Point and shoot camera suggestions please

[toujours]

I have a Minolta DImage F100 (4MP) at the moment. I'm looking for a newer model, mainly because :

• The flash is horrible
• Battery life (I use 2500mAh NiMH rechargeables) seems to be relatively poor
• 4 MP size reduces my possibilities of enlargements and/or cropping.

What I do like about it is it's apparently fast response time between push (the button) and shoot (the picture). I tried a friend's Sony Cybershot over Xmas and it was sooo slow.
Also the optical zoom is fine on this model (3x ?)

So can anyone suggest a brand (or a range of models) with :

• Good battery life
• Fast reponse time
• Flash not too harsh
• Higher resolution (say 7 or 8 MP and above)
• Budget : um, let's say around 500 maximum (but less is better) ... ?

EDIT : removed card format requirement

[Phr3sh]

Canon SD 700/800 is

[toujours]

Canon SD 700/800 is

I went to Steve's digicams. That looks nice. Long battery life, ENORMOUS screen, widescreen still mode, ... Response times seem fine. Price around $400 (Best Buy) for the 700.

[Phr3sh]

I went to Steve's digicams. That looks nice. Long battery life, ENORMOUS screen, widescreen still mode, ... Response times seem fine. Price around $400 (Best Buy) for the 700.

Yea, i have the SD 700 myself and i would highly recommend it. The IS works great and the pictures come out crisp and colourful.

[mack]

i just picked up a nikon s7c...one of their top slim/point-n-shoot cameras. its pretty good.....the pictures turned out to be a lot better than the reviews i've read online (trust me i've been reading reviews for the past 2 weeks on digicams)

some highlights:
7.1 MP
powerful flash - for a slim type camera
lost of extra features
SD cards
3 inch screen
wifi - pretty cool feature
lots of functions
iso 1600
battery is pretty good
decent startup time

some lowlights:
buttons are small
must use the dock to connect to PC
menu is a little confusing at times


i dunno how this compares to the canons (was highly considering the SD 700 too) but i didnt like the design.....the s7c on the other hand looks awesome

[Phr3sh]

The nikon is a nice camera too, but with slim looks comes a huge decrease in performance

It cant really touch the Digic 2 processor in colour reproduction or speed

And it doesn't have a 4x optical zoom lens with image stabilization (which pwns)

Keep in mind the SD 700 has near SLR performance, unheard of in a compact of its size

[klam]

Keep in mind the SD 700 has near SLR performance, unheard of in a compact of its size

Umm... no.

My recommendation is the Fuji F30. Good performance all-around.

[cwb27]

Keep in mind the SD 700 has near SLR performance, unheard of in a compact of its size

You have a source for this? The Fuji F30 far out performs other Point and Shoots when it comes to very low noise at high ISO, the F30 also has massive battery life (around 500+ shots with LCD on) I've only charged it twice since I got it several months ago.

F30 vs. SD700 (several pages)
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/fujifilmf30/page11.asp

[Aske001]

Check the article on CNET today about the trade-offs between megapixels and sensor noise: http://news.com.com/More+megapixels%...?tag=cnetfd.mt

Their point is that consumers are overly focused on the marketing hype of megapixels, ignoring the corresponding negative effects of increased sensor noise and the image quality reduction caused by noise-reduction processing in the camera. They mention Fuji's laudable efforts in this area as being largely overlooked.

[toujours]

Nice looking camera too !

BUT :

Apparently wi-fi function limits the size of pictures ?
And response times are quoted as slower in a couple of reviews I read this morning.

[toujours]

You have a source for this? The Fuji F30 far out performs other Point and Shoots when it comes to very low noise at high ISO, the F30 also has massive battery life (around 500+ shots with LCD on) I've only charged it twice since I got it several months ago.

F30 vs. SD700 (several pages)
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/fujifilmf30/page11.asp

Yup, the reviewers like this one ! Point and shoot times are low too ! And that low ISO rating certainly seems to work well in low light.

Shame about it being xD card though...

[goofball]

Yup, the reviewers like this one ! Point and shoot times are low too ! And that low ISO rating certainly seems to work well in low light.

Shame about it being xD card though...

You shouldn't let the memory storage format dictate the camera you will buy. Would you accept a weaker performing camera because of your requirement to use your existing memory?

[cwb27]

Yup, the reviewers like this one ! Point and shoot times are low too ! And that low ISO rating certainly seems to work well in low light.

Shame about it being xD card though...

Originally when I was doing research on what new digital camera I was going to get I was a little bummed about learning it was xD memory (my current laptop has an SD Card reader) However when it really comes down to it it's not THAT big of a deal breaker... For when I didn't want to bring the USB cable I got this card reader.


http://www.ca.buy.com/prod/Lexar_Jum.../10382185.html

[cwb27]

You shouldn't let the memory storage format dictate the camera you will buy. Would you accept a weaker performing camera because of your requirement to use your existing memory?

This is the same advice you gave me, definitly have to agree with you (and thank you)

[toujours]

Well, I suppose you're right about the card format. It might be the moment to get one of those el cheapo combined FDD / multi card readers.

Anyone else got some good suggestions before I start seriously looking at prices and suchlike ?