Camera

[DisneyTracy73]

I'm in need of some advice on digital cameras. We are looking for suggestions on a good digital camera that is good in low light and has a decent zoom. I can't put out the money for a good DSLR right now and I'm also wanting something that is good in Disney world that is compact. The camera I currently have is a Fuji and it is excellent in taking daytime outdoor pics and some indoor (depending on lighting) it has a good optical zoom but the sport function is horribly compared to my old Kodak and the night is worse. I don't expect professional pics at night but I want them good. We have heard that one of the Sony cybershots WX100 is good for low light but the zoom is ok. Anybody have any recommendations? Any help would b great

 

[photo_chick]

A lot of getting great low light pictures is knowing how. Some cameras do better than others on auto, but most cameras out right now can get you something if you know how to get out of the auto modes. I'm not talking extreme low light, but shooting indoors at night with normal room lighting.

The thing with long zoom is that most point and shoots do not have a constant aperture (that f/ number you see on a lens). The aperture is what lets light into the lens and you want that to be a big opening, which means a lower number. Wihtout a constant aperture when you zoom in on something, making the focal legnth longer, the aperture gets smaller (larger number) and lets in less light. This is part of why you don't find a lot of superzooms with really wide apertures.

It's also important to understand that the change in aperture can mean that a camera that is good in low light at a wide focal legnth may not be at a longer focal length. An example of where this comes into play is the RX100.. it's solid in low light when the lens is pulled in, that is when it's not zoomed in on something and the shot is wide. But when you zoom in and make the focal length longer the aperture gets smaller and it won't do as well in low light.

Bottom line.. you may have to compromise a little on what you want. Decide which is more important to you, superzoom or low light.

 

[SplashMo]

The SONY RX100 is nice. For a zoon the panasonic fz200 is nice. For less money the canon S95 and S100...

 

[havoc315]

As Photochick explained, "good zoom" and "low light" are generally mutually exclusive, as they require very different lenses. There are some SLR lenses that are specially made to do both, but those lenses (just the lenses) can run in the thousands of dollars.

There are plenty of P&S cameras with very good zoom, where you will get fair low light performance. (Shoot in fairly bright interiors without flash).
For true low light situations (the extreme being Disney dark rides), very few P&S cameras can accomplish decent images.
The Sony RX100 is very good in low light. And yes, it can capture even Disney dark rides, though images may be a bit noisy. (I have posted a few). But the zoom on the camera, while totally adequate for most situations, does not compare to the super zoom found in other cameras.

So putting aside price, you need to decide on your priority:
Being able to zoom in on the head of the distant giraffe while on Animal Kingdom Safari...
Or being able to take rich pictures in the evening and dark ride pics without necessarily using a flash.

 

[zackiedawg]

Also depending on what your budget is, and what you consider to be 'compact'...one outside idea that might work would be to look at a closeout sale on a basic mirrorless camera, such as the Olympus Pen, Panasonic G/GH series, or Sony NEX cameras. Older models from last year are going as low as $250-350 for bodies, or vicinity of $400 with a kit lens. This too will be a compromise, as you still won't be able to get one with a huge zoom range with the basic kit lens...but being interchangeable lens cameras, you can ADD a zoom lens to use when you need reach, or the smaller lens when you need compact or indoor. Any of these cameras will do significantly better in low light than most all P&S cameras, as the sensors they use are 10-12 times larger than the P&S camera sensors. Even with a basic kit lens, these cameras can shoot in low light situations far beyond when a P&S camera would be useful.

The RX100 mentioned above is also a decent option for a fixed lens camera, if you can give up on the zoom reach - it has a larger sensor than other P&S cameras, and a little smaller than the Olympus and Panasonic mirrorless cameras - sort of an 'in between' sensor size that performs very well in low light.

 

[DisneyTracy73]

I guess my camera I have is good
For the zoom, I guess I mainly wanting decent, not necessarily excellent, of like night time activities at Disney world. Buildings lite up at night, parades, etc we will b going at Christmas time. I have fooled around with my camera, changed settings experimented with other settings and positions and my pics just aren't decent enough to scrapbook, I would love to put the money into SLR , but it's just not doable right now. Thanks for the help.

 

[photo_chick]

Which Fuji do you have? My husband was using my daughters S1000 (4 or 5 generations old now) on our last trip and it did very well for parades and some panoramas he did at night. The auto modes it has didn't give the best results though so he was using manual mode.

 

[DisneyTracy73]

I don't remember the model I bought it two years ago and I have tried the manual modes and I just don't get the very good results. I don expect them
To be excellent or perfect but I had a cheap Kodak I bought on black Friday for around $100 and it took good action shots and night shots but now it's older and I wanted something with clearer pics. I can get decent parade shots if it's during the day.

 

[SplashMo]

The Panasonic FZ200 is the latest and greatest super zoom... It is big.

The Sony RS100 is very nice.