Expert: John Oliverio - 11/21/2010

Question
Hi John,

Hope all is well your way.

I thought you might consider helping me out.

If so, I’d really appreciate it because after weeks of online research I’m still unsure and anxious about what to buy.

I’m looking for the best budget camera I can find that will allow me to have simple pleasures for simple needs:

10 + optical zoom (to take school activity pics of my kids and other family snaps)

maybe 8-10 megapixels (not making anything more than 8 by 10’s and mostly snapshots)

optical image stabilization (primarily to take pictures of my young kids at school functions, etc.)

fast shutter speed (minimal or no lag so I don’t miss shots like I do with my 5-year old Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-S60 point and shoot)

From my research, I’m guessing that I can’t get all this in a point and shoot and need to go the DSLR route. If so, I’m just a novice looking for a dependable, easy to use camera that does what I need it to do and takes sharp, defined pics with the best price I can get as my budget isn’t really set for $ 500 and up. Am I crazy to think I can find something that will fit my needs under $ 500 or really, much closer to $ 400? Point and shoots just don't offer the zoom or fast shutter speed I need. I miss way too many shots. And with motion shots, forget it not being blurry.

I’m not a technical guy either and my wish to open a box, do a quick read of the manual and just take pictures, not become a pro or have to invest too much effort in learning functions.

Thanks so much, John. You have a good day.

My best,

Michael  

Answer
Michael,

The problem here is that sometimes you are shooting out of the performance envelope of  P/S cameras.  School auditoriums for example....  a  very hard thing to photograph well, even with an SLR.  Same for the school gym and night time ball games.  For day-light photography the super-zooms will perform fairly well.  A good 10x zoomer is the Canon SD4500.  It goes for about $350 USD.  If you want more zoom you could go with the Canon SX30IS.  It has a 35x optical zoom and a great image stabilizer.  It's not an SLR even though it looks like one and is very easy to use.  Prices are between $400 and $430.

John