Recommended Point and Shoot for Architecture shots?

[tlunnuk]

Few years back I purchased the Canon 870 IS. It has worked well for me and snaps great shots (especially buildings) during the day, but getting decent night shots out of it is difficult as hell. Now I am updating my girlfriend with a new camera and am wondering what are the current best of the best for point and shoot cameras. Needs to be small, take good night shots, have a built in wide angle like my Canon.

 

I am thinking of getting her the current version of my camera, but she hates taking night shots with it. She is a fan of Sony, but I think their stuff is crap. I have heard very good things about Panasonic lately, especially their lenses. I don't know much about Nikon, but photographers I know swear by them.

 

Any suggestions? Price is flexible...i'd rather pay more for a good quality product.

 

thank you for the help

[AJLynn]

Sony stuff isn't crap - since they bought Minolta and partnered with Zeiss they've been making great stuff, and they make a lot of Nikon's sensors anyway - though I can't think of any Sony P&S that would be particularly good for night shooting.

 

I think what you want is something with a good manual mode and raw file abilities, and a decent tripod. There are those who will say Canon G11 or G12 but those are just point&shoots in cases that are too large - the real answer is a Canon S90 or the doesn't-quite-exist-yet Canon S95, which are the same as the G11 and G12 but in pocketable sizes and can do timed exposures to 15 seconds and shoot raw.

[tlunnuk]

Thank you for the suggestion AJLynn, it was a great starting point. Sorry to bash Sony. I honestly don't know much about their camera products, I am just not a fan of many of their other products (tv's, computer, portable) so I am negative about the company in general.

 

Looking around I have identified these products.

 

1) Canon S90 and S95. I would need to do further research on these two. Thus far I don't see enough of an upgrade in the 95 to wait until the end of september.

 

2) Panasonic LX5. Very similar to the S95, just a little better.

 

3) Sony TX9 (or TX7). She is brutal with phones and cameras. I like the way this one is built...might survive a little longer.

 

anyone have a personal opinion between these?

[AJLynn]

No worries, I just like Minolta Sony's a big company, lots of divisions, customer experience can vary. I've never tried a TX series so I can't really comment except to say that its pixel density of 43MP/cm2 is quite high (high is bad, low is good, especially in low light) - the S90 and S95 are 23 and the LX5 is 24. The LX series are always excellent (but hard to find in stock) and now that I look at it I can't figure out what's changed in the S95. Maybe the improved IS is a new feature... most of what's in the announcement are S90 features.

[AJLynn]

Now that I see more detailed info I have to take that back - the S95 adds enough features to be a worthwhile upgrade. 720p video with stereo mics, improved dynamic range compensation, improved controls, and built in HDR maker and price at intro is less than the S90 was.

[Tommy L]

Andrew, what do you make of the built in HDR maker? Will that just be bracketed exposures comped together? Is this something that you've seen in other cameras? Has the potential to make my life much easier and just that little bit more enjoyable...

[aaronrumple]

I'll put in a vote for the Cannon G11's. I got my wife one and it has been a great camera.

[tlunnuk]

I went out this morning and looked at the S90 and the Panasonic LX3. Frankly I am picking the S90 over the LX3 because of the lens cap of all things, though the LX3 seems to be slightly better. I am certain that my girlfriend will scratch the hell out of the lens. That just leaves picking between the S90 and the S95. As pointed out by andrew the S95 has "720p video with stereo mics, improved dynamic range compensation, improved controls, and built in HDR maker." Also has hybrid image stabilization. We never shoot video with our cameras...we never shoot video in general, so the fact that it has HD video doesn't particular grab my interest, but the dynamic range compensation and hybrid image stabilization might be enough to wait. The other tricky part of the decision is that she is taking a big trip in a week and I would like her to have the camera before she leaves.

 

so...buy the S90 now or wait for the S95...tough call, but are the new features enough to warrant waiting a month or more.

[Tommy L]

Get 720 video for the same money? I'd wait. I know you say you dont use it, but you may start to use it when its right there under your finger.

[tlunnuk]

my gut is kind of telling me to hold off and get the S95 as well, of course by then it might be kind of useless since we have no more trips planned for a long long time. Should I return the LX3? They have one left at my local camera store.

[Dave Buchhofer]

I'm personally leaning towards the S95/90 myself, I've tried the LX3, and its larger cousin the GF1.. I just found them a little too large for easy pocket-ability, both have decent to good results and decent interfaces

 

(The big usability change from the LX3 to the LX5 is the scroll wheel, which would help it a LOT vs trying to find things in menu systems.)

 

I haven't gotten to try the s90 yet, but am hopeful its a decent compromise

[tlunnuk]

also comparing the two (s90 and s95), the s95 has a few more advanced shooting modes.

 

"Shooting Modes

Auto, P, Av, Tv, M, C, Low Light, Special Scene (Portrait, Landscape, Kids&Pets, Smart Shutter*, Super Vivid, Poster Effect, Color Accent, Color Swap, High Dynamic Range, Nostalgic, Fish-eye Effect, Miniature Effect, Beach, Underwater, Foliage, Snow, Fireworks, Stitch Assist), Movie (Standard, Miniature Effect, Color Accent, Color Swap).

 

* Smile, Wink Self-timer, Face Self-timer"

 

a few more than the s90. Not that I particularly use half of these, but regardless it seems that I can't go wrong with the s95....its even to say more than I need. The s90 might even be more than i need but the "smart shutter" and "fish eye effect" could be fun.

[AJLynn]

All that stuff about smiles and taking a photo 2 seconds after somebody winks or only if you're the best dressed person in the frame seems quite fluffy to me. Maybe you just get the camera now for the trip...

 

Tom, the auto HDR takes 3 bracketed exposures (I'm assuming it would have to bracket the shutter) and does... something. They weren't completely specific on the details, I''d have to try one out myself to tell you exactly what's it's doing. The DR compensator is different - it's like "active d-lighting" in a Nikon DSLR, uses the head- and foot-room in the raw data to adjust the tone map on the fly from a single shot. YMMV. Personally I never use active d-lighting on my Nikon - if you shoot raw but don't use the raw software supplied with the camera it makes your photos worse.

[tlunnuk]

I always like your posts Andrew. I had to mull it over for a few days and decided that I am going to the get the s90 and let her enjoy the hell out of it on her trip.

 

The hold up was the quick HDR and the hybrid stabilization. The s90 can do hdr...it just takes more work, but frankly this will be our first time processing RAW images anyways so it will just be added to the learning curve.

 

the better stabilization would have been nice, but my 870 works pretty well, especially during daylight. Just can't capture movement at night.

 

I just didn't care enough about the HD video.

 

Thanks for all the help.

[AJLynn]

The S90's IS is still quite usable, it looks like the new system is mostly useful for macro. For the raw processing, the S90 should include some software, not sure which version, but if you use an Adobe package the newer versions of Adobe Camera Raw and Lightroom can handle it, and if you have a Mac you can use Aperture 3, and maybe iPhoto on Snow Leopard. I think if you look at the samples on the DPReview article here: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canons90/ and Ken Rockwell's review here: http://www.kenrockwell.com/canon/s90.htm you'll see it's a powerful camera and it's no D90 but it's not too bad in low light.

[Dave Buchhofer]

I picked up the s95 for myself yesterday, I'm finding it to be quite good in the usability aspect, and pretty poor for battery life so far. first instinct is that it overexposes a bit more consistently than my d90, but again, i haven't gotten to do any real play with it yet!

 

Image quality is about on par with what I've expected so far, very good in good to decent light, i haven't gotten so far as testing out the ISO quality or playing with tougher lighting situations yet though.

 

on the whole, i love the fact that i have a camera that i can carry around again that has usable manual settings and a quick shutter response~ I would have loved the extra wide angle range from the LX3/5, but the depth of the lens makes it pretty uncomfortable as a pocket camera