Ultra-Slim Point & Shoot Cameras

[Lessen]

Anybody else in the market this holiday season. I just finished up my shopping for the wife and decided on an Olympus Stylus 820. We have a Canon Digital SLR but she's been hinting for something small that she can whip out at a moments notice. I'm tried to keep the cost in the moderate range since we already have a high dollar camera that does frickin' everything. I was also looking at the Canon Powershot SD750K and the Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-W90.

Anybody have any of these? I've already made the purchase and the battery is charging but I'm just curious if anyone has any input.

 

[FastEddy]

I have last years Sony DSC-T1 and love it.
Its the size of a cigarette pack but only 1/3rd the thickness. Its great for high quality snapshots. When we go out, I carry it in my front pocket and never even notice its there.

HANDY!!

 

[jon2]

This is the one I have and it is just perfect for family use. You can actuall upload music to the removeable memory and run your own slideshow from the camera itself with music! Touchscreen makes it really easy to use.

I found these pics off the net.

 

[Lessen]

When we go out, I carry it in my front pocket and never even notice its there.

now that's conveniant :thumbup:

I like the look of the back of that Jon. Pretty simple looking.

How much optical zoom do your cams have fellas? That's the thing that sold me on the Olympus. It has 5x optical zoom where the other two have 3x. The only bad thing I've read is that the battery life is not so great on the Olympus. gotta give and take right?

 

[Candyman]

Hmmm....think I just added something to my Christmas list.

 

[jon2]

now that's conveniant :thumbup:

I like the look of the back of that Jon. Pretty simple looking.

How much optical zoom do your cams have fellas? That's the thing that sold me on the Olympus. It has 5x optical zoom where the other two have 3x. The only bad thing I've read is that the battery life is not so great on the Olympus. gotta give and take right?

Here is the link to my camera Josh.http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=11040733&XID=O:sony%20n2:dg_dsc_gglsrch

Here is the Zoom specs pulled from that link..

Smart Zoom® Technology
Up to 3.4X (8MP), 4.2X (5MP), 5.3X (3MP), 6.7x (2 MP), 17x (VGA)

Digital Zoom
0-2.0X (Precision)

Optical Zoom
3X

 

[vbgagnon]

We have last years w70, and love it. It is super easy to use, and takes great pics for a point and shoot. If ours would be lost or broken, she has said she would get the exact same one!

 

[WoodiE]

I just picked up the Canon SD950 and love it. I keep it in interior coat pocket and don't even realize it's there. The photos and even video it takes is awesome!




-Michael

 

[Lessen]

I just picked up the Canon SD950 and love it. I keep it in interior coat pocket and don't even realize it's there. The photos and even video it takes is awesome!

yeah, I was looking at that too because it has the steady shot feature, which the less expensive Canon model didn't. Just a bit more than I wanted to spend.

I hope the battery issue isn't really as bad as some personal reviews make it seem. It has a nice battery saver mode which sort of shuts it down (or at least the screen) when you don't do anything for a few moments. I'm sure most cams have that though. It's a sexy little camera though, not quite as boxy looking as most ultra-slims, my wife is sort of style conscious (sp?) too. I charged up the battery and took a few shots.. Looks very nice, vid too. I can't believe how much these little cams will do these days.. pretty nifty. Puts my old Advantix ELPH to shame. Ha!

 

[TalonOne]

I picke dup the Canon Powershot SD750K just before the trip to Alaska and I love it ....whip itout and point a shoot....nu muss no fuss.

And since on a cruise you always have atleast a drink in your hand, it turned out to be a good choice.

Your wife will love the Olympus ....they make gret cams as well.

 

[jetmechG550]

I bought my wife a Canon SD850 for the same reason. We have a Canon 30D and needed something to have around all the time. I liked the fact that it has a view finder and not just the lcd. Office Depot had it on sale and Best Buy matched and made it worth my while to buy there, I saved almost $100 on it, plus we're pretty loyal to Canon.

 

[Lessen]

I liked the fact that it has a view finder and not just the lcd.

I think I may have looked at that online as well. I remember seeing that and thinking it was a little off the norm for something on the smaller side. Seems like everybody is really happy with their small cams. I hope she likes

 

[WoodiE]

Lessen,

I just started a new job about 3-4 weeks ago and right after I started they had me up in Cincinnati, OH for two weeks as training. While I was there I ordered the Canon SD950 from NewEgg for only $350 which came at the time they had a special for that camera, an additional 1GB card and carrying bag. I also went ahead and ordered a class6 4GB card as well.

Anyways as I was in Cincy I went atop of the Carew Tower which is the largest building in downtown Cincy at 49 floors and took the camera along with me. Here is one shot for you to check out:




This is the Paul Brown Stadium from atop of the tower, the camera set to it's highest settings and in the hands of anything but a photographer - me. The image shown is the original photo reduced down to 72dpi 640x480 and saved at 50% quality. If you click on the image it will open the original 4000x3000 180dpi image.

So far I have no complaints of the camera at all. It's casing is made from titanium which is a big plus for me as I keep it in my pocket so I don't have to worry about crushing it. With my 4GB card I can get about 800 pictures of high res photos.

I attended a Christmas party last weekend and took the camera with me and while there I took about 120 photos and about 10mins of video before the battery started complaining, however I was using the LCD all the time. Also please keep in mind this wasn't a fresh charge, I had already had the camera for about a week and half by the time of this party and only charged it once when I got it so it had already been on, off, on, off, taking test photos, test videos and so forth during that time. So considering all the usage before the party I'm very happy with the battery life.

A little tip about the camera, yes it does have all kinds of power saving features but it also has something a lot of compact point and shoot cameras don't have and that's a viewfinder so turn off the LCD when you don't really need it and you'll get a LOT of battery time with this camera or you could always just carry another spare battery.

I went from a large Canon 300D DSLR that I had no idea how to use to this Canon SD950 and love it. It's exactly what I've been looking for, compact, image stabilizer, high res photos. I'd recommend the camera to anyone!



-Michael

 

[Lessen]

That's a pretty impressive photo Woodie. There is some significant distance there. Very nice. I think the picture quality on the Olympus should be pretty good. Certainly not as good as that at that size but still pretty nice for a 5x7 print. I would consider 120 photos and 10 of vid a lot of use for us.. plus, I only got a 512mb card. I'm anxious to see how much use we get out of a full charge.

 

[jetmechG550]

Woodie, that would make an awesome miniature photo! I don't know if you know how to do it using photoshop but give it a try, it takes aerial photos like that and makes them look like models you'd see in a museum or like a model train layout.

 

[Z400]

heres the camera I'm currently using

www.mobilewhack.com/images/nikon_p4-thumb.jpg

its not super small. but man does it take some awesome photos!!

 

[WoodiE]

Woodie, that would make an awesome miniature photo! I don't know if you know how to do it using photoshop but give it a try, it takes aerial photos like that and makes them look like models you'd see in a museum or like a model train layout.

Jet,

What is a mini photo?



-Michael

 

[jetmechG550]

I'll try and find one to post. Basically it takes a real image, like yours and you blur it with photoshop and make a couple other adjustments and it looks like a model. It's pretty cool and fairly simple if I recall.

 

[WoodiE]

After a quick on Google and I came up with this...

-Michael

 

[Candyman]

OK WoodiE. That looks awesome! You are now obligated to divulge your source for the how-to on that...