I don't understand how a 5 megapixel camera doesn't seem to come close to a 4 megapixel camera when it comes to image quality, but I saw what I saw. If anyone of you guys out there have an A80 and a P10 take a picture of a open book/magazine and then try to read it. It's crazy the amount of difference there is. What other specs can you look at besides megapixels, because the megapixel stats seem to be a bit decieving.

 

[oldfart]

I HAD an A80 and a P10. I liked the A80 better. Two different cameras really. The P10 is a shirt pocket sized camera and the A80 is not. If you want a shirt pocket Canon, look at the S400. The Sony felt like a Playskool toy. Did not like like the proprietary and SLOW MS and the proprietary battery. The little door to access the port for charging it was very flimsy. Just didn't like the ergonomics of the P10 at all. The A80 was nicer in that respect. Both took decent shots. AA and CF memory on the A80 is the way to go. The A80 also has more settings available via the thumbwheel, where the Sony needs more LCD/button mashing to change things.

The issue I had with both of them is red eye problems in indoor flash shots. The A80 was the worst of the two, but neither were acceptable to me. The small cameras have this issue due to how close together the lens and flash are.

I'm looking at a little bit of a larger camera now, the Olympus C4000Z. A friend has one and the red eye performance is night and day better than either of the other two. Its a little bigger, but it is a trade off I am willing to make.

it boils down to what do you need? Tiny shirt pocket size? Big zoom? Long battery life? Good indoor flash/redeye performance? Different cameras for different needs.

Megapixel size is not everything. In fact, its not all that important after a point. A 3 MP camera has enough pixels for a good quality 8x10 print. 4 Mp will do a nice 11x14. 5 MP is really not needed in the vast majority of cases unless you are doing some big cropping and need to preserve your pixel count for printing.

Jpeg compression is an overlooked subject. Canon gives you 3 levels that can be used at any resolution. Kodak and often Fuji only allow a high level of compression which is not good for image quality.