Need Help choosing between a few Cameras!!!

[Atomic081]

I just got back from a Diving trip to Roatan Honduras and loved every minute of it. Instead of buying a DSLR camera be for i went, i borrowed a Nikon D90 from a friend and I also have a Small Cannon SD1000 P&S. The picture quality of the DSLRs are amazing, but I ended up using my Cannon SD1000 P&S for most of the trip. I only used it because of the portability reason, it fits so easy in my pocket. I hated to be one of the "tourists" carrying around a HUGE camera and snapping pictures of everything I see. I felt like this the day I had the D90 out.

So now that I am home from vacation, I am again looking into cameras. This time I have narrowed my choices to some high end smaller cameras. I am looking at the Cannon G11 and Cannon s90. Obviously I want to take picture of my tank with this camera and also be able to have it for normal daily use. They both look like great cameras, but I don't know if its worth the money to upgrade. Obviously there will be a upgrade between the cameras, but as a amateur photographer, will I see a big difference? I am no photography master so I am asking the question here.

Is the Cannon S90 or G11 going to be a whole lot better for taking tank pictures than my older Cannon SD1000?

I am leaning toward the S90 only cause it so small and I don't see a huge margin of difference between it and the G11 other than the 100 more price on the G11.

Here are the specs of all 3 cameras

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Canon/canon_s90.asp

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Canon/canon_g11.asp

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Canon/canon_sd1000.asp

 

[gregr]

>>Is the Cannon S90 or G11 going to be a whole lot better for taking tank >>pictures than my older Cannon SD1000?

Hey I'll pop in here. The answer is yes. Usually it's not so easy to make that call but in this case yes. Much more creative control plus the newer sensors will be much higher quality. The lenses are much better than the one on the SD1000, especially on the G11 because it's goes wider and zooms in further (S90 is just wider). If you ever go diving again and want to use strobes you can with the G11 but not the others. You can use filters with the G11 but neither of the other cameras have threads on the front so you'd have to hold the filter with your free hand or rig some kind of filter holder in place. The S90 has a slightly bigger LCD than the G11 but the same number of pixels so slightly lower quality.
Those are the major things I see looking at the specs. Hope this helps.

 

[IPT]

I have the S90 and I am digging it. I do wish it had a little farther reach on the zoom end, but that was the price I was willing to pay for smaller size (than the G11). I love that this camera is small, but I can still handle it better than some of these that are like a credit card in size. For me this camera was for mtn_biking, just to throw in the pocket, or have in the car. Every now and then a killer photo op comes up and I wanted to be able to shoot RAW without having to lug around the DLSR.

If I am going out to "take pictures", than it's DLSR for me. I used to have an older Canon P&S but the sensor started to flake. I knew the S90 had a great sensor, relatively low noise (for a P&S) and RAW. Plus I like being able to have a pretty wide zoom for sweeping landscapes or indoors.

 

[Atomic081]

Thanks for the help!! IPT, do you have any pictures of your tank taken with the S90?

 

[Jacob D]

You may want to look into the 4/3 format, micro 4/3, and some of the digital rangefinder style cameras that are appearing in the last year. They are very compact, offer compact interchangeable lenses, and image quality comparable with DSLR's.