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Justinm59

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 29, 2008
132
3
I looking to buy a P&S camera for my girlfriend. She already owns a DSLR but is looking for something more compact she can keep with her at all times. I'd want to get a camera that can take good quality pictures w/o to much shutter lag. I've been looking at the Canon sd960 and the sony DSC-T300. I'm also exploring the possibility of getting her one that would be waterproof just so she could really take it anywhere. Sorry if this has brought up before (i'm sure it has) but thanks for any help in advance.
 

11800506

macrumors 65816
Oct 31, 2007
1,060
1
Washington D.C. Area
I've had a great experience with my Canon Powershots. I've found them to be some of the best point and shoots on the market you can buy so I'd definitely go for the SD960. I have a SD750 and I love it.
 

iTiki

macrumors 6502
Feb 9, 2007
426
8
Maui, Hawaii
Canon S90

Check out the new Canon S90. It should start shipping soon. Dpreview has some info on it. Ken Rockwell does, too.
 

toxic

macrumors 68000
Nov 9, 2008
1,664
1
go through DPReview and look at whatever cameras either of you finding interesting. skip to the "timings" section, and go from there.
 

safetyobc

macrumors 6502
Sep 6, 2007
480
27
Arkansas
I have a Canon P&S and like it a lot.

My company also issues us a Canon P&S to use and have never had any trouble out of any of them.
 

cube

Suspended
May 10, 2004
17,011
4,973
It seems Pentax is the only one with waterproof P&S that are wide enough, but they have too many megapixels.
 

Check 6

macrumors regular
Nov 12, 2007
209
12
I have several Canon DSLR's but like to keep a point and shoot with me at all times. My SD400 is showing its age so I was interested when the first word of the S 90 came out and that will be the SD400 replacement for me
 

nutmac

macrumors 603
Mar 30, 2004
6,149
7,610
Canon PowerShot S90 and Sony DSC-WX1 appear to be most promising, ultracompacts with larger/special image sensor to improve low light shooting performance. David Pogue of NYC raved Sony, and S90 review should be trickling in soon.
 

cube

Suspended
May 10, 2004
17,011
4,973
The sensor of the Sony is tiny. Usual garbage.
And it doesn't have priority modes. Typical.
 

dubels

macrumors 6502
Aug 9, 2006
496
7
G9 or wait for the G11. I have heard bad things about the G10 and noise that comes with the MP race. I honestly liked my G9 even though I had it for a week before it was stolen, I am thinking about picking up a G11.
 

akdj

macrumors 65816
Mar 10, 2008
1,190
89
62.88°N/-151.28°W
"My SD400 is showing its age so I was interested when the first word of the S 90 came out and that will be the SD400 replacement for me"

Hilarious. I have my sd400 with me in the truck everywhere I go...also, my sd1100. I've had great luck with Canon's P&S cameras. Never have any of my little guys had any issues.

"I have heard bad things about the G10 and noise that comes with the MP race."

Disregard as rumor. Both G9/10 are excellent cameras (hence their resale value:)) and should be considered. I like my G9 for the movie ability once in a while, pretty convenient and the shots from both cameras are stellar <400 ISO. Over 400, sometimes over 200 can show the noise, but that seems to be the case with most P&S cams because of sensor size limitations. Check out the Sigmas for better DR and less noise (I think they use a 35mm sensor).

Another vote for Canon P&S.

Good Luck.
 

toxic

macrumors 68000
Nov 9, 2008
1,664
1
Canon PowerShot S90 and Sony DSC-WX1 appear to be most promising, ultracompacts with larger/special image sensor to improve low light shooting performance. David Pogue of NYC raved Sony, and S90 review should be trickling in soon.

the S90 sensor is 1/1.7". maybe large for a point-&-shoot, but it's still tiny and smaller than an LX3, the current top-of-the-line in regards to high-ISO performance (E-P1 excluded).


I hope you people realize the OP was specifically asking about minimal shutter lag. speaking of which, OP: you should decide if you want minimal full-press lag or half-press to full. p&s' typically aren't any good on that former, but your options open up with the latter.
 

pdxflint

macrumors 68020
Aug 25, 2006
2,407
14
Oregon coast
You might want to look at some of the Panasonic Lumix models, too. They've got fairly wider-than-the-usual lenses (25mm equivalent is common) and lots of them now do HD video in 16x9 format, and all will do SD video in wide-screen format 30fps. The video anti-shake works pretty well, and now I just leave my older Sony Digital8 camera in the desk drawer. There's a 'tuff' model which is waterproof, also... I'm too tired to actually give you model numbers and all, (check dpreview.com) but I was pleasantly surprised with their bottom-of-the-line LZ8 for $99 last December, and it's gotten a lot of video use - way more than I ever anticipated. I just really like the 16x9 video, even for playback on a computer or YouTube. (check out some of my LZ8 short videos (SD) here. Some are compressed more than others, depending on whether it's Picasa or iMovieHD6 or iMovie 7 doing the export to YT.) And my cheap ($99) little P/S has full manual, A-preferred, S Preferred and high-speed burst (10fps) with smaller size shots.

Only gripe is the processing, focusing and response time is really slow. But, it's the cheapest, now-discontinued model. I always figured Canon was the only way to go for p/s cameras, but when I tried this little camera out, I realized that Lumix is making some very interesting little P/S cameras which are easily overlooked.
 
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