What's a great non-SLR digital camera
 

For a friend that is not wanting to step up to an SLR. Right now has a pocket digital camera, but wants to take better pictures WITHOUT moving up to an SLR. Wants to keep it under $500. I'm partial to the Canon Powershots and the G12 looks like a lot of camera for the money.

From what I see come through the pawnshop, I like the Canon's & Sony's.
Jim

You can probably get an older Canon G7 pretty cheap nowadays.
I have one, and it's still a great camera IMO, even by today's standards.

Canon G12

Panasonic Lumix, one of them with Leica lenses.

I-phone

I had a Powershot S1 and loved it. So versitile! Finally moved up to a Nikon P100 for the extra Megapixels (12 vs. 3) but was initially underwhelmed at it's performance. It takes a long time to dump the image to memory which means only 1 shot per lap per car vs. 3 with the old camera. Turning down the MP's defeats the purpose. Also, the continuous mode is unusable as the screen (either the big one or the viewfinder one) goes black while taking continuous pictures (but not when taking movies :confused:).

It does produce pretty good pictures but it makes you work more for them.

I would just skip it and go straight from cheapo camera to DSLR. The shutter button response alone is worth it.

I like the 26x optical zoom as well.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8164/7...6c1d32f1_z.jpg
POC Racing Tribute to LeMans 2June2012_ 983 by Max_911S_fahrer, on Flickr
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POC Racing Tribute to LeMans 2June2012_ 992 by Max_911S_fahrer, on Flickr
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Cup Races + Time Trials Feb 2012 WSIR_ 971 by Max_911S_fahrer, on Flickr
http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6042/6...39b913fc_z.jpg
917K at Rennsport Monterey by Max_911S_fahrer, on Flickr

"Turning down" the mega pixels doesn't really defeat the purpose. Depends on what you want to do with the image. While clarity in smaller pictures will benefit a bit by MP's, they really are for making large prints or for major cropping.

I like viewing on my computer monitor and zooming in. I meant it defeated the purpose of spending all that money on the new camera compared to the 3.2 MP Cannon.

Panasonic LX5. Leica lens 24-90 mm F2-3.3. Superb build quality and images. Pocket size and easy to use. About $399.

We have a Canon G12 and it takes remarkable pics. We use it much more often than our DSLR.

Canon G12 for sure. In fact I'm thinking of parking my 40D and just using a G12. I'm mighty tired of lugging body, strobe and four lenses

Yep. I have the red-dot version, and it is an excellent little camera. The Pani is vitrually the same thing for less $$$. Also does 720p video.

+1
I like my Nikon Cool pix also.

Another vote for the Lumix....Great camera!

I second the iphone comment.

At least for video.

I have a nice Sony camera that is kind of a 'pre-slr' type. It's a point and shoot with some slr like qualities. It takes nice quality video but not HD. Then I have a flip camera which takes 720P HD video. I had a friend use her HD video camera (not sure of the brand) for some shots as well. We took all these videos during our kids baseball season through the spring and then I put them all together using iMovie for a movie during our end of season party. It was AWESOME. But I had a bunch of different video sources - My iPhone 4, my Sony, My Flip and her HD hand camera. The iPhone videos were the best all around quality, the flip were the worst which surprises me as indoors is really good but outdoors not so much.

Anyway, I know this is a still question and not a video question but the iPhone takes great photos too just not quickly...

Nikon 1 looks good, interchangeable lenses, video, and they come in pink! a little more than $500.

I'm a Nikon fan, not bashing here and I was going to suggest something similar, but the problem with the Nikon 1, is that it comes with a 10mm-30mm lens. That's super wide and very very wide angle. :D You're going to have to buy another lens to make it useful.

Wow, reading up on this camera seems to place it ahead of the Canon G12!

I have been working my way through a bunch lately, started with Canon, then Casio, but have ended up with Panasonic ZS15. Big issue for me is speed, as the Mpix has jumped up on the non-DSLR cameras, autofocus, face recognition, flash, exposure calculations (my guess) have made most too slow. I'm not talking about action shots, but everyday people, kids, stuff going on around you, ..... Panasonic seems to have mastered the tradeoffs better. Looking at reviews on Amazon, Canon and Nikon both seem to have quality issues. Panasonic picture quality is extremely good, Nikon and Canon make a big deal about picture and flash quality, but shoot a bunch of people using flash indoors -- exposures are all over the place. The Pany seems to have flash/people exposures nailed much better. User controls are real nice also, don't need to refer to the manual to figure out how to set up the self timer that 2-3 times a year I want to do so.

Another vote for Lumix. My trusty older Pana Lumix LX2 takes great pics. A little lens distortion in 16:9 of course, but its size & its ease of use have made it the perfect travel camera.

iPhone? A phone camera? Really? With a teeny-tiny lens? Maybe for the spontaneous shots & vids but not for anything serious. Ditto my droid as well. imho . . .

Ian

I knew I should stay away from this thread!


Oh man... now I'm looking at another camera... PPOT is evil... EVIL I TELL YOU!

lumix lx-5
leica clone made in the same factory the only differance is the jpeg compression. if you shoot raw, there is no differance.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1342020391.jpg

A nice in-between the pants-pocket-fitting point and shoot, and the lunch-pail sized full on DSLR, is the micro 4/3rds cameras like the Olympus PEN 2 or 3 series, or the Sony NEX 3-5-7 series.

Basically a mid-sized frame, with the option of changing lenses.

Slightly larger (but not by much) than the point and shoot G12's and such, but you also get a full sized CCD (the "film" detector) and the option of mounting any sized lens you want from micro-macro to 200-400mm and up zoom.


Both the Sony NEX and Oly Pens should seriously be looked at, if true photography in manual modes for PHOTOGRAPHY is wanted, verses a point and shoot at a kids birthday party.

The Sony RX-100 has been getting some great reviews:

Sony Cyber-shot RX100 Camera | DSC-RX100 | Sony USA

Extremey happy with my Canon G9.

The camera really doesn't matter much, depending on what he means about wanting to take "better" pictures. It's all about understanding how to take pictures (and maybe he does) and that can be done with any camera if you know its limits. I don't remember what camera this was taken with, but it was a 'crappy' low-megapixel Point & Shoot. The result was not accidental, it was intended exactly as it turned out. The very narrow DOF and motion blur suggest it was a DSLR. The picture would have been easy with a DSLR, not so much with a P&S but the result is the same. Lots of people buy into the hype of the latest rocket-launcher cameras, but it doesn't make their pictures any better.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1342041564.jpg

OTOH, I can fully understand the satisfaction of owning and using higher-end cameras. I have many :cool:

My last three cameras have been Sony, now I have a two year old Cyber shot DSC HX1 and I like it, it has panarama and great telephoto. My wife always gets high end Canon and I like them but the Sony is just sooo easy to use. She is always changing lenses and I am shooting pictures.

I got the Panasonic Lumix from Costco. At $180, it's a pretty nice compact p&s. Nice focusing and exposure in low lighting without flash. It has panoramic mode and a nice burst mode for fast action shots.

samsung has wifi and dual displays. however, their wide angle distorts faces and makes portraits look fat.

Costco - Panasonic LUMIX SZ7 Digital Camera with 4GB SDHC Card & Camera Case

Check out the latest edition of Outdoor Photographer. Good article on "mirrorless" cameras and some reviews.
Lighten Up! Go Mirrorless! | OutdoorPhotographer.com

+ Panasonic Lumix SZ cameras. Pocket Travel Zoom, good pictures, lots of zoom, nice video and can zoom while shooting video.

Oh man. My cousin bought a little P&S to bring to the States when he visited this past January. You could zoom while in shooting video, but it muted the mic. Very annoying. :D