Any new compact cameras worth a look ?

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Full disclosure: That's not my camera. It belongs to a guy I ran into in Acadia about 5 years ago. I posted the picture in response to the claim that a camera must have a view finder to be a "real" camera. This camera produced the most beautiful, crisp, vivid photographs I have ever seen. Ever. This camera does NOT have a viewfinder.

Yep, if She Who Takes Better Pictures would let me keep a mule here, I'd have one.
 
Yesterday, I found that Target has the Canon SX130 for $99 "online only" w/free shipping. My 570is is on its last legs after falling off a moving car and having it's shell replaced a year ago. I will miss the viewfinder, but the price is right and the 12x zoom and wide angle will be nice.
 
A CCD exposes the entire image all at once, while a CMOS sensor (at least, all those on the market today) exposes one horizontal scan line at a time, top to bottom. This is called a rolling shutter. The result is that your target, if it's moving (or you're moving, taking video) can be skewed or wobble, because it was in one place when the sensor recorded the top of the image but is in a different place by the time the sensor records the bottom of the image. You can even end up with wacky exposure issues if you're at an event and someone else's camera fires a flash while you're taking a photo or recording video you can end up with part of your frame light and part of it dark.

That said, a CMOS sensor is more energy efficient, and does not have the issues a CCD has with bright lights causing overloading resulting in a vertical smear in the final image.

So my feeling is that if you're going to shoot video, or a lot of stills of moving objects, go CCD. If the issues noted with CMOS sensors are not a problem for you, I have no other reasons to avoid a CMOS sensor.
 
Yesterday, I found that Target has the Canon SX130 for $99 "online only" w/free shipping. My 570is is on its last legs after falling off a moving car and having it's shell replaced a year ago. I will miss the viewfinder, but the price is right and the 12x zoom and wide angle will be nice.

that sx130 rates better than my sd870, at about a third what I paid for the 870. Granted that was about 4 years ago, but I'm still a bit annoyed...not for you...good on you, great catch.
 
The SX130 will be poorer in low light, and it's not as sharp as the SD870, but it has added versatility of the long zoom and better video plus new features. I suspect you'll be happy with it.
 
I'm looking at the s95. May as well spend a little more money this holiday season. :rolleyes: 3 or 400 every 3 or 4 years isn't too bad I guess.
There have been some good bargains on the s95 recently--I have seen it as low as $229 (no longer available). You might be able so save a few pennies if you look around. Prices on the S100 haven't been as low.

Doug
 
I was given the Olympus "Tough" TG-610, for Christmas. Apparently the design is several years old. I wanted a "waterproof" camera to take with me for some snorkeling in Aruba, and to take with me on kayaking trips. The underwater photos were taken South of Key West, Florida. They product liturature lists it as 15 feet waterproof. I was chatting with the helmsman/captain on the snorkel trip and he reported that his clients were telling him that they were happy with their current crop of waterproof point and shoot cameras. I am very happy with the TG-610 as a "take only one camera for a multifaceted adventure".

The zoom in the TG-610 is only 5X. I continue to be very happy with my Nikon P90 for its 24X zoom and some other features and will continue to take it with me hiking and for dry, comfortable conditions.

Underwater photos of tangs at about 6'
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/64073599

I have no egrets :rolleyes:with the zoom at about 50'
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/64100848

More underwater photos on wikiloc.
http://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=2342414
 
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I took these today on my lunch time walk on S. Pack today with the new SX130. These are straight from the camera, no editing. I also played with it last night in low light, and it was much better than the A570is. For $99, I am very happy!

There was some haze today, but in the past I could never get Mt Washington to come out clearly on the A570is, and this isn't even at full optical zoom on the SX130.



Boston



Snow guns running on Wachusett, hand held at full optical and digital zoom.
 
Thanks Dave, I usually don't use digital zoom, but I was just playing around with it today to see what the results looked like.
All of my previous cameras have had 4x optical or less, so your prediction the I would be happy with the SX130 was spot on! I can't afford the best, but I'm happy to cherry pick when clearance time comes around.
 
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*drool*

It, or its successor (as it will be a year or two) could well be my next camera, too. The dSLR isn't going away, but I think I may be done with low-end point-and-shoots: the iPhone 4S is doing an excellent job of being my carry-around quick-shot camera.
 
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I know a lot of you really want a camera that takes AA batteries and has an optical viewfinder. See my latest post about the just-announced Canon A1300, which is both of those things.
 
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