P&S recommendation
- Thread starter jimnrose
- Start date
I'm trying to stay within $300 budget. The camera would be a general use including travel, (scenery, people) as well as tank shots. I understand shutter speed, low aperature, white balancing and macro mode ar important plus I would like a high optical zoom. I'm told Canon has the highest puality lenses. Jim
IPT
Active member
I just bought one. I think it was about $400. I opted for the Canon S90. It was one of the few that had RAW as an option. It also bracketed shots, has a great sensor. It is the same as, or as good as the G series, but it came in a smaller package (body size wise). I would have liked more optical zoom but there is just not one camera that has it all (small, RAW, low noise, wide angle, and good tele). It also (if I remember right) has an F2.9 aperature which is great for indoors.
I am real happy with the quality of the images this camera takes. It is also small so it comes with me more of the time on mtn bike rides etc. If I want a lot of zoom I grab the DSLR.
I am real happy with the quality of the images this camera takes. It is also small so it comes with me more of the time on mtn bike rides etc. If I want a lot of zoom I grab the DSLR.
Jim,
What you'll discover as you keep looking is that aquarium photography is actually pretty challenging. The color temperature of the lights is well above what the camera maker is expecting you to encounter. That's the reason why folks are recommending a camera that shoots in RAW format. It's an unprocessed file that you "develop" using software on your computer. During that development process you are able to adjust the color temperature (white balance) of your lights, giving you a more realistic shot. Most "pocket" cameras just don't do very well at that task.
It's above your price range but I almost always recommend the Canon G11 (or G10 if you can find it). It's fairly small, supports RAW and can be operated in full manual exposure.
It's perfectly fine to opt for a smaller camera, you just need to accept that it might not perform very well for aquarium use.
Cheers
What you'll discover as you keep looking is that aquarium photography is actually pretty challenging. The color temperature of the lights is well above what the camera maker is expecting you to encounter. That's the reason why folks are recommending a camera that shoots in RAW format. It's an unprocessed file that you "develop" using software on your computer. During that development process you are able to adjust the color temperature (white balance) of your lights, giving you a more realistic shot. Most "pocket" cameras just don't do very well at that task.
It's above your price range but I almost always recommend the Canon G11 (or G10 if you can find it). It's fairly small, supports RAW and can be operated in full manual exposure.
It's perfectly fine to opt for a smaller camera, you just need to accept that it might not perform very well for aquarium use.
Cheers
IPT
Active member
I think if you look around, a lot of people compare the S90 to the "G" series regarding the sensor and the quality of the images it produces. Doug is right, the G series is probably the best you can get in the "P&S" range. For me it was just a little too big in size.
I'm know there are differences like I think the "G" series has more zoom, but for me it wasn't worth the increase in size. I have DSLR's for that. For me, I wanted something small, that shot RAW, and didn't have the noise issues a lot of other P&S cameras have. If you don't have a DSLR, don't mind a slightly bigger camera, and want the most control (thought the S90 has manual as well as exposure compensations so it's pretty capable to override and get what you want out of it) and quality you can have in a P&S the G series is hard too beat.
FWIW - do it right the first time. The upgrade game cost me lots of money in the past. In the end it costs more to do it twice than just shelling out and doing it right the first time.
I'm know there are differences like I think the "G" series has more zoom, but for me it wasn't worth the increase in size. I have DSLR's for that. For me, I wanted something small, that shot RAW, and didn't have the noise issues a lot of other P&S cameras have. If you don't have a DSLR, don't mind a slightly bigger camera, and want the most control (thought the S90 has manual as well as exposure compensations so it's pretty capable to override and get what you want out of it) and quality you can have in a P&S the G series is hard too beat.
FWIW - do it right the first time. The upgrade game cost me lots of money in the past. In the end it costs more to do it twice than just shelling out and doing it right the first time.
HI Jim, dpreview.com just posted their "compact travel zoom camera review" recently. 12 different cameras were included in the review. http://dpreview.com/reviews/Q210grouptravelzoom/
mds004, the Canon 210 IS is on the list & it is top on mine. Problem is I'm told I need the Raw mode but my daughter (who is a photographer but no experience with aquarium shots) says the white balance featgure is adequate and doesn't require expensive software support. If this is tru then the SX 210 being smaller than the S90 has bettter optical zoom (14x vs 3.8x).
Thaks for sendng me the link, Jim
Thaks for sendng me the link, Jim
According to dpreview, the sx210 "is a very capable camera let down by soft images and a fussy interface." They sound so-so about the camera. They picked the Casio FH100 and Samsung HZ35W as their winners. Check those two out. The Casio FH100 even shoots RAW and they say the videos shot with it rivals some DSLR's (their words, not mine).
Jesse
IPT
Active member
a quickie I grabbed today on the trail while mtn biking. She was all over me because I freaked out her chicks. I love this camera because it is small and I usually take it with me! This is about an 80% crop from the original with a tad of sharpening. Unfortuately it was set to only take JPGS. No idea why I left it like that. I think my g/f used it last time.
IPT
Active member
The thing that moved me away from the sx210 was the smaller pixel size (= more noisy images. Coming from good DSLRs it pains me looking at the noise from most P&S cameras. I got spoiled I guess fro higer end gear). The other thing was the s90 was wider on the wide angle range. This camera for me was more about getting a shot when I normally wouldn't have good gear, or didn't want to deal with the DSLR setup. You can't really make a view wider (unless you want to start stitching images together) but you can always crop an image to make it look more zoomed in. My images from this camera are usually emailled so I have a lot of lattitude to zoom in and still maintain quality. Agiain, if I were going for a good telephoto image that was going to be printed I'd go for my DSLR. However, I am confident the s90 probably would still get me a really nice 8x10 print. Who knows, maybe 11x14?
IPT, thanks again. I'm still on the fence. The www.dpreview.com site favors the Casio EX-FH100 & the Samasung HZ35W but didn't reviw the anon S90.
Jim
Jim
IPT
Active member
Yeah, don't know anything about those. They may be excellent cameras. I so love the benefits of RAW so if it didn't have that option I didn't look at it. That may be snobish of me due to the DSLR I am used to. There may be other adjustment methods that are just fine. I know my moms camera didn't have it and I struggled getting good color correction after using her camera to shoot at a public aquarium.
Was getting the mail and decided to take a quick shot of a wild rose. That's in the shade basically, ISO 800. Didn;t use any noise reduction (though it looks like a pass with noise ninja would do it well). Still, in the shade at high ISO for a P&S I can't complain.
Was getting the mail and decided to take a quick shot of a wild rose. That's in the shade basically, ISO 800. Didn;t use any noise reduction (though it looks like a pass with noise ninja would do it well). Still, in the shade at high ISO for a P&S I can't complain.
