Looking for some good recommendations

[DisneyGuess]

I'm hoping to get some decent recommendations for a higher end P&S camera. I have a Canon Powershot Elph 100 HS, which I'm usually happy with, but my pics at DW weren't as good as I wanted.
So I've decided to look at some better P&Ss, something in between the basic P&S & the DSLRs.
Any thoughts?

 

[Shutterbug]

How much are you willing to spend?
What is exactly wrong with your photos that you dont like that you think a better camera would fix?

 

[Anal Annie]

I am certainly no expert but I have been a diehard Cannon fan since like 1979. I got the bug to get a new P&S to replace my Powershot 2 days before our trip to Europe & the Med last summer. I ended up with a Sony Cybershot DSC-H70. I have been very happy with it. I bought a new 16 GB Flashcard for my Cannon DSLR before the trip and do you know I was so thrilled with not having that big thing hanging off of me that I didn't even take it out of the bag ONCE in 15 days?! I got a case for the Sony that slipped onto my belt and I loved having the freedom to have it right there when I wanted it but not weighing me down. It has a 10x zoom which was really important to me for this trip as my go to lens on my DSLR is a 18-200 so I wanted that type of range which is hard to find in a P&S at a reasonable price. It also had a very high ISO which allowed me to take a lot of pictures inside without a flash. Flash wasn't allowed in most of the museums & cathedrals we visited and I never would've gotten good hand held shots with my DSLR but this was a breeze and I was so thankful to have it.

I was also less concerned with someone trying to steal it all the time as we were very aware of pickpockets & such throughout the whole trip. I think I got some pretty good shots with the Sony and was very happy with it and at least 99% of the pics that I took. (I put a lot in my Trip Report / Blog if you want to see some of them.) I still can't believe I didn't use my DSLR even once but I was happy with the shots I was getting on the Sony. I had to do very little color correcting or editing on them too which I was grateful for since I took about 1,700 pics.

You should be able to find it for around $180 if you're interested in checing it out further. I also picked up a 16 GB SD card for it plus a spare rechargable battery. I swapped out the battery every day and was so glad I had a spare as we took between 200-250 pics per day which drained it daily. But my old Powershot ran on AA batteries so those would've been a REAL pain to keep up with!! Good luck!!

 

[DisneyGuess]

I'm looking to spend between $200-$300. When outside with my P&S, the photos are all washed out. & weird washed out looking color in the middle of all of them. It's odd because my camera before this one was the older Canon Powershot model of the one I have & it took awesome shots, no matter where I was. So I'm disappointed in this newer version.

The Sony CyberShot DSC-H70 is actually one of the ones I looked at yesterday. I wanted to come home & do some research before I bought anything. The Sony gets good reviews so it's good to see that name come up. I may look into it further. It sounds like exactly what I'm looking for. Thanks!!

I also looked at the Nikon CoolPix L120 & a Canon PowerShot SX150. There were a few Fuji's also but I liked those 3 the best for how they fit in my hand, look, etc. But, now I'm kind of gun-shy on the Canons.

 

[Anal Annie]

Oh I am quite famililar with that washed out problem but didn't really experience that with this Sony. Nikon was out of my price range for the zoom I wanted and such a last minute purchase (and days prior to a very pricey trip). Here's just a few samples from the Sony. I'm still very happy with it considering the inexpensive cost. (Oh, and I took a LOT of these pictures while I was still walking!!):

Disneyland Paris:

Inside Notre Dame (where it was pretty dark). I had to hold the camera up high a lot in here in order to not have a bunch of other peoples heads in the bottom of the shots. It probably would've been better if my hand was steadier:

The Eiffel Tower during the day & at night:

The port of Villefranche - the colors were vibrant!

(in the Cinque Terre), Italy:

Lemons & peppers in Sorrento:

Oh, and here's a panoramic from the panoramic mode - this is in the Pantheon in Rome:

This one is early in the morning in the harbor at Villefranche - it did get a little light over towards where the sun was coming up.

One more panoramic - this is looking sort of west in the afternoon from the top of the Eiffel Tower:

 

[DisneyGuess]

Beautiful shots!!! Love them all & I think you just helped me pick my new camera! Thank you so much for sharing! I love the castle at Disneyland Paris & all of those places are too beautiful for words!

 

[Anal Annie]

Beautiful shots!!! Love them all & I think you just helped me pick my new camera! Thank you so much for sharing! I love the castle at Disneyland Paris & all of those places are too beautiful for words!

Thanks...but I am surprised that nobody else has weighed in yet with some other opinions. I guess everybody on this board are only die-hard DSLR peeps.