The SLR thread proves that there are some very camera savvy folks within this group but this is not SLR related so I'll start a new thread.

My 'what should I get my wife for Christmas?' question was abruptly answered when I dropped our camera on the weekend while taking pictures of her 1st year of real Christmas decorating in the new home. It still works but battery life has suddenly degraded to under 10 minutes and the optical viewfinder is now crooked by about 8 to 10 degrees. Picture how crazy that made me before I realized what was wrong!

I can't afford an SLR right now. Plus ours is mostly a snapshot lifestyle. It should travel well and should fit in a purse for for my wife. (My big pack has an SLR sized camera pouch on the side that I am itching to fill, but now is not the time and people look at you funny when you wear a backpack to a wedding.)

I haven't done any research on models yet but I am aware of most basic things to consider. Resolution, Optical zoom = good vs. digital zoom = bad, total memory and type, decent LCD screen, etc.

Mine are mostly outdoor pictures while my wife's are mostly vacations, our pets and friendly gatherings of all sorts.

We used very few features on our old. Macro mode makes for some interesting experiments. Red eye I can remove on the PC. Rarely used the video clip feature as it wasn't very good quality on the old, I don't believe I'd miss it and my wife never used it.

Just wondering if anyone has any advice for something around the 200 to 250 $ price range that still produces a nice picture for that price range. Can I expect decent reslts in this price range? I paid 250 for our old but it was a 50% off boxing day sale. It was a HP Photosmart of some model number, nothing special but worked well till it's recent accident. I could pay a bit more if there was a convincing argument in that direction. Any advice on what to look for outside the very basics I already mentioned, is also appreciated.

Some other considerations.

I have a bunch of SD memory cards for various things so being able to utilize them would be nice but not necessary.

I have a ton of rechargeable aa and aaa batteries so I'd prefer to be able to use these vs a self charging proprietary battery. That way, I'm rarely stuck without power and can get away with forgetting the power supply charger on a trip as I can always just break down and by more.


Thanks all who can help

I picked up the Canon SD700 in Feb. this year and it takes great pics and my wife likes it because it will fit in her pocket. I believe it was replaced by the SD750.

In my research it was determined that about 7 megapixels is about the best resolution the CCD chip will do with out getting too grainy from the point and shoot cameras or was it more do to with the lenses than the CCD chip? Anyway some of the reviews I read of the higher pixel cameras said they became very grainy especially indoor shots(we do about half indoor and half outdoor, or last camera was quite grainy indoors so I was determined to get a better indoor camera). This Canon takes the best indoor shots I have seen from a point and click camera. I was also looking at some of the higher ISO rated cameras(FUJI appeared to win in this area) and the reviews from users said that they were over rated so I went with the Canon.

The Canon takes great movies as well. The body of the SD series is metal and it uses SD cards.

I recently purchased the Canon SD750, easy to use, easy to carry, pictures are very good.

I'll have to agree that the Canon SD series is a very good line of Digital Cameras. I have the older versions currently, but they are still very good cameras.

The first one we owned was the SD200 or 250 and a friend of ours borrowed it and dropped it on a rock and cracked the display. It was cheaper to replace it, so she bought us the SD600.

I have the SD300 and I use it all the time for pics and vids and have no complaints about it at all.

I have a Canon S3 IS and still highly recommend it. It is a little larger than some but probably the best optics for the dollar.

Another vote for Canon. I've never been disappointed by their products. We have an OLD (SD330?) that still takes great pictures. It is gigantic by today's standards.

For what you're talking about, I think form factor and ease of use are HUGE considerations. Especially if it is for your wife.

I have a friend who swears by the Casio Exilim he bought a couple years ago. I trust the work they do at DP Review. Lots of good info there. Maybe too much

Murph, I know you're attached to your rechargeable batteries. But my experience with the Canon packs has been unbelievably good. One full charge lasts me several shooting sessions. Basically, I've never ran out of battery before I first ran out of CF space.

The Canon SD870 has image stabilization and a 3.8x optical wide angle zoom, which are nice enhanced features. Looks like it is about $300.

I think the Image stabilization feature is across the whole SD series now. My SD700 has it too.

Andrew, consider the Canon A710 .

Thanks, Jason. I did not know that about the IS.

The A series cameras are quite a bit larger form factor than the SD. That's not necessarily a bad thing, unless it keeps the user from, well, USING the thing.

The A series is viable for Murph as he stated he wanted to use his rechargeables and they really are not that big. I agree that the batteries for the SD series are great. I have the extra battery and charger and I have never been with out the camera in working condition. Those batteries seem to last about 1000 pics, exaggerating a little here, as I never take quite that many at any one time but over a few months we take 100-300 and I swap out the battery 'just in case'. I thnk I have only run out of battery once and the spare one was charged and ready to go.

Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Total consensus on the Canon name! I have never seen a web board in total agreement about anything before. EVER! I certainly know which brand to buy.

I am now more open to a proprietary battery. I hadn't realized they had improved so much. My only experience was an ultra compact digital of some sort that I used to take inspection pictures of Central Offices and the outside plant. It did about 20 pictures max if indoor with the flash before the flash switched off. Then about 20 to 30 more if you left the flash off.

In research last night, I came up with several of the same models you recommended, so that is encouraging. The only non-Canon I looked at was the Fiji Film FinePix F50fd or older 25 ver. that was said to have superior photo quality due to a larger sensor chip but I was soon swayed by the commonality of canon's reputation in reviews across so many of their models.

I found a page that does side by side comparisons so I think I'm ready to take the recommendations and make a decision.

THANKS GUYS! I have never had such an easy time narrowing things down. Availability may be the toughest thing I have to overcome, considering the time of year.

Side story if your bored enough to keep reading.....
I went into a minor panic as I started reading reviews of all these great cameras except that they all seemed to suck at higher ISO levels. After a bit more research into how ISO works, I realized that all digital cameras are weak at higher ISO levels and that it wasn't really a concern so much for our shooting habits and certainly wasn't worth doubling (or more) the price to get a moderate increase in this feature. I guess film still wins in some categories.

Shopping is only fun when you learn stuff before you buy, instead of after.

Well, Tuesdays being the day of totally irrelevant conference calls, I 'multi-tasked' to avoid boredom and did some more checking. I eliminated some on price and others because they didn't have Image Stabilization. I have naturally shaky hands (runs in the family) so every little bit helps.

When it came down to the remainders, the Powershot A series came out on top. Looking at the A710 IS and the A570 IS. Both are almost identical with the only big difference being a little more optical zoom on the 710. Both are priced between an average of $200 and $250 which is amazing considering they come highly recommended for picture quality in their class, have an unusual number of manual options, for its class, that I can play with but my wife can safely ignore AND you can even swap lenses to a couple of other options, which I will probably never do, but it's cool that you can do so for under $250.

Actually, on paper, these guys look better than some fo the $450 plus models I eliminated for price.


Thanks again for getting me rolling.

I know you asked for pocket cameras, but you also said you would prefer an SLR.

I bought the Olympus 510 for just under a grand last summer and just noticed that it’s for sale on Amazon for about half that. A disgustingly low price…..

It comes in two different kits. One with the 14-42 lens for $525
http://www.amazon.com/Olympus-Digital-St...97389252&sr=8-4

and the two lens kit that adds the 40 – 150 lens. This kit is going for $660. http://www.amazon.com/Olympus-Digital-St...97389252&sr=8-1

I’ve been having a lot of fun with this camera

Thanks Drew.

I'm afraid to even open the link in case the sale is that good. I personally would like to go SLR but I have to remember that this gift is for my wife who is the primary picture taker. It really needs to suit her more than me.

I think the Canon A series will be an excellent choice, Murph.

You can't go wrong with either the A series or the SD series. The SD series is just that much smaller for easier transport in a pocket, the metal body and proprietary battery are about the only big differences between the two.

I got myself caught up in the ISO ratings as well and Fuji's seem to really market themselves as having the best ISO speeds but in real world tests they are no better than any of the other cameras out there.

There is a different style of chip(the name escapes me rigt now) that has much better low light response but it has never made it main stream. It is only available in SLR's and expensive ones at that, only just one brand if I remember right.

Sony T200 and Canon &10, 570 side by side

I kind of like the Sony, but it is a little higher MSRP.

I think that Sony would compare more towards the SD series as it is an Ultra compact like the SD series. On the other hand it shows that the A series is very good.

I have the A710IS. A good combination of a point and shoot with a good set of manual adjustments if you choose to use them. It's worth noting that if you look around on DP review you will see that there is some aftermarket firmware available for it that allows RAW and some other little additions to the factory firmware. Supposedly it is much better than the new A720IS that replaces it for which there is no aftermarket firmware.

This thread gave me a good idea for a gift for my wife, I just purchased the Canon PowerShot A560 Digital Camera for $128.00 at BH Photo, I wanted a point and shoot that she could just stick in her purse and this fit the bill great.

Michael, just wondered if for just a little more you'd considered the new 570 with image stabilization?

John, if I had known about the 570 I would have gone that route, I was checking through consumer reports and was actually looking to buy the 630 but couldn't find it anywhere online, so I went with the 560 as it was one of their best buys, in hindsight I realize that some of there recommendations may be dated even if the articles are only a couple months old. That's what last minute Christmas shopping gets me.

OK. I knew this was too easy. A few local spots were advertising the A710 for 256 ish. Went there last night or called there and they were sold out. The 570s, also sold out. The joy of shopping at Christmas.

My last stop was Staples where they had sold the last 710 for 250 something but had the replacement 720 for the same price. I was assured that it was the exact same camera with the addition of an additional MB of resolution. This made me nervous after my new learnings about how all that really worked but this was the last one so I grabbed it just in case I might get skunked altogether. I have 30 days to return if need be.

So now I have a new question.
I went home and read some user reviews, couldn't find any pro reviews, and they were mostly good but there were a few who mentioned that picture quality was 'sometimes' a little bit worse than the 710. Lorenzo, I aslo thank you for your comments I read this morning since they are now relevant.

Via specs, it seems to have the same brand & size sensor, and the same lens. Most other picture type features seem identical but they did an an extra ISO level (1600) so I assume there must be a processor change of some sort.

Modding it for a raw format is not really a concern for me this go around. I want good photo quality but it doesn't need to be professional grade.

Should I return the 720 and go for the safe bet and order a 570 online (I'll save 80 bucks or so ((well probably only 40 after shipping)) or should I stop fretting on the details and call my Christmas DONE, as my wife would have been just as happy with an 80 dollar Wallmart camera.

Still thankful and appreciative!

PS
I should also mention that I found a few more 710s online but every place that I found advertising stock had the price ridiculously jacked up to near or over the 400 dollar mark. I guess they realized there is a demand for the older model and are taking advantage of it. I won't even call to barter because it just makes me angry.

Murph

Murph,

I'm sure the 720 is more than enough for your wife so I wouldn't worry about returning it. My comments about the differences between the 710 and 720 were just meant to convey my limited research regarding the cameras. In fact I didn't find out about the aftermarket firmware until after I purchased the 710.

In short I'm sure the A720 is a good camera that will take good pictures.

Thanks Again Lorenzo.

I really do spend too much time over analyzing things. Even when I say I want something simple.