Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Point and shoot camera?

Shanghaichica

Shanghaichica

macrumors G5
Original poster
Apr 8, 2013
14,756
13,279
UK
So I have an old Sony Cybershot camera that I bought back in 2007. When I moved house in 2012 my partner didn't pack the battery charger. I would have bought another one but at the time I got the original galaxy note and started using that as my main camera so never got round to getting another charger. At the moment I'm using the note 3 as my main camera. I find that the pictures are good enough but I want a more dedicated device capable of taking better images, especially in low light settings. Taking pictures, editing etc is something that I enjoy.

So I was thinking of buying a point and shoot camera, as I'm an amature I don't want to get a DSLR just yet.

I was thinking of starting off with another Cybershot as it's a make that I've used in the past and been pleased with. I was thinking of picking up the Cybershot WX300.

My question is, will I get much benefit from getting a point and shoot camera? Smartphone cameras have come on a lot in the past few years and they can produce pleasing images. However they lack optical zoom and generally don't give good results in low lighting.

I can see where getting a dedicated camera may improve the image quality for moving images or in low lighting conditions, or capturing far off shots. However am I likely to see an improvement when shooting close up, still objects.
 
IMHO, there are plenty of cheap small sensor cameras out there. Avoid them all and use your iOS camera. I would't bother with anything with less than a 1" sensor.

If you're willing to spend a few bucks consider a Micro four thirds camera, a 1" Sony RX100 (mk1 or mk2) or on the cheap and cheerful a Sony A3000 (cheap plastic camera with an APS-C sized sensor)

Used there are plenty of choices, and many are simply excellent. What's your budget?
 
I have a Canon PowerShot s95 and I wouldn't trade it for the world. I bought it after seeing the late Roger Ebert recommend it on Twitter as the best point-and-shoot he'd ever seen.

I got a great deal on it at B&H Photo a couple years ago. They currently sell the s110, the successor to the s95, for $249.

Good luck!
 
caribiner23 said:
I have a Canon PowerShot s95 and I wouldn't trade it for the world. I bought it after seeing the late Roger Ebert recommend it on Twitter as the best point-and-shoot he'd ever seen.

I got a great deal on it at B&H Photo a couple years ago. They currently sell the s110, the successor to the s95, for $249.

Good luck!
Click to expand...
Another vote for the S-series. I used a S95 for a long time, and I'm currently using an S100. Great shots in full auto, and the invaluable ability to use manual controls (along with the awesome dual-ring control system) make it an amazingly versatile point-and-shoot camera.
 
If you have access to a decent shop with good return policies, I would suggest you take the camera you are considering for a spin and see if you get what you want out of it. At one point in my life I spent about half a year trying out almost every shape, flavour and size camera in a local big box retailer, before finally settling on one long term. If you have the time to experiment, it can be a fun and productive way to choose your camera.

Personally, I would not bother with dedicated P&S at this point, simply because they are just bulkier enough than cellphones to be left at home when you are not planning to take photos, so any spontaneous shots are still going to be taken with your lesser phone camera.

If you are hoping to get some artsy shots (i.e. you plan to perhaps make keepsake items such as large prints or what not out of them), mirrorless cameras provide significantly better quality, and will not break your neck as a DSLR would, but they cost as much or more than entry-level DSLR, so depends on your budget.
 
Shanghaichica said:
...
I can see where getting a dedicated camera may improve the image quality for moving images or in low lighting conditions, or capturing far off shots. However am I likely to see an improvement when shooting close up, still objects.
Click to expand...

There are not a lot of reasons to buy a small sensor P&S. you do get an optical zoom lens and a built-in flash but you still have the small sensor size and on-camera flash never looks good but it does let you get a shot when it's dark.

You can buy a decent used SLR for about the price of a new cybershot. Figure $250 for an SLR setup that is still very usable.
 
I wouldn't bother with a basic P&S as that is not much better than current cell phones. Take a look at the Fuji X20 and read the the customer reviews on Amazon as well as some of the pro reviews. It offers a lot for a reasonable price.
 
caribiner23 said:
I have a Canon PowerShot s95 and I wouldn't trade it for the world. I bought it after seeing the late Roger Ebert recommend it on Twitter as the best point-and-shoot he'd ever seen.

I got a great deal on it at B&H Photo a couple years ago. They currently sell the s110, the successor to the s95, for $249.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

My wife had a Canon S90 and I a Sony NEX 3. They were about the same price. The S90 was a great camera but had plenty of visible noise compared to the NEX. This is typical of a small sensor camera. (The S90 was retired in favor of a RX100mk2) The NEX 3 became a 5N, then a NEX 6 now I'm waiting for the A6000.

The NEX 3N is around $299-$329 an RX100 (awesome) is closer to $500. Worth a look.
 
I owned a S90 and a RX100 and the image quality is not even close. The S90 was "OK" but the RX100 is really outstanding and well worth the cost.
 
There are amazing deals to be found right now on the Olympus epm2 right now - I think I saw a dual lens kit for around $250. This has the same sensor as the OMD em5. It's pretty small when compared to dslr's and there is much fun to be had with the micro 4/3 cameras. I suggest taking a look.
 
With the rise of smartphone cameras yeah, P&S cameras are to a certain extent obsolete. As general cameras.

But what's happened is that they have tended to become more specialized. Good examples are the superzooms. It's amazing what you can get; sure they don't have the big sensors of DSLRs or MILC cameras, but the cost is incredibly cheap. Lots of manual controls on some, stabilization, good video. You'd have to spend bank to get that in a prosumer camera and lens, and cell phones are stuck with no zoom. So a nice niche.

The same is true with some weatherproof cameras; there are P&Ss and of course the "action cams" like the GoPro.

And there are some P&S of a more general nature that aren't mirrorless that are a bit expensive, but still useful. But the devil is in the details, and if you want low light performance and flash then I'd agree you'd need at a minimum something with a hotshoe for an external flash. It sounds like you almost want a studio type experience, and for that I would think some of the bigger sensor DSLRs or mirrorless ones would be great.

I was just looking at some Samsungs, for example. The N300 has a hotshoe flash, APS-C sensor, lens, and a bunch of other features, including Lightroom, for less than $500. I dunno if the quality matches other brands, but sheesh. That could definitely get ya started on a photography hobby.

And remember that the DSLR and mirrorless cameras are not only distinguished by their higher quality lenses, pixel counts, etc, but also by manual controls, which you'll grow into if you get into this. But they also work as point and shoots that are pretty much just as easy to use as a cellphone camera. Indeed, the newer ones often come with wifi so you CAN use your cellphone to operate them...:rolleyes:
 
not really giving you a model number BUT if you are still considering a P&S camera and you use the Smartphone camera a lot, maybe try an Underwater/Weatherproof/Crashproof camera.

This is what we did once we bought iPhones. We got a Rugged Camera, we would basically take this anywhere wet/dirty/etc so as not to get the phones a mess or broken.

That's my 2 cents.
 
BJMRamage said:
not really giving you a model number BUT if you are still considering a P&S camera and you use the Smartphone camera a lot, maybe try an Underwater/Weatherproof/Crashproof camera.

This is what we did once we bought iPhones. We got a Rugged Camera, we would basically take this anywhere wet/dirty/etc so as not to get the phones a mess or broken.

That's my 2 cents.
Click to expand...

i got some sony P&S (TX20?) on sale from B&H and it was awesome for that purpose. I could take it everywhere and not have to worry about a thing! Great for snapshots. In low light it was eh, but still very useable for the purpose. Made me a sony photo camera fan.
 
Another vote for the RX100 mk 2. If you gave a budget, I missed it. The RX100 mk 2 is expensive, but it's an excellent camera. It shoots raw, for example.

Closeup is fine. I shot some closeups a couple of days ago that I'm pleased with. If you want to see some closeups, PM me and I'll give you a link.

My other camera is a D800 -- no, the Sony can't match the D800. OTH it drops into my pants pocket, jacket pocket, shirt pocket.
 
Traverse said:
I'm trying to get into casual photography. I'm not really happy with the iPhone 6's camera.

How does this camera look?
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/nikon-c...lack/3365019.p?id=1219091054172&skuId=3365019
Click to expand...

Depends on what you wanna use it for. I'm sure it's a decent camera, but for certain uses you might be unhappy. As one big example note the lack of a viewfinder. I've found folks who like superzooms often want to use them outdoors for birding, sports and stuff like that. In those situations, bright light can make even very good viewing screens useless. And many find it much easier to track objects with a viewfinder. There are lots of superzooms with viewfinders, so if outdoors is your thing, check those out.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back