[Jurisprudent]

Looking to get a good camera for my wife to use with our newborn - I'm into manual controls and all that, but I've got a couple of cameras of my own, and I just want something she can turn on, push the shutter button, and get a very good, sharp picture - consistently.

We've looked some, and have it narrowed down to the SD850IS, SD870IS, Panasonic Lumix FX55, and Fuji F40fd/F50fd. I've seen all but the Fuji, but currently own a Fuji S6000fd, so I'm aware of the low light performance of the Super-CCD. That said, my experience with my S6000 is that "auto" performance is just okay, and great pictures don't come until you at least use Program, or better yet, shutter priority mode (Auto works fine in daylight, but in low light settings tends to choose too high of an ISO). I don't want her to have to fool with such, and don't know if the F40fd/F50fd would require. Also, having not seen them, I'm not sure they would fit in her size constraints, as she wants something very small. (I tried to get her to look at a Canon A720IS but she thought it was too big).

Anyone offer some guidance as to these? I'm especially interested in hearing about the 850IS vs. 870IS, as I've read that the wide angle lens doesn't perform as well as the lens on the 850IS (don't care if I have wide angle or not on this cam). My beef with the 850IS is that coming from my cams that use standard NiMH (AA size) batteries, I'm not thrilled about a camera that's only capable of 230 shots or so as opposed to the 450-500 I can get off a fresh charge w/ 2700 mAH Powerex batteries.

[Couch]

I just bought the Canon SD870IS last week.

LCD is bright and very viewable in all light.

I still haven't been able to mess around with it a whole lot, but have used it a bit.

If you are willing to wait till tonight or tomorrow I can post up some pics I took over the weekend at my aunts lake house.

[ATG]

upcoming panasonic lumix fx-35 -- new engine, intelligent exposure, 25mm wide angle

[Jurisprudent]

Curious to see those 870IS shots - have you seen the 1100IS that is now coming out?

[Couch]

Originally Posted by Jurisprudent

Curious to see those 870IS shots - have you seen the 1100IS that is now coming out?

I'll work on posting a few pics this evening.

I tend to stray away from the comp at home since I'm on one all day. But I'll get those up for you tonight.

I read about the 1100IS coming out in March, while I was doing research. It's a smaller camera for sure. I know absolutely nothing about cameras at all. But after talking to my uncle the 28mm lens in the 870IS was better suited for the typical pictures I would take.

It really comes down to feel when dealing with a p&s. The 870 feels great and easy to hold on to.

[Couch]

As promised.

A few notes about these photos. The air was really hazy, and wind was blowing very strong. I believe I took these all in auto, but may have messed with settings. I felt like complete crap on this day, but wanted to get photos.

[Couch]

Here's a few from a Grand Prix party last Wednesday.

I don't remember which camera settings I used. I don't think it was on auto. I also had quite a few beers in me at this point. And I didn't even attempt to get decent pics. Just used the camera for what it's for....point and shoot.

[Jurisprudent]

Thanks for the pics - Be grateful that your lake has water, most of the ones around here would put your boat on solid ground.

Appreciate it

[Couch]

Originally Posted by Jurisprudent

Thanks for the pics - Be grateful that your lake has water, most of the ones around here would put your boat on solid ground.

Appreciate it

Sure thing. If you get a different camera, I'd like to see the differences.

Actually the first time I've ever been to this lake, Lake Houston. Aunt and Uncle just moved out there. House is nice, but the lake is sorta .

[Icedog_16]

I have the SD850IS. It's a great camera. The image stabilization helps more than I thought it would. My only beef is that they went away from the full-metal case like my old SD110 or the SD1000. Other than that, I'd give it .

[ianbiz]

SD850IS, SD870IS
both pretty good cameras.

[Jurisprudent]

Wound up getting an 850 IS... I'll try to post some pictures once I have something interesting. If it were for me, I'd probably gone with the 870 (assuming I wanted a compact), but for her, I thought I'd save a little money and didn't think the lack of wide angle would be a big deal.

Seems to be a good little camera, so far.

[Couch]

Originally Posted by Jurisprudent

Wound up getting an 850 IS... I'll try to post some pictures once I have something interesting. If it were for me, I'd probably gone with the 870 (assuming I wanted a compact), but for her, I thought I'd save a little money and didn't think the lack of wide angle would be a big deal.

Seems to be a good little camera, so far.

Good to hear. Look forward to some pics.

[Jurisprudent]

Neither of these are really "interesting/good" nor were they taken in great light... (sun was setting on other side of house), however... not bad for mediocre light on a small P&S, IMO. I will say, though, that I didn't realize how much I had gotten use to having a wide angle lens on my Fuji... these were shot at the widest angle the 850 can do (35 mm), which is fine except that it brought in a little distortion, and didn't cover as much as I'm used to. Probably not a big deal, but something to think about nonetheless.

[Couch]

Those are really good pics. The lighting created good and interesting photos of the car.

I see what you mean about the wide-angle though.

[Jurisprudent]

I take that back - I think the bottom one was not shot at 35mm... I could look at the EXIF to verify. As for the distortion... perhaps my house is curved...