Good P+S with manual controls

[TenaciousTins]

Hi everyone,

A friend of mine recently lost everything to a house fire. She is now looking to purchase a new camera....she is just your typical P+S camera person, she doesn't do it for "real", just does your snapshot every day type of thing. Due to her losing the house, her funds are limited with about $200 being her cap. I recommended the Canon Elph 110, but I don't like that there are no manual controls. The only thing I really want her to be able to control if she'd like is shutter speed as she likes to take pictures of her animals and such. She mentioned that her last camera (a really crappy one, albeit) did not get any motion pictures at all. I agree...her old one was horrible.

So what are your suggestions within that range? She's not looking for mindblowingly good, since it's just for pleasure, so don't worry about that. Just something functional that takes decent pictures.

 

[brunerww]

Hi TT - with a $200 budget, I recommend a used Sony HX9V for $189 from Amazon Warehouse Deals.

With a great auto mode (to include auto HDR), it also has full manual control and shoots 1080/60p video.

Still examples: Flickr: The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX9V Pool

Video example: [video=vimeo;25088008]http://vimeo.com/25088008[/video]

Hope this is helpful. All the best to your friend as she recovers from her loss,

Bill

 

[emh]

I'm going to play devil's advocate and caution against getting a camera with manual controls for someone not interested in photography (aside from snapshots for memories). If the objective is "decent pictures", there are other paths of likely greater success unless your friend has expressed a willingness or interest in learning more about the mechanics and intricacies.

We have a toddler, so for convenience, we carry a Canon P&S around a lot of times. If your friend's experience is anything like ours, your friend's inability to capture motion pictures is much more likely due to AF delay rather than shutter speed. Teaching her to pre-focus is a really simple fix and will probably go a long way towards solving the problem.

And if shutter speed really is the problem, most P&S cameras have a "sports mode" (or something of the sort) that'll keep shutter speeds fast. Suggest that -- again likely higher success rate than expecting manual shutter speed control from a casual shooter.

 

[BobSaget]

your subject's kind of an oxymoron.

 

[TenaciousTins]

Haha, yes it is.

My friend is very tech savvy and has wanted to learn the ins and outs of manual controls. She's ok with not having any, but I figured I'd ask around anyway...I will also be looking for myself in a while, so it was sort of a double purposed post. She would probably do quite well with photography if she had better controls of the camera...she takes pretty decent pictures already.

 

[Derrel]

This Canon SX50 just received a GLOWING review at The Luminous Landscape....it has a 50x zoom lens, and M.R. says he's comfortable with the output printed at up to 13x19 inches...he says this is the first superzoom that he's really comfortable with using...the equivalent range is 24mm to 1200mm in 35mm FOV terms...

Canon SX 50 Review

 

[nycphotography]

EBAY, used LX5 for around $200 to $225.

Great manual controls, good p&s, great IQ, shoots RAW files which can be processed, has a very highly regarded lens w/ wide aperture.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5: Digital Photography Review

 

[TenaciousTins]

Derrel, that looks like a fabulous camera!!!!

Thanks NYC, I forgot about the Lumix line! I got one last year and was fairly impressed by it...it had manual controls too...gave it to my sister for her to learn stuff on which is why I'm searching again.

 

[TwoRails]

Another vote for the Canon SX50! I have the SX40 and am simply in awe on how nice this camera is!! The SX50 has some nice features added to it, like being able to shoot in RAW, far shorter shutter lag, longer zoom, and more.

Here's a link to it:


Before Christmas I saw it as low as $379.00.