Looking to upgrade our point-and-shoot

[jaydee]

What we have/use now:
+ Motorola Droid for me - 5MP, no zoom, w/flash.
+ HTC Droid Eris for her - 5MP, no zoom, no flash
+ A trusty, but dated Canon PowerShot A520 - 5MP, 4x optical, obviously flash

Honestly, we'll still probably take 75% of our photos with our camera's no matter what we buy. It's just so convenient, we have it with us all the time, can take a photo and email it to friends within 10 seconds no matter where we are.

What stuff we print, is on a Canon MP610 printer.

Reason we want to upgrade:
Primarily, we want more zoom, good size screen and image stabilization. More MP's are nice, but we don't print huge photos, so that's really not a big deal. Smaller is better.

What are we going to use it for
We just want something that turns on and works. Neither of us our interested in playing with a bunch of settings. Going to Spain in a few weeks, so we'd like to use it there for sightseeing. Having a kid (our first), in the winter, so looking for something to take those photo's. Also like to take some video's, don't have a concept of how much we'll actually use the video. Same thing with HDMI, we do have a 32" 1080p TV w/HDMI, but it's hard to tell if we'd actually use it to view photo's right off the camera. Probably be more inclined to use the HDMI out at my parents house?

Timeframe
Need it in our hands by July 24th.


What I think I have it narrowed down to is the Canon Powershot SX120 and the SX200. We were at some friends house yesterday and my wife saw her friends SX120 and LOVED it and said she wanted it. I'm willing to go for it, but after a little bit of research, I see that the SX200 is a similar, little older model, but has better specs (for a price). The both have sufficient zoom and the optical stabilization, so that's all good.

SX120
~$180
10MP, 10x optical
slightly bigger
AA battery's
36-360mm focal
640x480 video


SX200
~$250
12MP, 12x optical
smaller
rechargeable Li-on battery pack (this is a pro, right?)
28-336mm focal
1280x720 video
mini-HDMI

What do you guys think? Am I missing anything big in this comparison between these two cameras? Should I be looking at anything else? $250 would be the absolute top dollar price I could pay. Less would be wonderful

 

[jaydee]

46 views and no opinions??

 

[ElFenix]

all those views might be search spiders. google finds things amazingly quickly.

i was going to suggest a travel zoom type camera. and you've already found them. the sx 200 is probably the best bet between the two. it's also probably a bit better camera from an IQ standpoint than the sx 210 going by the dpreview roundups.

the Casio EX-FH100 just won the dpreview travel zoom roundup
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/Q210grouptravelzoom/page24.asp

 

[jaydee]

Casio beat out Canon, Olympus and Nikon? Hmmm...

Well, I just bought the SX200 (w/free 4GB SD card) off buydig for $249 (free shipping, no tax). For $70 more, I think the 28mm lens, HDMI and HD video's will be worth it. Lighter, more stylish, has a cleaner look. The back controls more closely resemble our Canon A520, so I think she'll like it better. I'll give my impressions when it comes in mid next week.

 

[OulOat]

Casio beat out Canon, Olympus and Nikon? Hmmm...

What's surprising is that Panasonic didn't win. Panasonic invented the travel zoom camera with their TZ-1. Still, I like how they incorporated GPS into the camera. I travel a lot, and GPS would be so helpful in keeping track of the trip.

I see you bought the Canon. Let us know how you like it.

 

[jaydee]

What's surprising is that Panasonic didn't win. Panasonic invented the travel zoom camera with their TZ-1. Still, I like how they incorporated GPS into the camera. I travel a lot, and GPS would be so helpful in keeping track of the trip.

I see you bought the Canon. Let us know how you like it.

I really wanted to stay consistent with what we're used to. Plus we have a Canon printer, so they should would work well together. I haven't done a ton of research lately, but I did about 10 years ago and know that the Powershot A370 was the most revered point-and-shoot at the time. Stands to reason, that they are still probably towards the top, although I think the gap has tightened considerably. I've even seen good Kodak reviews now, and they were bottom of the barrel not too long ago.

It'll be my first experience with the proprietary rechargeable battery, not sure if I'll like it or not. I think I will though, the AA's I get never seem to last as long as advertised, even the high capacity NiMH ones.

 

[ElFenix]

I really wanted to stay consistent with what we're used to. Plus we have a Canon printer, so they should would work well together. I haven't done a ton of research lately, but I did about 10 years ago and know that the Powershot A370 was the most revered point-and-shoot at the time. Stands to reason, that they are still probably towards the top, although I think the gap has tightened considerably. I've even seen good Kodak reviews now, and they were bottom of the barrel not too long ago.

It'll be my first experience with the proprietary rechargeable battery, not sure if I'll like it or not. I think I will though, the AA's I get never seem to last as long as advertised, even the high capacity NiMH ones.

even if you're printing directly from the camera it wouldn't matter. if you import the pictures into picasa or some other editor beforehand it really wouldn't matter.

 

[hackmole]

Well, in reviews, the sx200, xs210 has not done as well as the Panasonic zs7 that has 16x telephoto and 25mm wide angle plus fabulous on the hidef videos and that Panasonic is really the hotest around at the moment. I've seen comparison photos between these cameras and the Panasonic has sharper images. I would also definately rate Casio's better than Canons. I think one I saw last year weighed 3.5 ounces, light as a feather. Great to carry around but not that good with telephoto. Only about 3 or 4x.

What printer you use makes no difference to the camera.

Buy the panasonic, take comparison photos and then return the one whose images are not as good.

 

[jaydee]

Thanks for the comments guys. The SX200IS is ordered and on it's way. The Panasonic could very well be better, but image quality is secondary here to familiarity (happy wife = happy life ) and price. We don't do anything crazy, probably wouldn't even notice the difference in quality.

That said, what's the deal with SDHC cards? I've got a 4GB freebie coming with it, but I assume it's a class 4. Would there be a big difference in moving up to a class 6 or class 10 card? Is it just mass transferring files to a computer, or is it shot-to-shot speed as well? I'm not going to spend another dime on it, but her birthday is coming up and I can nudge family towards something like this ADATA 8GB Class 10 for $18 shipped http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820211180) Any difference in brands: Kingston, AData, Transcend, Patriot?

Thanks!

 

[OulOat]

That said, what's the deal with SDHC cards? I've got a 4GB freebie coming with it, but I assume it's a class 4. Would there be a big difference in moving up to a class 6 or class 10 card? Is it just mass transferring files to a computer, or is it shot-to-shot speed as well? I'm not going to spend another dime on it, but her birthday is coming up and I can nudge family towards something like this ADATA 8GB Class 10 for $18 shipped http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820211180) Any difference in brands: Kingston, AData, Transcend, Patriot?

Thanks!

I recommend saving your money. Technically, there is a difference in speed. Realistically, unless you are shooting continuously, you won't notice the difference.

A note on the size of the card. 4 gigs is plenty big. It can hold a thousand plus jpegs easily. Even video won't be problem unless you are shooting a movie. Just make a habit of dumping the card regularly; good habit anyways, in case something happens to the camera.

 

[jaydee]

Thanks for the input guys. We recieved the camera on Saturday and took it to a wedding that day and a Civil War re-enactment the next day. Real easy to use, pretty small for a 12x zoom, takes GREAT pictures (haven't printed any out yet, but they look awesome on the computer). With the 12x zoom, she was really able to get pictures close to the battlefield, and with the 12MP, able to zoom in even more on the computer to see faces. Still getting use to the settings, we tried landscape mode for some sunset shots, but for some reason the auto settings seemed to work better. Love the face detection and image stabilization. Haven't tried the video yet and it didn't come with a mini-HDMI cable, so we'll have to pick one up to try the TV output (should have came with the camera IMO).

So we're pretty happy. The 4GB SD card is actually a class 2, so it's a tad slow, but we'll stick with it until it becomes bothersome. My wife doesn't even want a case, she uses ankle-socks. Protects against scratches but not drops. The big thing though, she match the color of the case with her outfit easily... She does wish the wrist-strap had a slider on it to change the size of the loop to fit her wrist without falling off. That's about the only complaint thus far about the camera itself. So far I give it high marks.

 

[Muse]

She does wish the wrist-strap had a slider on it to change the size of the loop to fit her wrist without falling off. That's about the only complaint thus far about the camera itself. So far I give it high marks.

I just put a an overhand knot in the wrist strap on mine, feels more secure, not really harder to slide on and take off.