Need help deciding on which digital camera

[Pooh2]

We picked up the Panasonic Lx5 just before Christmas for $249. The price seems to jump around quite a bit. So far we are very pleased with it as a backup to our DSLR.

 

[My2Girls66]

I bought my dad the Nikon S9300 for Christmas. So far it is nice. I played with a few in the store, including the Canon SX260, a Fuji and an Olympus. Of those, I liked the SX260 and the S9300 for dad. Ended up with with the Nikon partly due to color(they ran out of black in the Canon, fuschia and teal just didn't cut it) and I thought the Nikon handled a touch better. He doesn't really need the 'superzoom' and in hindsight and with more time I may have looked at other models but nothing really stuck out to me in the cheaper p&s's and I waited too long to start looking.
For myself I bought a refurbed Nikon P310. I was looking at the Canon S100 but it was quite a bit more $$. I ran across some photos taken with the P310 and bought it on a whim for $150. It is really good in lowlight and has a wider angle lens(for hiking landscapes) than my little Canon p&s. I am very happy with it.

 

[mikegood2]

I bought my dad the Nikon S9300 for Christmas. So far it is nice. I played with a few in the store, including the Canon SX260, a Fuji and an Olympus. Of those, I liked the SX260 and the S9300 for dad. Ended up with with the Nikon partly due to color(they ran out of black in the Canon, fuschia and teal just didn't cut it) and I thought the Nikon handled a touch better. He doesn't really need the 'superzoom' and in hindsight and with more time I may have looked at other models but nothing really stuck out to me in the cheaper p&s's and I waited too long to start looking.
For myself I bought a refurbed Nikon P310. I was looking at the Canon S100 but it was quite a bit more $$. I ran across some photos taken with the P310 and bought it on a whim for $150. It is really good in lowlight and has a wider angle lens(for hiking landscapes) than my little Canon p&s. I am very happy with it.

That's pretty much the same setup, only newer, that we took to WDW in June 2011 and were very happy with the results. My brother had the S9100, which he has always liked, but the zoom has been acting up for awhile and got him the Panasonic zs20 to replace it. Even though the Nikon super zooms don't get very good reviews, they are very nice cameras. It does appear, at least in the past, that the zoom is more susceptible to issues over time though. Just something for you dad to keep an eye out for.

I borrowed my dads Nikon p300 and still use it 'til this day on occasion. I was looking at the canon s100 at the time, but borrowing his camera worked out much better and cheaper I think you will be very happy with your purchase, it may not be quite as nice as the s100, but they are very comparable and the you can't beat the price you got it for. The image quality is nice and was also very happy with the video. The only thing I wish it had was a RAW mode.

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[My2Girls66]

That's pretty much the same setup, only newer, that we took to WDW in June 2011 and were very happy with the results. My brother had the S9100, which he has always liked, but the zoom has been acting up for awhile and got him the Panasonic zs20 to replace it. Even though the Nikon super zooms don't get very good reviews, they are very nice cameras. It does appear, at least in the past, that the zoom is more susceptible to issues over time though. Just something for you dad to keep an eye out for.

I borrowed my dads Nikon p300 and still use it 'til this day on occasion. I was looking at the canon s100 at the time, but borrowing his camera worked out much better and cheaper I think you will be very happy with your purchase, it may not be quite as nice as the s100, but they are very comparable and the you can't beat the price you got it for. The image quality is nice and was also very happy with the video. The only thing I wish it had was a RAW mode.

Sent from my iPad mini using DISBoards

I have had many p&s's and have never disliked the photo quality of any of them. Even so, I stress about buying them for fear it wont be any good. I tend to over think/research. Shutter lag was the biggest complaint of the older ones, not really an issue now. I am really enjoying the P310. I bought it and took it to France to visit my DD. It did well handheld at night for the lights and indoor in the museums, my DD has a cheap Coolpix and my old D50 but I ended up leaving the P310 with her. She loves it! I bought another one for myself.

 

[joech]

You can also check out the Canon HS320. I took my newly bought HS320 from Costco for $200 along with my Canon 60D DSLR this past Christmas/New year trip. I think I only took the DSLR out twice duing our 12 days trip. The HS320 has decent overall quality and low light performance is not bad.