help me pick a new digital camera

[siberiankiss]

i currently have a canon powershot S30, but i'm looking for something smaller and with a higher resolution. so far i've narrowed it down to these two:

the canon S500

and the sony DSC-T1

both are 5 mp, and pretty small. i was just wondering if any of you guys have experience as to which would be a better camera overall, and just opinions in general.

also, if you have other suggestions, feel free to give em. thanks.

 

[element.8]

judging by this thread, the cannon powershot s20 is pretty damn good.





i'd go with the sony. wasn't a fan of the small powershots. the canon rebel's are nice, but the powershots are kinda janky, personally.

i like the sony dsc-p100 more, btw. better body construction, seems to have some better shutter and iris features, too.

 

[siberiankiss]

judging by this thread, the cannon powershot s20 is pretty damn good.





i'd go with the sony. wasn't a fan of the small powershots. the canon rebel's are nice, but the powershots are kinda janky, personally.

i like the sony dsc-p100 more, btw. better body construction, seems to have some better shutter and iris features, too.

haha! yeah...the S20 can even capture the yeti!

i had also been looking at the DSC-P150 that's about to come out. Same as the P100, but it's 7.2 mp, for the same price as the T1. i looked at one in the store today, and just not completely sure about how much i liked the style of it. i'll take that one into consideration too though...

 

[Newf]

as my only camera, I wouldn't get something this small

Still would get the Canon. Better lenses then everyone else most times. But I have no personal experience with these two guys. Used a digital elsh, older one, a few times, but it's too small. Hard to take really steady shots with a small camera. Besides, everything is just small. Buttons, screen etc.

Get something with a real lens on it.

 

[jersey_emt]

I always prefer Canon...my Digital Rebel is awesome

But yeah, get a smaller camera...and you will probably find out that your photos will come out worse. It is damn near impossible to hold a very small camera steady enough for a good photo.

 

[Micah]

I have a friend with that Sony, works good but odd results in low light shooting. His words - not mine. He's almost returned it twice but still likes it enough to keep it. He's also working 3 jobs - one of which is at best buy - so money really isn't an issue, neither is returning an item.

 

[Newf]

in low light, a camera has to be perfectly still. Tripod is best.

Smaller camera = harder to hold = blurrier night pics

makes sense.

 

[siberiankiss]

i know that a bigger camera would be better, but i really want something small that i can take with me everywhere i go. one of these days i'd like to get one of the ridiculously nice professional type digital cameras. but for now, i just want something to play around with.

as far as the low lighting situations, i already have that problem with my current camera, so i know these will be the same way. one thing that was turning me away from the sony is the fact that it doesn't have a way to put it on a tripod.

 

[Newf]

the sony uses sony stick. The canon uses compact flash. What does your existing camera use? compact flash I'm guessing.

No brainer to me. Canon all the way.

I would love to have a small camera like this to take everywhere as well. I know your point. My canon is a bit clunky ot take everywhere, so there are times I see something and I'm like...damn, wish I had the camera. That is what these little elphs are great for. Hiking and s*** too.

good luck

 

[siberiankiss]

the sony uses sony stick. The canon uses compact flash. What does your existing camera use? compact flash I'm guessing.

No brainer to me. Canon all the way.

I would love to have a small camera like this to take everywhere as well. I know your point. My canon is a bit clunky ot take everywhere, so there are times I see something and I'm like...damn, wish I had the camera. That is what these little elphs are great for. Hiking and s*** too.

good luck

you are correct that my current camera uses the compact flash, so yet another plus of the canon. those special little memory sticks for the sony are mighty expensive...

 

[ghetto waggon]

I say don't go for the sony. As you said, they are fairly monopolized in terms of you needing to use sony equipment. The T1 doesn't take that hot of pictures, and does not have a mount for a tripod (which you may find essential with a slow responding compact camera.

The other thing you want to look for is Highest possible OPTICAL zoom. This is the amount of zoom before it hits any internals of the camera (what the glass itself is seeing). Any digital zoom is going to reduce the overall quality by 1/4 each step you zoom in, thus basically not allowing you to print anything bigger than a 4x6 photo, at best. I simply turn off my digital zoom.

With that I have a minolta dImage xt. It takes pretty good pictures, but its a step down in terms of resolution that you were looking at. Attached is a quick shot I took on a cruise last week.