what camera?

[Hu Lowery]

The dollars spent trying to repair my DSLR were wasted, it seems dead beyond hope of resurrection. Seeking a point and shoot for turning pictures and general snapshots.

Brand: I don't care.

Zoom: 3x or 4x optical minimum, would like 6x or 8x but not enough to compromise other things.

Controls: This seems like might be a sticking point with these cameras, I want full control of aperture, shutter speed, and iso. I also want minimal in camera processing.

Size: Big enough to hold comfortably trying to shoot. I'm used to toting the DSLR and a large lens or three when photographing so any "all in one" will seem like a very nice change! Kinda lean towards a more conventionally shaped camera than one of the slippery little boxes but that won't be a primary decider.

Tripod Mount: I do want a tripod mounting insert but push come to shove a nut and a little epoxy can probably make that so.

Price Range: $50-$150.

Everything above represents goals. The higher on the list the more important they are. I do want to try to avoid the price spiral although I will go a little over one-fifty to get features I feel are key. The problem is there is no stopping point these days. Two hundred gets me a nicer camera, three hundred isn't much worse than spending two for a nice camera, before I know it my $150 target is $700! Not topping $200 including tax, title and license, almost practical nearly positively maybe hopefully!

All suggestions most welcome. I really don't want to spend months delving deeply into cameras again.

Hu

 

[Bill Boehme]

I like Canon cameras. I have a couple Canon DSLR cameras plus a bunch of their glass. My wife has a couple of their P&S cameras. Here is a link to Canon P&S cameras. The high end PowerShot series are excellent and have good ergonomics for their size, but their price may be a bit above your target except for the SX160 IS -- which is still a very good camera. Below that, they have a very large assortment for any price that you want to pay. The problem is that what you want and the cost may not quite line up with each other. As you know, the low cost P&S cameras that have various shortcomings such as no optical viewfinder, limited optical zoom, low sensor resolution, etc. The cheapest ones are on a par with phone cameras.

 

[Mark Wollschlager]

I am a fan of the Panasonic Lumix FZ series of superzooms.
I have two collecting dust as I have moved on to their Micro 4/3 interchangeable line. But that is a different animal .
They have an SLR body style, but smaller.
The zooms are up to 60x on the newer models, but in the 24-40 on older models.
They have an LCD screen and viewfinder with a live view lcd.
Their O.I.S image stabilization is really nice.
Panasonic seems to cycle through models as fast as anyone, so there are generally older models available at good prices new in box.
Price wise they range from 250-600 depending on features.
They just announced an LZ model last week which has some different features, but is not available for a month or so.

 

[Hu Lowery]

lack of control and overprocessing seems to be the big issues

I like Canon cameras. I have a couple Canon DSLR cameras plus a bunch of their glass. My wife has a couple of their P&S cameras. Here is a link to Canon P&S cameras. The high end PowerShot series are excellent and have good ergonomics for their size, but their price may be a bit above your target except for the SX160 IS -- which is still a very good camera. Below that, they have a very large assortment for any price that you want to pay. The problem is that what you want and the cost may not quite line up with each other. As you know, the low cost P&S cameras that have various shortcomings such as no optical viewfinder, limited optical zoom, low sensor resolution, etc. The cheapest ones are on a par with phone cameras.

Bill,

I liked my Canon DSLR, was down to one. The point and shoots I have seen want to make all the choices for you, often wrong ones in my opinion. Then they overprocess the image in camera so the quality is lost before you ever see the image.

As should be obvious by now, mudderation isn't my strong point, there are rumors I can't even spell the word! I had a pretty good idea of how to capture and process images when I was pursuing outdoor photography. Giving up the digital darkroom and accepting whatever settings the camera wants to use are the parts that will come hard.

First goal is quality images for others to critique work. I was just going to post this on a site heavily into critiques but for some reason couldn't post there yesterday evening. Later I could. No idea why or why not but that is the reason for my fairly unusual cross posting.

Hu

 

[Hu Lowery]

If you want something that walks like a duck and talks like a duck . . .

I spent much of the day looking over the point n shoots. I always ran the same circles until I got well over five hundred dollars, the things I consider important and the manufacturers consider important are two different things.

In my searching around I stumbled on a Canon Rebel DSLR NOS for $169 shipped. I think a better fit for me if it works. I want DSLR controls, probably had to buy a DSLR.

Hu

 

[Steve Worcester]

A few things you might want are at least an Aperture priority mode, so you can go to smaller F stops and get the depth of field you want. To go with that, you will want manual focus. You can rig it a bit by using auto focus and then focusing where you want and fixing it on that spot.
Outside of that, the rest are mostly nice to haves if you are shooting woodturnings.
A used DSLR might fit into this price range, but even then, $150 is a tough ceiling .

 

[Bill Boehme]

Hu, there is nothing wrong with a Canon Rebel DSLR . I have a Rebel XTi that is seven years old and the only difference between it and my 7D boils down to bells and whistles as well as the differences you would expect from a professional model. Otherwise, image quality is outstanding. You can see plenty of examples by clicking on my gallery link in my signature block.

If you want DSLR features in a P&S then the G series Power Shot cameras would satisfy that requirement. The only difference is the lack of a focal plane shutter. The downside is the price is in DSLR territory.

 

[Hu Lowery]

shot with one an hour or so

Hu, there is nothing wrong with a Canon Rebel DSLR . I have a Rebel XTi that is seven years old and the only difference between it and my 7D boils down to bells and whistles as well as the differences you would expect from a professional model. Otherwise, image quality is outstanding. You can see plenty of examples by clicking on my gallery link in my signature block.

If you want DSLR features in a P&S then the G series Power Shot cameras would satisfy that requirement. The only difference is the lack of a focal plane shutter. The downside is the price is in DSLR territory.

Bill,

I shot with a Rebel for maybe an hour total a few years back when I went out with a friend who still does outdoor photography. It handled the Canon 500IS lens with no problems. Those are nice lenses so if there are flaws or weak areas you can usually blame the camera.

My first DSLR was a 10D. They dumbed down the 10D in some areas and improved it in others to sell the Rebel, basically the same camera, at a price point below the 10D without destroying 10D sales. No idea of time spent with the 10D but hundreds of hours. I still have it and may yet try to salvage it. Pretty sure that water or very high humidity when it was only inches out of the water for several days trashed the BIOS chip, at least wiped it. The 10D doesn't look that bad and was well maintained other than that little flooding deal, I may watch Craig's list and other places and eventually get it working again. It didn't go underwater, perhaps a tiny edge of it.

Hu

 

[Bill Boehme]

It is easy for water to get into a camera and nearly impossible for it to get out before first causing a great deal of corrosion. It only takes a very tiny amount of water to ruin the innards. Things like electrical connectors between flex harnesses and PWBs are the most likeky to be corroded and nearly impossible to repair. Canon won't repair a water damaged camera because the cost of trying to salvage usable parts is more than a new camera.

 

[Hu Lowery]

what I figured

It is easy for water to get into a camera and nearly impossible for it to get out before first causing a great deal of corrosion. It only takes a very tiny amount of water to ruin the innards. Things like electrical connectors between flex harnesses and PWBs are the most likeky to be corroded and nearly impossible to repair. Canon won't repair a water damaged camera because the cost of trying to salvage usable parts is more than a new camera.

Bill,

I suspected as much about sending it in for repairs. On the other hand it is worth zero to me now so a little home hammering on it can do no harm. Probably wind up in the garbage before or afterwards but if I find a cheap donor I'll try to make either one work.

Even with new batteries and charger it gives no indication it is turned on, could be as simple as a bad connection but I'm guessing fried chip. I can't remember if a battery was in it or not when it died, probably so though.

One corner of my camera bag went underwater an inch or so according to water marks and the bottom of the bag was wet from that water being marinated all through things as the hot weather and cool nights made it's on little weather system in the bag. the camera still looks perfect on the outside, dagnabit!

The water was black water from swamp and sewage, highly conductive, highly corrosive, and just plain full of nasty things. Not much real hope for the camera but nothing ventured nothing gained. I won't spend dollars for anyone else to look at it.

Hu

 

[Bill Boehme]

If you are good at working on things with tiny screws then I say go for it. At the very least, you could inspect for corrosion and unplug some of the internal connectors and try cleaning the contacts if there is any corrosion. Sometimes just unplugging and re-plugging is enough to clean a contact. I doubt that any chip was damaged. Before ripping into it, don't forget about the little coin battery. If it has died then that might possibly be the reason for the camera not fully powering up. It is also possible that the rechargeable battery could have one dead cell.