Which of these cameras would you choose?

[NadieMasK2]

I went to the camera shop today to drool over the newer models. I have decided that I'm due for an upgrade. I have a Canon A80. Although it has served me well and the picture quality is nice, I have a few issues with it. It has a slow shutter speed (I always get the backs of people in parades and shows), not so great night shots, and I find the menu system to change settings (such as ISO) to be quite annoying.

Here are the 3 that I liked in the store:

Canon SD800 IS
Canon G7
Sony Cybershot H5

I liked the wide-angle lens on the SD800, but I don't really know enough about them right now to make a decision.

 

[dolbyman]

hmm .. my powershot a85 has a quite slow shutter lag (pre focus of course) .. and I found the menu quite easy to change all the settings .. oh well

try www.dpreview.com for some sample pics and reviews of those cams .. and when thinking of low light shots .. you have to find a steady surface (or tripod) to do those .. else even a dslr won't do you much good

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

When you say "slow shutter speed" I'm assuming you're referring to the shutter lag (the time taken between one picture and the camera being ready to take the next) as opposed to shutter speed (the amount of time that the shutter can be set to remain open).
Personally I have no knowledge of any of those cameras - go back to the camera store and tell the salesman your specific requirements, what kind of pictures and in what kind of situations you want to be able to take your photos. Make him earn his commision !!

 

[Deadmanwalking]

If shutter lag is your main concern I'm not sure if I would pick any of those point and shoot cameras... a low end canon or nikon dSLR will stomp all over those cameras when it comes to shutter lag. I don't know if your caught up in the megapixels as the Canon G7 has 10 while low end dSLRs might have 6 but don't get sucked into thinking pixel mean everything. The chip size of the cameras you mention is smaller than a dSLRs which means when they put more pixels on it they end up with a noisier picture.

But hey, if your looking for small size a point and shoot has that advantage. And if that's your priority, I would only suggest you go with one of the Canons. I prefer the colors from a canon picture over a sony. And if you get the Canon you will be using SD memory which is more universal than Sony's memory strips which if you went with a Sony would force you to either replace their camera at a later date with another Sony or buy more memory with whatever camera you might switch to. So if your set on those two Canons and no other, I would go for the G7, its slightly faster taking picture to picture than the 800 and I'm guessing from your post you don't like to miss shots.

 

[NadieMasK2]

I did mean shutter lag, sorry. I know I don't have all the terminology down very well. It's just that the camera isn't read to go fast enough for things like parades and shows.

Deadman - I am not too worried about pixels. The A80 is only 4.0 mp. I wouldn't want any less than that though.

Which specific models would you recommend? Something like the Canon Rebel XT or the Nikon D40? I would like to have the manual control that the dSLR allows, but the small size of the SD800 IS is attractive! In the end it's just great photos that I want. I am used to carrying around the A80 so size isn't too much of an issue.

 

[Deadmanwalking]

I did mean shutter lag, sorry. I know I don't have all the terminology down very well. It's just that the camera isn't read to go fast enough for things like parades and shows.

Deadman - I am not too worried about pixels. The A80 is only 4.0 mp. I wouldn't want any less than that though.

Which specific models would you recommend? Something like the Canon Rebel XT or the Nikon D40? I would like to have the manual control that the dSLR allows, but the small size of the SD800 IS is attractive! In the end it's just great photos that I want. I am used to carrying around the A80 so size isn't too much of an issue.

For me I committed to nikon along time ago when it came to dSLR... started with the Kodak DCS420 which was a nikon n90 with a kodak back... I might suggest for someone that didn't want to spend a huge chunk of cash to look at the now discontinued nikon d50, or a d70... I wouldn't suggest getting the d40 since it lacks the ability to autofocus any lense except the ones with a built in motor (which means your older autofocus lenses become manual on a d40). Frankly I don't see a lot of difference in lag between the canon dSLRs and the Nikons, they are all so fast that you'll never want to use the point and shoot again.

You should consider what conditions you are likely to shoot in, the d50 and d70 are far from noise free at high ISOs. I can't say much about Canon as my only experience with Canon was a a540 I got for using underwater (works great on land too). The only complaint about the canon was horrible lag between shots especially with flash I'm talking 10 seconds or longer if the flash was used.

 

[Gagesmom314]

I have the Nikon D50 and you can turn the sound off and it does run silently. LOVE LOVE LOVE the camera and wouldn't consider anything else.

 

[KeithVH]

Since the G7 doesn't have RAW and both the G7 and H5 are big for a P&S, I'd say the 800IS. It can easily fit in your polo shirt breast pocket. Although if you want impromptu videos, the Sony would be the best (that or the S3IS). But the Sony takes more expensive proprietary cards. And the G7 will have the best image quality with the larger sensor. But I guess my issue would be bulk of those two. Unless you need a lot of manual control or consistently print larger than 5x7, the SD would be the way to go.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Go for the Canon IS one. Avoid Sony, theyre a pain to deal with.