Best Coolpix for HD and low light too?

"Neil Harrington" wrote :

>
> "Jane Galt" wrote in message
>
>> I'd like to consider a newer purse sized Coolpix. I have the 4500 which
>> is nice, but not exactly purse sized.
>>
>> I like to do a bit of low-light shooting without flash, so it looks
>> like the
>> S8000 isnt up to that, though the 10x optical zoom sounds nice.
>>
>> I enjoy mostly scenery and non-flash shots of our shoulder pet birds.
>>
>> My purse cam is now a Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-S750 but the image quality
>> isnt as
>> nice as the Coolpix. I suspect Nikon makes better quality lenses?
>>
>> So suggestions?
>>
>> I need to keep this in the under $300 street price range.
>
> Of the current crop of Coolpixes, the S640 looks about the best for your
> purposes. Its lens is a relatively fast f/2.7 at the short end and it
> also has Nikon's "4-way VR" -- both of which will help in low-light
> shooting. The "4-way VR" is actually a combination of optional features
> and includes Nikon's exclusive Best Shot Selector feature, by itself a
> big help in low-light shooting (BSS lets you hold the shutter release
> down for up to 10 shots, then saves the sharpest one; since
> slow-shutter-speed shots usually vary a lot in sharpness, this helps a
> great deal). Also part of the "4-way VR" is the camera's offering auto
> ISO settings up to 6400 -- great for low light, though at the cost of
> increased noise. I have found high-ISO settings very useful in Coolpixes
> despite the increased noise, but I may be more tolerant of noise in
> photos than some other people.
>
> I don't have that particular model myself so can't speak about it from
> experience, but I do have a gaggle of other relatively recent Coolpixes
> and have consistently fine results from them all. The S640 has a MSRP of
> $219.95, so street price should certainly be no more than that. And it
> is very compact -- no problem at all for your purse, you could carry two
> or three there if you wanted to.

Before coming back here to see this, I've been loking around, and am very
tempted by the Powershot SD4000IS now, except for the price. Whew. Then the
Coolpix S8000 is PHAT too. <sigh> What to do, what to do....




--
- Jane Galt
 >> Stay informed about: Best Coolpix for HD and low light too? 

Looking some more, the S90 is also tempting, so it's between the

S90 $350
S8000 $250
and SD4000IS $350

It would stretch the budget for the more expensive two ( $350 street price )
if it would bring $100 more joy to my shooting, but what's a credit card for?




--
- Jane Galt
 >> Stay informed about: Best Coolpix for HD and low light too? 

"Jane Galt" wrote in message

> Looking some more, the S90 is also tempting, so it's between the
>
> S90 $350
> S8000 $250
> and SD4000IS $350
>
> It would stretch the budget for the more expensive two ( $350 street
> price )
> if it would bring $100 more joy to my shooting, but what's a credit card
> for?
>
>
>
>
> --
> - Jane Galt

If you're paying that much you might as well get a DSLR - the larger
sensor will make for better low-light performance.

David
 >> Stay informed about: Best Coolpix for HD and low light too? 

On Thu, 17 Jun 2010 14:50:08 +0100, "David J Taylor"
wrote:

>"Jane Galt" wrote in message
>
>> Looking some more, the S90 is also tempting, so it's between the
>>
>> S90 $350
>> S8000 $250
>> and SD4000IS $350
>>
>> It would stretch the budget for the more expensive two ( $350 street
>> price )
>> if it would bring $100 more joy to my shooting, but what's a credit card
>> for?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> - Jane Galt
>
>If you're paying that much you might as well get a DSLR - the larger
>sensor will make for better low-light performance.
>
Jane specified in her first post that she wanted a "purse-sized"
camera. No dslr is truly purse-sized.

I can see why someone wants a pocket-sized or purse-sized camera to
carry around. There are times you want to have a camera available but
not carry around a large dslr. Ideally, you should have a good dslr
and a good p&s and take whichever one that suits the situation.


--
Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida
 >> Stay informed about: Best Coolpix for HD and low light too? 

On Thu, 17 Jun 2010 14:50:08 +0100, "David J Taylor"
wrote:

>"Jane Galt" wrote in message
>
>> Looking some more, the S90 is also tempting, so it's between the
>>
>> S90 $350
>> S8000 $250
>> and SD4000IS $350
>>
>> It would stretch the budget for the more expensive two ( $350 street
>> price )
>> if it would bring $100 more joy to my shooting, but what's a credit card
>> for?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> - Jane Galt
>
>If you're paying that much you might as well get a DSLR - the larger
>sensor will make for better low-light performance.
>
>David

Now add in the $1,500 to $15,000 needed for lenses to make it the least bit
functionally equivalent in image quality to P&S cameras. Why do you
DSLR-Trolls always forget that important bit of information?
 >> Stay informed about: Best Coolpix for HD and low light too? 

> Jane specified in her first post that she wanted a "purse-sized"
> camera. No dslr is truly purse-sized.

Agreed. Interesting to see how the higher-price small-sensor cameras can
be similar in price to the lower-end DSLRs, though.

> I can see why someone wants a pocket-sized or purse-sized camera to
> carry around. There are times you want to have a camera available but
> not carry around a large dslr. Ideally, you should have a good dslr
> and a good p&s and take whichever one that suits the situation.
>
>
> --
> Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida

Yes, I take around either a DSLR (with one, two or thee lenses), or a
purse-sized (105 x 59.2 x 36.7 mm) compact camera, and sometimes both.

Cheers,
David
 >> Stay informed about: Best Coolpix for HD and low light too? 

"Jane Galt" wrote in message

> "Neil Harrington" wrote :
>
>>
>> "Jane Galt" wrote in message
>>
>>> I'd like to consider a newer purse sized Coolpix. I have the 4500 which
>>> is nice, but not exactly purse sized.
>>>
>>> I like to do a bit of low-light shooting without flash, so it looks
>>> like the
>>> S8000 isnt up to that, though the 10x optical zoom sounds nice.
>>>
>>> I enjoy mostly scenery and non-flash shots of our shoulder pet birds.
>>>
>>> My purse cam is now a Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-S750 but the image quality
>>> isnt as
>>> nice as the Coolpix. I suspect Nikon makes better quality lenses?
>>>
>>> So suggestions?
>>>
>>> I need to keep this in the under $300 street price range.
>>
>> Of the current crop of Coolpixes, the S640 looks about the best for your
>> purposes. Its lens is a relatively fast f/2.7 at the short end and it
>> also has Nikon's "4-way VR" -- both of which will help in low-light
>> shooting. The "4-way VR" is actually a combination of optional features
>> and includes Nikon's exclusive Best Shot Selector feature, by itself a
>> big help in low-light shooting (BSS lets you hold the shutter release
>> down for up to 10 shots, then saves the sharpest one; since
>> slow-shutter-speed shots usually vary a lot in sharpness, this helps a
>> great deal). Also part of the "4-way VR" is the camera's offering auto
>> ISO settings up to 6400 -- great for low light, though at the cost of
>> increased noise. I have found high-ISO settings very useful in Coolpixes
>> despite the increased noise, but I may be more tolerant of noise in
>> photos than some other people.
>>
>> I don't have that particular model myself so can't speak about it from
>> experience, but I do have a gaggle of other relatively recent Coolpixes
>> and have consistently fine results from them all. The S640 has a MSRP of
>> $219.95, so street price should certainly be no more than that. And it
>> is very compact -- no problem at all for your purse, you could carry two
>> or three there if you wanted to.
>
> Before coming back here to see this, I've been loking around, and am very
> tempted by the Powershot SD4000IS now, except for the price. Whew. Then
> the
> Coolpix S8000 is PHAT too. <sigh> What to do, what to do....

Buy one of each?

The S8000's lens is just over 2/3 stop slower (f/3.5 vs f/2.7 of the S640),
which gives the S640 a slight advantage in low-light shooting, all else
being equal. Also the S8000 does not have quite the wide-angle capability of
the S640 (30mm equiv. vs 28mm), which might be of some importance to you
since you've mentioned your interest in scenery. These are reasons I
suggested the S640 as being perhaps the best choice for your purposes.

Yes, the 10x zoom is nice, provided it works well. I had (very briefly) a
Coolpix S10 which also had a 10x zoom, nice lens except for its horribly
unreliable autofocus at the longer focal lengths, which made it practically
useless. I promptly returned it for that reason, the only Coolpix I have
ever returned. Of course that doesn't mean the S8000 has a similar problem,
but it did tend to make me leery of superzoom lenses in very small cameras.

Other than that, the S8000 has what advantages? It's a 14-megapixel camera
instead of the S640's 12, but the 12 is already cramming far too many pixels
into such a tiny sensor as far as I'm concerned. I have Coolpixes in 8, 10,
12 and 14 megapixels -- and I routinely set them all to 5 megapixels. The
Great Megapixel Race serves no purpose as far as I can see except to help
manufacturers sell more cameras to people who think their pictures aren't
sharp because they don't have enough megapixels.
 >> Stay informed about: Best Coolpix for HD and low light too? 

On Thu, 17 Jun 2010 15:02:00 -0400, "Neil Harrington"
wrote:

>Yes, the 10x zoom is nice, provided it works well. I had (very briefly) a
>Coolpix S10 which also had a 10x zoom, nice lens except for its horribly
>unreliable autofocus at the longer focal lengths, which made it practically
>useless. I promptly returned it for that reason

Good. Then it eventually fell into the hands of someone that knows how to
use cameras properly.

Contrast detection focusing depends on the camera being able to latch onto
any contrasting edges. When fools like you wildly wave around a long
focal-length lens and then expect the camera to compensate for your lack of
coordination and imbecility it won't be able to focus.

Thanks for proving to the world what a moronic, inept, imbecilic, and
uncoordinated buffoon that you are. Not to mention providing a "refurb"
priced camera to someone that probably has far more talent than you will
ever have in 10 lifetimes.

LOL!
 >> Stay informed about: Best Coolpix for HD and low light too? 

"David J Taylor" wrote :

> "Jane Galt" wrote in message
>
>> Looking some more, the S90 is also tempting, so it's between the
>>
>> S90 $350
>> S8000 $250
>> and SD4000IS $350
>>
>> It would stretch the budget for the more expensive two ( $350 street
>> price )
>> if it would bring $100 more joy to my shooting, but what's a credit card
>> for?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> - Jane Galt
>
> If you're paying that much you might as well get a DSLR - the larger
> sensor will make for better low-light performance.
>
> David
>
>

Its for my purse, dont want something big that I gotta carry separately.


--
- Jane Galt
 >> Stay informed about: Best Coolpix for HD and low light too? 

tony cooper wrote :

> On Thu, 17 Jun 2010 14:50:08 +0100, "David J Taylor"
> wrote:
>
>>"Jane Galt" wrote in message
>>
>>> Looking some more, the S90 is also tempting, so it's between the
>>>
>>> S90 $350
>>> S8000 $250
>>> and SD4000IS $350
>>>
>>> It would stretch the budget for the more expensive two ( $350 street
>>> price )
>>> if it would bring $100 more joy to my shooting, but what's a credit
card
>>> for?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> - Jane Galt
>>
>>If you're paying that much you might as well get a DSLR - the larger
>>sensor will make for better low-light performance.
>>
> Jane specified in her first post that she wanted a "purse-sized"
> camera. No dslr is truly purse-sized.
>
> I can see why someone wants a pocket-sized or purse-sized camera to
> carry around. There are times you want to have a camera available but
> not carry around a large dslr.

Exactly. I'd love to have a nice Nikon DSLR, so I could have a polarizing
lens and all, but it IS for my purse and I already have a bunch of stuff in
there, including the XD-45 ACP, so it's already pretty full and slightly
heavy.




--
- Jane Galt
 >> Stay informed about: Best Coolpix for HD and low light too? 

"David J Taylor" wrote :

>> Jane specified in her first post that she wanted a "purse-sized"
>> camera. No dslr is truly purse-sized.
>
> Agreed. Interesting to see how the higher-price small-sensor cameras can
> be similar in price to the lower-end DSLRs, though.

Their features are starting to approach them too, are they not?

Imagine a Nikon DSLR the size of a SD4000IS, but with interchangeable Nikor
lenses, filters etc. WHOA!





--
- Jane Galt
 >> Stay informed about: Best Coolpix for HD and low light too? 

"Jane Galt" wrote in message

> Looking some more, the S90 is also tempting, so it's between the
>
> S90 $350
> S8000 $250
> and SD4000IS $350
>
> It would stretch the budget for the more expensive two ( $350 street
> price )
> if it would bring $100 more joy to my shooting, but what's a credit card
> for?
>

The two Canons you mention look sort of interesting, though if I were buying
a Powershot I'd go the extra $100 for a G11. I don't know if you'd consider
the G11 purse sized, however.
 >> Stay informed about: Best Coolpix for HD and low light too? 

"Neil Harrington" wrote :

>
> "Jane Galt" wrote in message
>
>> Looking some more, the S90 is also tempting, so it's between the
>>
>> S90 $350
>> S8000 $250
>> and SD4000IS $350
>>
>> It would stretch the budget for the more expensive two ( $350 street
>> price )
>> if it would bring $100 more joy to my shooting, but what's a credit
>> card for?
>>
>
> The two Canons you mention look sort of interesting, though if I were
> buying a Powershot I'd go the extra $100 for a G11.

I mentioned that I could spring the extra from the $250 price of the S8000
to the SD4000IS. Now you're talking $450. Creeping price here. LOL

> I don't know if
> you'd consider the G11 purse sized, however.


Not so much?


I looked up the S90, the S8000 and the SD4000IS:


S90 3.9 x 2.3 x 1.2 6.2 OZ.
S8000 4.1 x 2.3 x 1.1 6.5 OZ.
SD4000IS 3.9 x 2.1 x .9 6.1 OZ.

G11 4.4 x 3 x 1.9 12.5 OZ.

<sigh> The purse IS kinda big already, to hold the size and weight of the
XD-45 ACP and the 14 rounds of JHP. Hmmm....

Is the G11 THAT much better than the other 3?
( thinking this is gonna cost me more... )

At what point will I need to start moving other stuff out of the purse to
make room for it?

I like the size of the Cyber-Shot DSC-S750 that I have in there now. It's
in a little hard shell case. It just doesn't take very sharp pictures, and
after all, what's a camera for if not that? Oh and the video it takes are
tiny. And I love the idea of taking HD stills and video...

IOW I want a new purse camera for my birthday.


--
- Jane Galt
 >> Stay informed about: Best Coolpix for HD and low light too?