Recommend a Point and Shoot for Disney trip?

[jillgunter]

I normally use my Canon 60 D DSLR, but thought we would get a cheaper point and shoot in case I dont always feel like carrying it around. Camera gets heavy after a few days! Probably under $200. What is good, I know nothing about P&S these days.

 

[hakepb]

Here is a good overview of good point and shoots as of last Christmas:

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/6698413448/dpreview-recommends-top-5-compact-cameras

You will probably notice that good point and shoots have a MSRP than $200 but you can find sales on an older model.

 

[photo_chick]

If you don't find a point and shoot to meet your needs..... What kind of strap are you using? A good strap that distributes the weight can make a DSLR easier to carry.

 

[havoc315]

My first question is, what type of smart phone (if any) do you carry?
In that price range, most of the options aren't far superior to the better smart phones (iPhone 5, Galaxy S, etc). The main advantage of the traditional p&s being optical zoom. And if that's important to you, you can get an awful lot of optical zoom for $200. The main advantage of the good smart phone -- high definition touch screen, in camera editing, wifi sharing, etc, etc.

If you don't have a smart phone, and/or optical zoom is important -- the Canon sx260 is one of the better compact super zooms, it's around $200.
The Nikon p310 is just under $200, and it has a fast lens.

The cheapest good compact I've seen is the Panasonic lx7-- slightly larger sensor with a very fast lens. Seen it as cheap as $320.

 

[jillgunter]

I do need to get a good strap, I use the one that came with it. Can you recommend a strap?

I have a iPhone 4, and my DH has a android phone. His phone goes dead halfway thru the day, so its not reliable. My phone stays charged for a long time, but for some reason I dont think it takes the greatest photos. My DHs does much better.

 

[havoc315]

I do need to get a good strap, I use the one that came with it. Can you recommend a strap?

I have a iPhone 4, and my DH has a android phone. His phone goes dead halfway thru the day, so its not reliable. My phone stays charged for a long time, but for some reason I dont think it takes the greatest photos. My DHs does much better.

Yes, the iPhone 4 is not a very good camera. The 4s and onward was a major upgrade of the camera.

 

[hakepb]

I do need to get a good strap, I use the one that came with it. Can you recommend a strap?

I have a iPhone 4, and my DH has a android phone. His phone goes dead halfway thru the day, so its not reliable. My phone stays charged for a long time, but for some reason I dont think it takes the greatest photos. My DHs does much better.

Get an external battery pack for DH (and you may eventually want one for MDE/magic band) its like carrying a 2nd small phone. Most have a powered USB port so you can charge a phone on the go. I have a cheap 2500mHA one and that was enough to recharge 2 iPhones from 30% battery.

http://lifehacker.com/five-best-external-battery-packs-509802431

 

[photo_chick]

I do need to get a good strap, I use the one that came with it. Can you recommend a strap?

I have a iPhone 4, and my DH has a android phone. His phone goes dead halfway thru the day, so its not reliable. My phone stays charged for a long time, but for some reason I dont think it takes the greatest photos. My DHs does much better.

I love my Crumpler Industry Disgrace. OP Tech and Black Rapid also make great straps.

On the Android battery... make sure all the junk that runs in the background is turned off. Some Android phones seem to be a lot like Windows computers with a lot of bloatware running when you get them. DH was having similar problems with his phone, it was dead by lunch, and he went in and turned everything off. He can go more than a day without a charge now (his is an old R2D2 3G Droid). I did the same thing when I got my Razr Maxx and my battery will last for a few days that way.