I've appointed myself as chairman of the explatory committee for finding a replacement for our old camera.
So far I haven't found too much. So your help would be appreciated.
The requirements I've got so far are:
- ultra-compact point-and-shoot form factor
- quick time from power-on to first shot (<2s if possible?)
- battery capable of 200+ shots (no flash)
- image stabilization
- prefer an internal lens mechanism, à la Sony DSC-T1.
The DSC-T77 and DSC-T700 both seem to be somewhat suitable but I'd sortof like to get a better feel for the competition before I fall back into the Sony camp.
Thoughts? Alternatives?
Canon PowerShot SD880 IS?
I purchased one about 2 weeks ago and haven't had a complaint yet.
How's it do on power-on-to-first-shot time, and battery life?
Canon 5D MkII. Violates the first, fourth, and fifth requirements, but is a great camera. :) You're going to have a hard time getting 200 shots with IS enabled, I'm assuming the battery requirement is when IS and/or screen review is disabled?
And are there really cameras with a >2s startup time? That's awful! My SD630 has about 1s startup, and that includes unfolding the lens, etc. I've had good luck with Canon's SD series of Elphs, though the image quality is always less than I want. Their pixel counts are now so high that they are way over-resolving those shitty lenses, so when you look at your pictures at full size you'll always feel like they're out of focus. However, based on your requirements list, I'm guessing this isn't for taking photos of excellent IQ... just for random shots. In which case, I'd go with a Canon SDxxx.
i just went with a small Panasonic. I tend to favor that brand for almost anything these days... The low end panys are cheap, have optical image stabilization, long battery, video, etc.
Canon.
Canon PowerShot SD880 IS?
I purchased one about 2 weeks ago and haven't had a complaint yet.
I got 500'd and accidentally posted my comment again.
Bonnie and I picked up a Canon SD1100IS last April and we love it. I took 1600+ pics in Europe and I think I recharged the battery only 4 or 5 times when I was mostly using the flash. Check out one of our picture sets from the trip to get an idea of what the camera can do. That wasn't on the top quality level, either. I use a 4GB SDHC card.
Something else to mention is that the SD1100IS has lots of doodads for changing how the pics are taken, if you're inclined to do that. Personally I just point-and-shoot since I don't know what all those fancy settings do.
Apparently you're all on the Canon payroll now.
Rob, which Panasonic do you have?