Digital Camera Recommendations

I'm hoping for some advice. I've got an upcoming european cruise next month and was considering getting a digital camera. The more research I do the more undecided I get. I'm looking for something with great pictures, quick startup, great battery life and preferably a nice zoom and something not too large. I wanted something small but the compact cameras dont have a large zoom. Here is what I was considering, the Sony W5, Sony W7, Nikon 5900, Nikon 7900, Sony H1, and Fuji F10.

Any thoughts since I would need a camera for great outdoor shots of the med and indoor shots on the ship.

Thanks!

Elyse

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of the sony product in general, and I especially don't like their proprietary memory card. It costs more per megabyte than other memory cards like compact flash which is my preference.

I do like Nikon products as well as Canon and Olympus. Of the cameras on your list I'd go with either of the Nikons. If I was to pick a camera that wasn't on your list, it would be the Canon S1-IS. It isn't a compact camera, but it is comfortable in my hands, has a 10X optical zoom with image stabilization, takes decent video, and is a great price.

If you haven't done so already, you could read camera reviews at:

http://www.steves-digicam.com and http://www.dpreview.com to help you select the camera that is right for you as there is no one "best camera" for everyone.

I just bought a Nikon Coolpix 5600 and I like it...It cost me around 270.00 at Sears

I agree. I have the Nikon Coolpix 5600 and love it. It takes great pictures. I bought mine at Best Buy for about $230

I have a Canon G5 - which has been replaced by the G8 - I do love it - the charger is dual voltage - which means I do not need an adpator in Europe - just the correct plug - it was a major factor for me - it has been to Europe twice - it may be a big large for yor taste - but I was close to getting an Olympus - they have models with great optical zoom - whatever you get - be aware that after you purchase it - there will be something better and cheaper on the market - that's the way the technology goes. Good luck

We have put a lot of mileage on our Nikon Coolpix 5700 since 2002 -- over 80,000 images, and we couldn't be more pleased. At the time we got it, it was sort of "state of the art" -- 5.0 megapixels and a BIG 8x optical zoom (backed up by an additional 4x digital zoom). If my camera were lost or stolen, I would probably try to find a refurbished 5700 to replace it. That being said, I have also heard some very positive words about the Coolpix 8800, which would boost me to 8.0 megapixels and 10x optical zoom for a lot less money than I spent on the 5700 when I purchased it.

Happy sailing!! We just returned from RCCL Brilliance of the Seas (7/23/05) -- 12-day Barcelona, Florence, Rome, Athens, et al [with an "extra" few days in Paris at the end] -- and now I have to decide what to post to the family's photo webpage (from 2,500+ images) before the new school year starts (in 8 days!! -- yikes!!)

Carl

Thanks for all the replies.

I am seriously considering the Nikon Coolpix. I know best buy has the 5600 in the stores but I've read great things about the 5900 so I have to look up what the difference is. Best buy only carries the 5600 and 7900. Can;t decide if it's worth to invest in the 7mp 7900.

Any problems with the shutter response time/lag with the Nikon?

One thing not to worry about too much...what brand you buy. You really won't find a bad camera on the market today in the middle price ranges. The most important considerations are feel, features, size, and battery...and of course whether or not the camera's range or abilities suit all your needs.

You will have to compromise a bit in one respect...you will not find a compact camera which is brilliant both outdoors and indoors...it will have a weak spot in one category. How weak is the bigger question.

I would add a camera to the consideration list for you - the Panasonic FZ5 is worth including in the list.

Speed isn't too much of an issue...but as far as shutter lag and shot-to-shot times, as well as autofocus speed, the Panasonic FZ5 and Sony H1 will be your fastest. The difference to the others is not major though.

For outdoor, the Panasonic FZ5 and Sony H1 both produce excellent color reproduction, decent sharpness, and good contrast, with minimal purple fringing from each. The Canon S2 IS is in the same league with most of the same features, but suffers from a bit more purple fringing - still, if you are a Canon fan, it will serve well (Canon has the most fans and is the most familiar brand name in cameras, so they'll always sell well even if they made a cardboard box with a pinhole in it!).

For indoor, the Fuji F10 will come to the forefront...with its ability to shoot at higher ISOs with little noise, it will easily outpace the others without flash or slow shutter. In fact, the Panasonic and Sony limit the ISO range to ISO800, and you won't want to use either one at that range as the noise and grain would completely obscure the details. The F10 meanwhile can shoot all the way to ISO1600 and deliver printable and usable shots.

If involving the flash, the Sony H1 has an extremely powerful built-in flash which would give it an edge over the FZ5 and F10. The more than 20 foot range, with excellent tonal balance, make it one of the better built in flashes. None of these cameras have a hotshoe for external flash.

For flexibility, the H1 and the FZ5 are, at least in my opinion, far better choices for your ONLY camera. If you are looking for a second cam, a pocketable fun cam, or a spontaneous-moment cam, then the smaller pocket units like the Nikon 5900, Sony W1, or Fuji F10 are better choices - the FZ5 nor H1 will fit in a pocket. BUT, the FZ5 and H1 are significantly smaller than an average prosumer or DSLR while still delivering an awesome optical zoom range of 36mm to 420mm! Compare that to the meager 3x optical zooms on the pocket cams you mention, which will give you 90-110mm maximum - the super-zooms can stretch 4 times farther optically, and BOTH provide image stabilization systems to steady those shots at full telephoto so you don't need a tripod. Especially on a cruise, where you often shoot from the deck or on a tour bus or train, that huge zoom will come in so handy.

When it comes to overall flexibility and portability, the new compact super-zooms are hard to beat. You still retain some manual control if you want to get more artistic, and both the FZ5 and H1 will accept accesory lenses which can be added to increase the optical zoom range even farther - from a wide angle of 26mm to a telephoto (with a 1.7x add-on lens) to an unbelievable 714mm!

The Sony seems to have just a touch better color delivery than the Panasonic, while the Panasonic has a touch less purple fringe than the Sony. Both are nearly the same in sharpness. The Panasonic is smaller and lighter than the Sony H1. The Sony uses AA rechargeable batteries while the Panasonic uses Lithium - the AAs are cheaper and can be replaced anytime on the go, but the lithiums will last longer on one charge, so that's a draw. The Sony has a much larger LCD, but it isn't any brighter in sunlight - more useful if you need the bigger LCD to see, or on indoor shots. Both have an electronic viewfinder for shooting in bright sun when the LCD is blown out by sunlight.

I would honestly recommend that you check out these super-zoom cams...they truly seem to be the best fit for someone looking for a single camera for all purposes...they compromise in some areas, but offer more overall flexibility combined with portability than any pocket cam or prosumer cam can.

Hope that helps!

We've owned 5 digital camera's over the years and I'll just post a few of my thoughts.

The first was an Olympus D340R 1.2 Megapixel camera. It is now a few years old and badly outdated by the newer models. It uses the old smart media cards which have gone the way of the dodo bird. Still, it took great shots, was easy to set up and learn and I STILL take it along and use it. Olympus remains one of the makes I'll look at when shopping for new digital camera's. Unfortunately, the newer Olympus camera's use Xd cards and they're a little more expensive at this time. Not as bad as they used to be but I'm still not seeing a lot of sales on them yet.

The next camera we bought is one of my least favorites of the bunch. So much so that we've given it to our daughter as I have no use for it. It was an hp photosmart 735 3.2 megapixel camera with 3 X optical zoom. While it took very nice pictures, the camera itself was very heavy, difficult to learn the best settings for different conditions and ate batteries like nobodys business. I don't even look towards the HP camera's anymore because of the poor experience with this one. It's maybe two or three years old at this point.

The replacement for my wife's HP was our favorite of the bunch, a Cannon S! IS 3.2 megapixel. This camera has a 10X optical zoom with image stablization. It is relatively easy to use but not the easiest of the camera's we have. It takes GREAT pictures in every situation we've put it in including night time, low light and even driving in the car. Everything has come out crisp and clean. Unfortunately, this model has been replaced with the newer S2 IS with 12 X optical zoom and it runs $474-499. A little more than I wanted to spend to replace my Nikon.

Speaking of Nikon, that was the camera I bought myself to replace my old Olympus camera. It's a Nikon Coolpix 3200 with 3X optical zoom. It is reasonably easy to use, fits easily in my pocket and does a nice job for most applications. However, it sucks with night time shots as most pictures blur badly if there is any movement at all and there ALWAYS seems to be some movement. It does not seem to be very sturdy either. At the moment it's in the shop because it just quit working. No warning, no rough handling, it just decided not to work. For a Nikon I was not very impressed either with the durablity or the limitations for getting shots in all conditions.

It's replacement has been a Kodax Z740. This was NOT my first choice but, I need to be economical and I wanted more than 3X zoom. This camera ran me $332 and, so far at least, I've been pleasantly surprised. It is lacking image stablization and that makes if VERY had to center a shot taken as maximum zoom The lens is quick and does a good job of capturing the shot without blurring but, without a tripod it's tough to center the shot properly. Ease of use is pretty amazing with this camera. It took me no time to be up and running with it and understanding which setting worked best under different lighting or situations. So far the pics I've taken have come out very clear but, I haven't had the opportunity to test it with a lot of night time shots. The few I've taken haven't been blurred but, I'm limited in what I can shot at home.

With the Kodax it's also very easy to turn the flash off on this camera as compared to all the others. There is simply a button on the top of the camera to push and you can change flash settings. All the others I've had to go into the menu screen. That takes time and sometimes you just don't have time to be messing around with that. The Nikon's museum setting ALWAYS blurred my pictures. So far, the Kodax has not.

I very nearly purchased a Fuji model and my uncle, who is a proffesional photographer, has a couple of Fuji's that he uses in hobby photography as well as at his studio. The only reason I went with the Kodax over the Fuji is that I didn't want to buy a bunch more media cards. Fuji uses Xd while Kodax uses SD. The Fuji was lower in price but, if I added in the cost of the new media cards, it would have been more expensive. I think the Fuji would have been just as nice or maybe nicer than the Kodax I bought but my needs were not that great and I didn't want to spend a couple hundered dollars replacing the media cards I already own.

Sony's problem IMO is the media stick. You can't use it with anything else so, if you ever decide to go with another brand, you get to start from scratch again. That seems like a waste to me.

I love my Fuji....the photos always turn out great and colorful. They always look a lot better than my father's Sony...even at 2 less Megapixils.

I have an "old" Fuji Finepix S602 zoom (3.2 mp) that still takes very good pictures up to and including 8x10. Next month Fuji is coming out with the S9000. It's going to be a little pricey at about $700 or $799, not sure but at least I'll be able to use the same memory cards and batteries. It takes AA batteries and compact flash and either xd or sd, not sure. It's a 9 megapixel with a 10.7 zoom (28-300mm). Don't need all that megapixel but the other features are sure attractive for me. I think it hits the market in September and I can't wait to see it.

Sony's problem IMO is the media stick. You can't use it with anything else so, if you ever decide to go with another brand, you get to start from scratch again. That seems like a waste to me.

Not defending Sony, since I think all of the manufacturers should just agree on one card format and all use it...but as far as the Memory Stick, you can actually use it for other things...just not for other brands of camera. The memory card issue can confront anyone switching brands, as you may be going from a camera that uses SD to a camera using CF...or XD to SD, or CF to MS...etc. It isn't just Sony users who end up having to switch to another card format (BTW, I have a Sony and a Canon digital camera, and Canon has recently switched most of their new cameras to SD cards...mine still uses CF cards. So even buying a new Canon camera, guess what I would have to do! - yep, buy all new memory cards).

Sony Memory Sticks can be used in many other Sony products, so if you happen to be an owner of or looking into owning something like a Playstation, Sony Ericcson phone, MD Walkman, or Sony TV, you'll be able to use the same MS cards. And you can purchase a $30 USB Flashdrive accesory for your MS card, which allows you to use the memory stick as a USB flash drive on any computer or any USB device. So they aren't all that useless! And currently, the latest HS models of MS Pro sticks are some of the fastest write-speeds on the market, making them a good option for larger megapixel cams which have to clear larger buffers faster to be ready to shoot the next shot...which is why the current Sony cams have such low lag and fast shot-to-shot times.

Personally, the least of my worries is the memory stick...I buy cameras based on how they look, feel, and perform, and how nice the shots are...so if a camera fits all those qualifications, I don't care what brand name is on it nor what type of memory card it takes...especially since all forms of memory cards are under $100 for 512MB nowadays.

Anyone have any thoughts on Olympus?

I just saw an Olympus Stylus 500 for a great price. I think I've narrowed it down to the Olympus, fuji F10 or Nikon 7900. I went to Ritz where the sales lady tried to convince me on the Canon Sd400 but I've heard that the battery life isnt very good . I am limiting myself to purchsing the camera at Best Buy since I have a few gifts cards from there so might as well use them! Unfortunately best buy doesnt carry the Nikon 5900. My only concern with the Olympus was it did not have a viewfinder, only the LCD screen. Will I be able to see taking pictures in the sun of the Med? Nikon has the viewfinder but I've read it's cumbersome to switch back and forth.. I think the Fuji F10 doenst have a viewfinder either. I was even considering one of the Casio ex slim cameras as well at one point.

I'm on my second Olympus. My first was a C-50 that I loved so much that when it was stolen (during a formal banquet no less), I replaced it with the C-60.

Lack of viewfinders on compacts is more than likely...so I wouldn't hold that as a big decision-maker. Most don't have them. If you really want a viewfinder option that is usable, you'll likely have to choose one of the larger mid-size models (there are a few compacts with a viewfinder that is a tiny glass hole in the camera, and doesn't serve much as a realistic view of what the camera will capture).

Anyone have any thoughts on Olympus?

 

I just saw an Olympus Stylus 500 for a great price. I think I've narrowed it down to the Olympus, fuji F10 or Nikon 7900. I went to Ritz where the sales lady tried to convince me on the Canon Sd400 but I've heard that the battery life isnt very good

Nothing wrong with Olympus...they have pretty good optics in most of their cameras. As far as the Stylus 500, the Downsides: 3.1 - 5.2 aperature is not very light sensitive, so this probably won't be a great indoor camera. xD cards are harder to find and more expensive. The camera doesn't appear to be super fast on startup or shot-to-shot. On the upside, it has a nice 2.5" LCD which is fairly high resolution, making it very sharp and detailed when using it to frame shots...of course it eats batteries faster. Olympus makes better cameras, including their excellent C7070 and 8080, which have excellent lenses...but the Stylus 500 is an average camera at best.

You're right on the Canon SD series...the batteries are fairly weak even without flash, and with flash, you'll burn through quickly. They are excellent cameras optically though, and nicely sized.

The 7900 Nikon is a big step-up in price from the Olympus 500...even on sale it will run $100 more. It is certainly a better camera, in terms of start-up speed, aperature range, shutter speed range, megapixels, and flash distance. You're paying more for it, so it should be better! The 5900 is the more direct competitor to the Olympus 500, and it is probably better too. The 5900 has the same aperature and shutter range as the 7900, in fact most of the same features...with the exception of the 5MP instead of 7MP. And believe it or not, the 5900 will get longer battery life out of the same lithium battery - 270 shot rating versus 220 shots for the 7900. The 5900 should last longer on battery than the Olympus too.

The Fuji F10 has alot going for it. F2.8 aperature, 1/2000 shutter speed, ISO80 - 1600 (the only non-DSLR on the market that high), big 2.5" LCD (though lower resolution than that of the Olympus), it shoots with a larger 1/1.7 sensor at 6MP (the Nikon has a close 1/1.8 sensor with 7MP, and the Olympus has a 1/2.5 sensor with 5MP), and it is very fast with almost no lag. Plus, it will crush the other compacts on the market in battery strength - rated at over 500 shots on a charge! Focus speed and accuracy seem to be excellent, and it does have a focus assist beam for low light focusing. The flash is average, but with the ability to use higher ISOs, the usable flash range can be extended up to 20 feet...which is pretty good. The downside would be the xD cards it uses, and the lack of any real manual controls if you wanted to get artistic...but for the price, it is a real winner and an amazingly versatile camera with that high ISO capability and great noise control.

I'd recommend the Fuji out of your three, for price, battery strength, and good outdoor/excellent indoor capabilities.

If you are serious about a camera, I suggest buying more than you need. It doesn't take long to out-do the abilities of a cheaper camera. I'll admit bias towards Nikon. I have a Nikon CP8700. The 8mp is overkill most of the time. What is more important is the clear, 8X zoom. Ability to use an external flash is also important. The built-in flash will always cause harsh reflections.

An external flash can eleminate the problem.

I have the kodak dx7590 and absolutely love it! Have had the cannon rebel for years and wanted a digital that was equally as nice. The kodak was by far my fav. for the money. The pics come out clear as a bell and it has a 10Xoptical zoom. I found the brand was not as important as the pixels and the optical zoom (not digital zoom). Anyway my sis spent twice as much money on the Nikon that they have and like my picture quality better. It is also so easy that the kids take great pics too!

To the OP: I am in the same boat as you and looking at pretty much the same things you are...

I think I have settled on the F10...I haven't heard 1 bad review on this camera, everyone has positive thoughts on it...Only thing, if it had a better zoom it would be perfect....but still I would go for that...