My wife has requested a new digital camera for Christmas. So, I am looking for recommendations for a reasonably priced new point and shoot camera that will not only take good family type photos (inlcuding kids involved in sporting activities), but, also take decent photos of my models and dioramas.

Any recommendations are greatly appreciated.

Keith

The problem with a point and shoot for action such as sports is they are slow. The price of a point and shoot is much more in line with what people are willing to spend for a digital. Resolution for a point and shoot is just a high as today’s DSLR cameras.

A DSLR is faster than a point and shoot and can get great action shots. But, they cost a good deal more.

Both will do great at portraits and taking pictures of your models.

My primary camera is a Nikon D80. I use mine for everyting, action, scenery, and for the reviews I do on site.

My wife uses a Kodak Easy Share. Both take great photos. But her camera is slow on shutter speed and not all that great at action.

Mine is great for action. Her’s is 8megapixel, mine is 10.2 mp. Plus I can change lenses with mine, she is restricted with hers. Mine cost $1200 for the package I have, hers $300.

Nikon does make a lower priced SLR, the D40, if I recall $400-$600 for the camera and lenses.

Wal-Mart and Sams are cheaper than a dedicated camera store. Ebay can have great prices, but serivce from big sellers is rotten.

I hope that helps out some.

If your not need brand new get a Sony F-717 its my fav. and I have several but its the one I prefer but I dont think they are made anymore do everything and simple to download and use. I would love an SLR digital but that is out of my league for now anyway.

You want to go with a good quality camera . I used have a Kodak and it was fine for taking photo's of people , but when it came to my models . That was a different story altogether .
I now have a Fujifilm Finepix s700 . With ten times optical zoom . I'm very happy with the results . I still learning things about it . You can a lot with it !

Everyone has made great suggestions . Speak to people at camera shops and tell them exactly what you want to use the camera for and what they have in your price range .

Keep in mind that it does not matter how many megapixels you have in a point and shoot,.. it's the same size sensor that was used in the older 3 to 4 MP point and shoot cameras. All that the extra MP will give you is greater amounts of noise, so no,... the resolution quality will always be limited by the sensor size, not the MP's.

Frank

Hi Keith,

While I am no expert, I do work for the largest Phototography company in Las Vegas. We do everything from shooting pictures to selling all manner of equipment to accomplish the deed. From what I have heard and read the Cannon AS 590, an 8 Megapixel point and shoot is an excellent value for the buck. You can check out reviews on PC World and CNET and compare prices, I have seen it for as low as $180. The learning curve isn't really too steep and it uses SD cards which are not that expensive and pretty common most places. If your gal has had any experience with digital cameras she shouldn't have a problem picking up on the features of the camerea.

While DSLR's are great stuff as far as features, lens switching, and regulation of various situations one may find when shooting, they do require that one has a pretty good understanding of photography in general as well as study of just what the camera is capable of before you can take advantage of those options. In other words the learning curve is pretty steep and you have to dedicate considerable time and effort to figuring out a lot of things. The little Cannon is just that, point and shoot.

I'd go with a Canon myself. The point and shoot types work great in any environment and are very reasonably priced. I have always had a Canon since I can remember and plan on buying a D5 within the month.

Hello:

I used to use a Canon Powershot A410 for about 3-4 years since I was in College and I spend my money in other stuff.....anyway, it end up being an excelent camera, really sturdy and reliable and with the unique feature of SUPERMACRO, which was excelent for taking pics of small details, like the moustache in a figuere???hhahaha

Anyway, several years after that I have now a Nikkon D3 which is quite a monster in all means, but I do not use it for modelling phothography.

I currently use my wife Canon SX100 IS, which I bought for her about 2 months ago, the price in Best Buy was $245, honestly my wife loves that camera, superb zoom, easy to take pictures in Auto mode, wide screen to see the pictures, etc.......On the other side, it has several manual options that you can control, like the ISO, shutter speed, lens aperture, flash intensity regulation,white balance, etc, etc, all of which might be really a step up in taking pictures of your kits.

Hope this helps.

Mirko

Thanks for all the information. Have been researching on Amazon and it looks like I will need to pay a visit to Best Buy or Circuit City, etc. to check them out in person.

Keith

Hi
I use a Canon S2 IS Powershot. Bought it earlier in the year so I could start taking pictures to add to my posts etc. Have been very happy with the results . We bought this as it was small enough for my wife to be able to use comfortably for general photography but still has all the close up Macro & super Macro ( zero cm's focus) for me & my models. We also do American Civil War reenactments & it's small enough to hide in my wife's bread basket.
Trouble is we've taken so many picture's which do we get printed.
So I would say go with a Canon. You dont need massive Digital zoom or Mega Pixels to get very good results.

I don't know where you got this idea from but it is totally wrong. I realise you mention point-and-shoot but, I bleive, the following still applies.

Sensors do differ in size with some of the latest DSLRs (Digital Single Lens Reflex) having sensors the same size as a 35mm film frame.

Another factor is the pixel size. These have been getting smaller which is why the megapixel capacity of cameras is increasing. One of the latest Canon DSLRs has a 21mp sensor.

The higher the pixel count the greater your ability to crop and edit your photos. I have used my 8mp Olympus Mu810 to take photos of our club's members' models and the ability to crop the photos is a great advantage. You can see the results here... http://furnessscalemodellers.fotopic.net/

For more info on sensor size, and its relevance, here... http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/digital-camera-sensor-size.htm

I am by no means an expert, on digital cameras, but I felt I had to correct your wrong statements.

I recently, after a lot of research, bought a panosonic DMC-T25 Luminix, and am very happy with it.

10x optical zoom

wide angle too (rare feature)

very good picture quality

good low light performance

takes pretty good video too

basically the best all rounder i could find that fit my specific needs (the wide angle was a big selling point though)

Ask a question and get 10 different answers. He is probably more confused now than before!

hi! i'm using a Canon Powershot S3IS 6.0 megapixel. pretty decent cam. good thing about it is the Macro and Supermacro mode (0 cm) for taking close up shots of my builds

I recently bought the Nixon D40 SLR and would highly recommed this camera ,the price can be as low as £250 in certain outlets . The camera is 6mp but has more useful extras than more expensive cameras ,its described as the ideal camera for the amatuer it comes with a15-55mm lens , this gives you a wide angle lens to start with , lenses are changeable , and finally and most important is if I can use this camera and get great results anyone can ,I would say check this one out

Mistermagoo