please help us find our perfect little digital camera

[rockandroller]

Hey, it's time to go shopping for a new camera. :-)

And I really need advice!!

We've been getting by with the 8MP point and shoot in my Samsung i8910 phone for the last couple of years, and it's actually served us pretty well. But now we have a good idea of what we really want in a camera, and I'm hoping that this year's offerings are going to get us pretty close.

So here are features important to us:

1) good battery life
2) good low light performance (indoor shots without flash, etc)
3) ability to take continuous multiple shots (something like 10 fps would be ideal)
4) shoots 1020p video thats not too compressed (so we can grab frames later without too much blur)
5) fast startup time
6) portability - I'm used to something that can fit in a big pocket, the celphone camera was ideally handy...

What's NOT too important?
1) Megapixels - the vast majority of our pics end up being 1200 pixels for emailing, etc. We probably don't ever need more than 10mp, to be honest!! For us - 14, 16 mp is just wasting the battery and probably slowing down the shooting...

2) Zoom - a little is OK, but it's not critical for us

3) Manual controls - sometimes we need to adjust exposure, and maybe use spot metering, but we're mostly OK with "point and shoot on full auto"

So... what's a currently available camera that "does it all" - ideally a 10mp camera with great lens, great low-lux sensor, and continuous shoot capability, that can also do fullHD video?

And can such a beast comes in a very compact package with great battery life??
Perhaps even one of the new crop of "ruggedized" models ( water-proof, drop-resistant)??

Any and all advice to steer me towards (or away from!) certain models would be greatly appreciated

[Ads]

[Designer]

Do you like to edit photos? You didn't mention RAW capability, something that many on here insist upon.

[rockandroller]

Hmmm... that's a good question - we do a fair bit of Photoshop, but I suspect we're not so picky as to need RAW images.
(I need to read up on that, i gather its some kind of uncompressed format?)

We're actually getting by with frame captures from 720p video as long as its bright sunlight, but disappointed in our celphone cam's poor low-light performance in general (it must have a tiny sensor...)
The spec says it's good to 1600 iso but indoors the photos are crummy and grainy at best ( more like 200 if you ask me!)

The big 'upgrade' for us right now would be getting something with better aperture, and some kind of more high-res continuous shooting mode...

[scorpion_tyr]

You're looking for a camera with high ISO range and good performance at that range. You're also looking at a camera that's fast... 10fps is pretty fast. The Sony A77 is 12fps, but for ISO performance the best I've seen in a while is the Canon 5D Mk III. Now here's the really important question... what's your budget?

[MLeeK]

You are going to have problems in low light performance if you are talking night photos with no flash. It's a capability that only a few of the newest HIGH END DSLR's are really capable of at this point.
I suggest getting a second battery for any camera if you are concerned about battery life, that will cross that off your list and give you more leeway with your other wants and needs. Pretty much all of them have a decent to pretty long battery life now anyway, but not worrying about it will help.

You didn't mention your budget?
I know Lumix has some pretty impressive cameras with the controls you are seeking on the market now and they are doing a fantastic job of the better end of point and shoots. I actually purchased one for my son and daughter-in-law. I wanted to be able to pick it up and make it do what I want to do, so manual controls were something I wanted for them along with high image quality and an idiot proof mode for her. It had to have good video because my grand kids live a LONG way from me... So there are options in the Lumix line with the LX7 and the 3D1.

If I were purchasing for myself I'd look to Canon's GX1 or G12. If those are beyond your budget the S100 will fit the bill as well. You aren't going to find 10FPS in these or any where close to it.
Nikon's P7000 is really impressive as is the P7100, but I believe it has one stop less on the high end of ISO. Neither of them are going to come close on the FPS you are wanting. That's a hard bill to fit in a compact.

[rockandroller]

Thanks for all the feedback!

Our budget could be "up to $500" (preferably less!)

And I guess i'm thinking 10FPS for shots around 3mp (like what we'd get from HD video)...

So realistically, maybe 5 FPS for hi-res is something to shoot for?
(If the "burst" wasn't too limited ... I should say that something like a 10 to 15 second burst at 5-ish FPS would be splendid)

[scorpion_tyr]

I don't know about the movie modes... but I know you're not going to get 10fps for $500 or less unles you buy an old pro 35mm. $500 will get you 3-4fps new, and up to 6... maybe 7 used. If you're really not worried about megapixels look at a used Canon 40D. 6.3ish frames per second and 10 megapixels. You may be able to find one with a cheap kit lens for $500. For low light with no flash though, you're gonna need some seriously fast glass with that camera. We're talking f/1.8, 1.4, and 1.2... and for some of those last two you're looking at a few grand. Unfortunately to get a camera capable of everything you want it's gonna cost you $5,000+

[MLeeK]

Thanks for all the feedback!

Our budget could be "up to $500" (preferably less!)

And I guess i'm thinking 10FPS for shots around 3mp (like what we'd get from HD video)...

So realistically, maybe 5 FPS for hi-res is something to shoot for?
(If the "burst" wasn't too limited ... I should say that something like a 10 to 15 second burst at 5-ish FPS would be splendid)

For stills I think the max you are looking at is maybe 3 to 5 FPS.
A LOT of what limits you in a burst is the speed of your memory card. If the writing to the card can't keep up, then your burst is done for.

[3bayjunkie]

I don't know about the movie modes... but I know you're not going to get 10fps for $500 or less unles you buy an old pro 35mm. $500 will get you 3-4fps new, and up to 6... maybe 7 used. If you're really not worried about megapixels look at a used Canon 40D. 6.3ish frames per second and 10 megapixels. You may be able to find one with a cheap kit lens for $500. For low light with no flash though, you're gonna need some seriously fast glass with that camera. We're talking f/1.8, 1.4, and 1.2... and for some of those last two you're looking at a few grand. Unfortunately to get a camera capable of everything you want it's gonna cost you $5,000+

Do you realize they are looking for a point and shoot. You are talking about SLR. Attention to detail bud...

[rockandroller]

Yes, I guess i should clarify that... something 'pas' easy-to-use, as we're not too knowledgeable about 'real photography'.
Just looking to capture pics that are in focus and not too grainy :-)

[scorpion_tyr]

Do you realize they are looking for a point and shoot. You are talking about SLR. Attention to detail bud...

Oops...

[rockandroller]

I'm looking hard at the Canon PowerShot Elph 310 HS - for a lo-budget (nearly discontinued) camera it has got several good points for us:

1080p video
decent aperture (3.0)
relatively quick continuous hi-res shooting (3.5 FPS)

Anyone have experience with this particular unit ( or would recommend something better?)

I've found the 'best pics' (content if not quality) seem to come from grabbing frames out of video, so continuous shooting mode is extremely interesting...

[MLeeK]

What is the other end of the aperture? It'll say something like 3.0-5.6 and that's a big deal if you are using the zoom on it in low light.
What is the ISO rating?

[rockandroller]

For the Elph 310 the Manufacturer claims f/3.0 - f/5.9 and ISO 100/200/400/800/1600/3200 (in P mode).
I don't think we'll be using zoom much - we've got by without one for the last 3 years!

I'm also looking at this Olympus TG-820 waterproof camera (which claims it can shoot 8 mp @5fps in a burst up to 20 seconds) - pretty appealing continuous shooting, and it's also available locally.
(f/3.9 - 5.9, "6400" ISO)

My problem is I need to get something quick (travelling in a week, and the old cel is giving up the ghost!) so I'm limited to whatever I can find in the small town...

[MLeeK]

order via priority shipping thru an out of town outfit or pick up where you are traveling to.