Camera suggestions / recommendations?

[Eric]

I've needed a "good" camera for some time now and we're about to start building a house so it's a good excuse to buy a nice camera finally. Here are the features I'm looking for:

An actual view finder, not just the lcd screen
Reasonable optical zoom, 8x+ or so, not interested in the digital zoom crap
Macro mode... couldn't believe my last "bargain" camera didn't have it.
Image stabilization (photo is a must, video would be nice)
Capable of taking legible images in low lighting without blurring the crap out of the photo
Video w/ sound (preferably with image stabilization as well) that will record until it fills the card. I hate cameras that only record for a few seconds. Would be nice if playback has sound. Recording w/sound is a must (my first camera had no sound, aargh!), the video image stabilization and audio playback would be nice.
Something that starts up quickly, I'm tired of waiting for it to boot up only to miss what I wanted to take a picture of.
15fps or so rapid shots, for when you want to capture the whole entertaining wipeout in a series of shots
Still reasonably automated "point and shoot" capability, not particularly interested in the professional level of manual tweaking
It'll be used primarily outdoors, so something you'd feel comfortable taking on a cold, rainy wheelin' trip.
Doesn't need to be super compact, I'm ok with carrying a bigger camera. Function > Form in this case.DSLR is out of my reach, the budget is closer to the $400 or less range. Any suggestions?

[Tiffany]

Canon G9. Close the thread that's all you need ;)

[Ghettojeep]

Yup that's a good one. :thumbsup:

[OrangeCrush]

thats what I have
-Done

[Ghettojeep]

Can it do the video features that he is looking for?

[snicho]

I have the Nikon P5000 (think the newer version is a different number) and love it. It won't do the FPS that you want, but I've been very impressed with it in the year that I've owned it. I'm complimented all of the time on the image quality. Obviously the G9 is a great camera and might have some features mine doesn't, but thought I'd give you another to look at.

Here's a couple of recent pictures:

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa30/snicho_2007/Nilesridingbike-colored.jpg

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa30/snicho_2007/capital-sepia.jpg

[bsaunder]

Most any point and shoot will do the majority of what you want for the price that you want - with the exceptions in bold, your either going to need film or a really good DSLR

I've needed a "good" camera for some time now and we're about to start building a house so it's a good excuse to buy a nice camera finally. Here are the features I'm looking for:
An actual view finder, not just the lcd screen
Reasonable optical zoom, 8x+ or so, not interested in the digital zoom crap
Macro mode... couldn't believe my last "bargain" camera didn't have it.
Image stabilization (photo is a must, video would be nice)
Capable of taking legible images in low lighting without blurring the crap out of the photo
Video w/ sound (preferably with image stabilization as well) that will record until it fills the card. I hate cameras that only record for a few seconds. Would be nice if playback has sound. Recording w/sound is a must (my first camera had no sound, aargh!), the video image stabilization and audio playback would be nice.
Something that starts up quickly, I'm tired of waiting for it to boot up only to miss what I wanted to take a picture of.
15fps or so rapid shots, for when you want to capture the whole entertaining wipeout in a series of shots
Still reasonably automated "point and shoot" capability, not particularly interested in the professional level of manual tweaking
It'll be used primarily outdoors, so something you'd feel comfortable taking on a cold, rainy wheelin' trip.
Doesn't need to be super compact, I'm ok with carrying a bigger camera. Function > Form in this case.DSLR is out of my reach, the budget is closer to the $400 or less range. Any suggestions?

The low light and legible requires as large of a sensor as you can get, more mega pixels won't necessarily help this. All of the point and shoots that I know of have pretty small sensors.

The FPS, the best DSLRs out there are barely reaching that. For $400, I think 3-5fps is going to be the best you can get unless you go into video mode and then it will probably be ~15fps, but the image quality will be lower.

for point and shoots - I'm partial to canons, but also like the nikons and a couple of the sonys.

[~tc~]

Canon Powershot A650IS - same sensor and lens as the G9, about $100 cheaper.

I have the older version, an A610 and LOVE it. The tilt/swivel screen is VERY handy. FULL manual controls, including shutterspeeds up to 15 seconds

Pictures taken with it:
www.4wheelingoh.shutterfly.com/action

Video is 30 fps:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGt2ZwFZKPU

[Hardcor4x4]

Maybe an advanced SLR-"like" point and shoot camera like the Canon S5 IS or Olympus SP 570 UZ?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16830120207

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16830111197

gobs of optical zoom and all the features your looking for and along the lines of a "good" camera.
Both have ISO speeds of 6200 for shooting in near darkness if you want and getting a good clear shot.

[Rhino95]

Maybe an advanced SLR-"like" point and shoot camera like the Canon S5 IS or Olympus SP 570 UZ?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16830120207

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16830111197

gobs of optical zoom and all the features your looking for and along the lines of a "good" camera.
Both have ISO speeds of 6200 for shooting in near darkness if you want and getting a good clear shot.

Kinda what I was thinking too.

[~tc~]

Ummm ... unless you're talking about the D3, ISO's over 1000 and "good clear shot" shouldn't be used in the same sentence... just because a camera has a high ISO setting doesn't mean it's actually usable.

[Rhino95]

Yeah, a p&s prolly won't givr you the best results at 6400 ISO...Unless you're printing stamp sized pictures.

[Eric]

Thanks for all the suggestions :beer: I'll check them all out and let you know which I end up with.

[Eric]

Monica bought me the G9 for my upcoming b-day :D :thumbsup:

[Jeffro600]

Good deal...a fine camera that will serve you well!

[newracer]

Love my G9, I think you will too. :thumbsup:

[Ghettojeep]

Monica bought me the G9 for my upcoming b-day :D :thumbsup:

Great little camera. I was hanging out w/ my pop's who is a ridicoulous photographer, and I noticed something new that he was playing with during our last arts festival that we did together...


G9... lol.

[Matt]

G9, S5, A650..... bottom line - think Cannon.

[Jeff Mason]

Take a look at the Panasonic (Lumix) FZ-18 (8 megapixels). It has comparable features to the G9 (but no external flash) and an 18x optical zoom. I like mine a lot.

www.DPreview.com can show you a side -by - side comparison of features.