05-07-2008, 09:26 AM
Two recommendations.
One, dpreview.com. It's the best site I've found for comparing features and their reviews are, well, way too in depth for you and me, but at least it gives me the impression that they know what they're talking about. And they even log startup times, times between shots, focus time, all that so you can compare.
Two, Casio EX-V7 (or V8].![[Image: 166530799_small.jpg]](http://www.shopbot.com.au/i/2007/3/166530799_small.jpg)
I got one for Jess for her b-day and we're very happy with it. You may not see it sold in brick & motor stores, at least I didn't. 3 features that make it unique are 7x optical zoom, the largest you can find in a subcompact. It also takes great video, with stereo sound and more advanced (MPEG4) compression, which you also won't find in other subcompacts. It also allows optical zooming in video, due to the lens not moving and not protruding from the front of the body, another big advantage IMO.
The image stabilization is apparently not the best, (dpreview was pretty critical of it) I found it to work well enough. I was able to take 7x zoomed pics of moving cars at ISO 200 or less with no blur and little noise, holding it with one hand. Its no DSLR (I've used RJ's a little), but hey, the fact that it could take the shot at all was pretty sweet, and it actually looks good! Heck, I was even able to take shots of other moving cars from our moving car. Performance in low light settings is good too, though they say the flash is weak for its class, and the pre-flash/red-eye thing is a bit annoyingly bright. Image quality, distortion is on par with other subcompacts, nothing special, looks great to me. Burst mode/continuous drive, speed between shots and startup times are fast for the subcompact class. You can even adjust F stops, aperture settings and focus manually, but the auto mode is great too. The only thing I wish it had was a metal body. Oh, and it doesn't have quite as many buttons as I'd prefer on the back, some operations take an extra press or menu access. You can't have everything in a subcompact though. Also it's cheap. Less than $200 easy.
I don't have a whole lot to compare it to personally, we're upgrading from a S230 ELPH Powershot, which I also loved, but it recently stopped working correctly, and is also quite outdated anyway. So surprise, the EX-V7 kicks its ass. I also considered a newer ELPH, because I really like the build quality and mine served me well for many years, but it just doesn't do anything that all the other cameras aren't doing. Maybe I'm too easily impressed, but hey, all the features that make it unique actually work, it's fast, and it does everything else that you'd expect well.
One, dpreview.com. It's the best site I've found for comparing features and their reviews are, well, way too in depth for you and me, but at least it gives me the impression that they know what they're talking about. And they even log startup times, times between shots, focus time, all that so you can compare.
Two, Casio EX-V7 (or V8].
I got one for Jess for her b-day and we're very happy with it. You may not see it sold in brick & motor stores, at least I didn't. 3 features that make it unique are 7x optical zoom, the largest you can find in a subcompact. It also takes great video, with stereo sound and more advanced (MPEG4) compression, which you also won't find in other subcompacts. It also allows optical zooming in video, due to the lens not moving and not protruding from the front of the body, another big advantage IMO.
The image stabilization is apparently not the best, (dpreview was pretty critical of it) I found it to work well enough. I was able to take 7x zoomed pics of moving cars at ISO 200 or less with no blur and little noise, holding it with one hand. Its no DSLR (I've used RJ's a little), but hey, the fact that it could take the shot at all was pretty sweet, and it actually looks good! Heck, I was even able to take shots of other moving cars from our moving car. Performance in low light settings is good too, though they say the flash is weak for its class, and the pre-flash/red-eye thing is a bit annoyingly bright. Image quality, distortion is on par with other subcompacts, nothing special, looks great to me. Burst mode/continuous drive, speed between shots and startup times are fast for the subcompact class. You can even adjust F stops, aperture settings and focus manually, but the auto mode is great too. The only thing I wish it had was a metal body. Oh, and it doesn't have quite as many buttons as I'd prefer on the back, some operations take an extra press or menu access. You can't have everything in a subcompact though. Also it's cheap. Less than $200 easy.
I don't have a whole lot to compare it to personally, we're upgrading from a S230 ELPH Powershot, which I also loved, but it recently stopped working correctly, and is also quite outdated anyway. So surprise, the EX-V7 kicks its ass. I also considered a newer ELPH, because I really like the build quality and mine served me well for many years, but it just doesn't do anything that all the other cameras aren't doing. Maybe I'm too easily impressed, but hey, all the features that make it unique actually work, it's fast, and it does everything else that you'd expect well.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a van is a good guy with a van