Can anyone recomend a Sony digital camera?

mommy2paris

DIS Veteran
Joined
Dec 12, 2005
Messages
633
Hi! I currently own an older sony cybershot, 4.1 megapixel & 3x optical zoom. It is a few years old, and staring to show some wear & tear. I have always enjoyed using it, but was never really able to take a decent night shot or moving picture, w/out it being really blurry.
I am in the market for a new camera, before our trip in December.
I already have several memory sticks and would like to get something else Sony, so that I can put them to use.
Can anyone recomend an affordable Sony camera that is currently on the market?
I am by far no expert! :)
TIA!
 
I'm afraid none of the Sonys are comparing very well right now, except for the Sony DSLR line, which does not use the memory stick storage type.

You may want to consider opening up your brand choices, being that memory prices are very reasonable these days.
 
Though I'll politely disagree on whether Sony cameras are stacking up well to any other brand (I personally find Canon/Nikon/Sony/Panasonic/Fuji all basically on the same level of quality, build, and capability, with Kodak, Pentax and Olympus fine choices as well)...I will agree somewhat with the recommendation to not base your decision on your memory cards.

In fact, if your Sony takes the Memory Stick cards, rather than the Memory Stick Duo cards, you're out of luck with using the cards in any of Sony's new cameras. Sony's Duo Memorysticks are about 1/2 the size of the regular ones, and most of their new cameras take those smaller cards only.

One other side-point - re taking night shots or moving pictures without blurriness - the camera is actually rarely ever the problem here. There really is no brand of P&S camera you can buy which will be able to take handheld snapshots at night without blur - it's simply beyond the capabilities of small sensor compact cameras. The closest any have ever come was Fuji's F20/30...but they've since been replaced by newer models that don't perform as well as the older ones.

Really, a little basic photography lesson would help a great deal - even with a 6-year-old compact 3MP el-cheapo cam, you can take a lovely night shot if you follow some basic rules (place the camera on a level surface or tripod, and use the self timer to snap the shot). And for action or moving shots, the same holds true for a $5,000 DSLR camera setup as for a $100 Kodak P&S - light, light, light! The more light the camera has, the more it can stop the motion. Bright afternoon daylight is best.

DSLRs with big sensors and interchangeable lenses can compensate for less light by shooting cleanly at much higher ISO sensitivity than typical P&S cameras, and by using specialized low light lenses designed to admit as much light through the aperture as possible.

If you just want to upgrade your camera to something that is of decent quality, reliable, takes good photographs, is compact, etc - then check out Sony's W300 or other W-series cameras, Canon's SD1100 or other SD-series cameras, or Panasonic's LZ or TZ-series cameras. Most get very good ratings, have respectable image quality and lots of user-controllability, and are all manufacturers with good reputations and build quality. You'll likely be in the $200-300 area for a decent P&S compact in any of these ranges.

But you should try a few techniques with your current camera to improve your photography skills - you might be surprised at what you can accomplish with an older 4MP camera, and find it still can meet all your needs (unless you need to do any shooting for National Geographic anytime soon!). ;)
 
Just to clarify, I have no personal problem with Sony or any other brand. I hate camera brand snobbery!

It's just that I tried to find some favorable ratings on my favorite review sites (Imaging resource, etc.) and couldn't come up with much that makes any of the current Sony point and shoots a better choice than most of the others. I think all brands ebb and flow and it just seems to be kind of an "ebby" time for Sony point and shoots.

If someone feels more comfortable with Sonys though I say go for it!
 

The only Sony camera I recommend is.... oh wait, I don't recommend a Sony camera. They are fantastic for other electronics like video cameras and such, but point and shoot cameras... not so much.

One reason is because they charge for the name. You can get a far less pricey camera that will do all that and more for a much lesser price. The brand that I recommend for quickness and optics is Fuji. They aren't as known as Sony, Nikon or Canon, but for point and shoots they are unbeatable IMO. Sony pns cameras are slow, have a crummy flash and getting the flash to fire at all or on time is hit or miss.

I personally use a Panasonic Lumix TZ5. It's quick enough for me and I love the wide angle feature and the color quality. It also has 10x optical zoom in a small package, which is rare.

I say don't let your memory stick determine which camera you get. I don't recommend using any type of camera memory in more than one camera unless you format it first.

If you have any other questions please feel free to PM me. I sell cameras for a living and I'd be happy to hear more about the kinds of qualities you're looking for in a camera and recommend a few different options for you to go check out in stores.
 
I have a Sony DSC-W70 that I have liked a lot. Here's a link to a review of it.
http://www.digitalcamerareview.com/default.asp?newsID=2786

I got it a over a year ago but it seems like you can still get it - Sony's website has it marked down to what seems like a steal but it is currently out of stock - or maybe was a closeout. I think you can find it around though.

I also like that it's pretty compact but very solid.

I haven't done many action shots with it but here's a few shots that were handheld to show you what you might get with it. I selected mostly night shots since that's one thing you asked about. I think it's a capable P&S cameras. Actually - I was able to get better night shots with it than my DH with his Nikon Coolpix.

I imagine Sony also has a more recent updated version of this model.

Hope some of this helps! :flower3:


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Most cameras these days take SD, which runs about $7 for a 2GB card. I once paid $75 for a 256MB CF card and thought I was getting a good deal!
 















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