Help with camera choice please

[mickeyluv]

Hi! I'm looking for some advice on a good point and shoot camera. I'm not a photographer, just a mom who needs a camera for vacations, daughter's volleyball & softball games, and just everyday picture taking. I'm not a person that knows anything about manual ISO settings, I want to put it on auto and take pictures. I don't have a lot of money to spend unfortunately and was looking at the Nikon Coolpix S6000 that Target has on sale right now for $139 (regular $199). Would this camera be a good choice? Also would like for it to take decent indoor shots and maybe some video from time to time. I read the reviews on the Coolpix S6000 and they were really good but wanted to ask here . Thanks!

 

[Frantasmic]

Unfortunately, given your parameters and budget, you won't be able to get very good indoor (the volleyball shots) in automatic with a point and shoot at that level.

Photos are generally going to be either very grainy, very dark, or very blurry, due to the automatic settings your camera will try to use to get the shots in the conditions it recognizes.

If you double your budget, you can look at the Canon S95, G12, some panasonic Lumix and maybe the Sony XV5 or HX5.

There just aren't good p and s cameras in the sub-$200 level that automatically take good indoor, low-light or fluorescent lighting, action shots.