good camera - Rs 10,000

[rickenjus]

first thing first....
It will be my First digital camera and I know nothing about cameras .. Before this I was using REEL wala camera..

What's your budget?
Rs 10,000

Camera type?
Point and Shoot/ bridge

Body Style?
Although doesnt matter but Compact preferred

How much zoom do you
want/expect?
Kitna bhi chalega..

Do you care for manual exposure controls?
Good if present otherwise not a problem

What will you be shooting with this
camera?
Mostly family photos in different occasions. Also my sisters will be using for self potraits ( no duck face).

Will you be shooting mostly indoors/low light and/or action/sports? Video?
Indoor+low light+ video.

Do you have any particular model(s) in your mind?

Nikon Coolpix S6500..
after reading this review in thinkdigit " Best cameras for lowlight photography under 15k - Digital Cameras | SLR Camera | ThinkDigit Features "

Fujifilm S4500 Point & Shoot
(read reviews in flipkart)

Any brand preference?
No

From where will you be buying?
Online or Local store

Any other features you
need?
Dont know .. although OIS will do good ..

Anything else you would like to tell us?
I will be happy to explore photogrpahy if I get time. I am an absolute novice, any camera or feature which will help in developing photography skill will be appreciated..

 

[srkmish]

Panasonic lz 20

 

[rickenjus]

thanks for the quick rply..
but few flipkart reviews said low light performance is not good..??

also what you say about Nikon Coolpix S6500??

 

[srkmish]

Yeah the low light is not good it seems. However, i was impressed by the following guy's photos on flicker using the panasonic lz 20. Check it out. Regarding the nikon one, i doubt any low sensor p&s can really deliver 'good' pics in low light

Flickr: Rory Huntingford's Photostream

 

[rickenjus]

however this article from digit clearly states that it outperfom the rest lot...
Best cameras for lowlight photography under 15k - Digital Cameras | SLR Camera | ThinkDigit Features

 

[nac]

IXUS 255 should fit the bill (but it doesn't have manual exposure controls).
WX150, if you do more video. (again no manual exposure controls).

In this budget, manual exposure control + video ??? I don't see anything decent.

Note: With Canon, you have a choice to use CHDK to explore those manual controls.

 

[rickenjus]

@nac.. I dont know much about manual setting as I have never used before.. But I would love to learn photography, Im building some interest now.
So as Starter/learner will WX150 suffice as a basic photography camera (from what I read from online reviews it produces better low light shots but most of settings are automatic.)
or should I look to CANON 255 HS, as you said CHDK should emulate manual settings, but as of now its not in the chdk supported device list..

 

[nac]

Weigh both the cameras side by side and decide. Only you will what's more important to you.

Canon
Better IQ (If you are not a pixel peeper, it's not a big deal)
CHDK (We can't add this as +, as it's not available for this camera yet)
Wifi
Macro

Sony
Better battery life (Almost all the Canon compacts are average to below average battery life)
Some extra frills like Panorama, HDR etc...
Better video
Better burst speed
Cheaper

Personally, I like the body of Canon over Sony.

 

[rickenjus]

You mean canon has better IQ than sony.... even though sony has an Exmor CMOS Sensor??

also what is the chance that CHDK will NOT be released for canon 255 HS ???

and last thing.. for learning/understanding photography as a begineer will it be better to choose canon 255 hs over sony wx150 because of chdk..i.e. more manual controls..

 

[nac]

Yes, Canon is better than Sony (I mean IXUS 255 is better than WX150).

If you ask me, I would find it little difficult to pick between these two.

Panorama, HDR - I can get it in PP.
Video - I don't fancy it.
But battery life and burst speed, I would love to have them in my camera.

On the other hand, I don't want to miss macro and CHDK.

Yes, CHDK will come in handy to try and tweak some settings. But you have to know that you have to dig into the menu options to set the options every time you want to change them.

 

[rickenjus]

1. what is PP ??

2. does wx150 has any limit on recording hd videos like canon..

3. can we defocus background in wx150.. and I have seen some of our clicks on flickr.. will I be able to shoot such pics with wx 150..??

I think I will be buying wx150.. probably next week ...

 

[nac]

PP - Post processing.
Each and every still camera have some limitation on video recording.
I have heard Fuji, Sony models have defocus mode, but I don't know whether WX150 have that feature or not. I don't what picture you are talking about (our clicks???), I guess you can. If not, atleast most...

Cool After buying post the pictures in photography thread.

 

[rickenjus]

I am increasing my budget to rs 15,000 now..
any better option or these are still the best I can get ????

 

[nac]

If you are lucky and can find stock, you can get SX240/260 or TZ30/25 in your budget. These are sold out and the ones who have stock are selling at higher price.

The surprise is TZ30 and TZ25 is available for around ~13k and ~12k respectively. Check TZ30 TZ25

I am really surprised to see them available at this price range. Better hurry and buy it, before they go out of stock. Good luck... If I am buying, I would be filling up the order now than posting my reply here

 

[sujoyp]

wow thats actually cheap...TZ30 was selling for 17-18k just a month ago

 

[nac]

Yeah. When it was widely available (may be around April, May), it was selling around 14k.

 

[rickenjus]

I think I will go with canon SX260..
reason..
i read many reviews online saying that IQ of sx260 is better than tz30( which is my first priority )
.. and second chdk for sx260 is available online, so I can get raw image.

.. so is this a right decision.. ??

 

[sujoyp]

yup ...absolutely right

 

[nac]

^^ Sure you can go for SX, but as far as I know it's not available. If you can find it online, post the link here... So that it would be helpful if someone who wants to buy SX.

 

[rickenjus]

@sujoy @nac... bro u were right I visited few shops today and nowhere is the sx260 to be found...
I was told it is discontinued and was asked to select models from ixus series.

From online reviews 255hs and 240hs are looking quite good..

1. how are ixus 255 hs and ixus 240 hs..?? (Im inclining more towards 255hs)

2. whether ixus 255 is comparable to sx260.. ??

i know ixus 255 has 10x optical zoom against 20x of sx260 but thats okay for me.. and for manual controls I will wait for its chdk to be released..

3. anything else that I will be missing in ixus 255...??

and if sx260 is worth buying and far ahead of ixus 255hs/240hs I will search for it in more shops...!!

Please give an elaborated and detailed explanation, as i will be purchasing one tomorrow..

thank you...