Need a recommendation for a Point & Shoot camera

[Austin]

I gave my mother my Nikon Coolpix camera. I am now looking for a replacement. I was not impressed with my Coolpix. My budget is <$200. I have looked at Panasonic Lumix and they seem solid. Any suggestions?

[Miles]

My mother has a Panasonic Lumix and she really likes it. Leica lens, IIRC, but don't know what model exactly. If it makes any difference, she is a graphic artist and as such has a good eye for photos.

I'm loving my Canon S95, but I think those are out of your listed range, pricewise.

Good luck, and do plenty of research.

[StillShaving]

The Canon SX130/SX150 is one of the better cameras relative to its cost. Offers some manual control and good image quality. But it is not a fast camera and is a little larger than most point & shoots. It will fit easily into a jacket pocket, but not very well into a pants pocket. So there are pros & cons with it.

[Legion]

The Lumix range are good value for the money.

[Oblique Human]

Lumix are great cameras. Incredible value for the money. Canon still makes the best but Lumix has carved a niche for itself in the big boys playfield. I own a FZ28, still performs like champ.

[scottish steve]

The cheapest "professional/ serious" compact is the Samsung EX-1 / LT500. It's a bit more than your budget but the cheapest in it's class. It's also very well made indeed. Only downside is higher noise than the Canon premium compact range. I probably should have bought this in preference to the S95 if I'm honest, as I never use these higher ISOs now anyway! I took this handheld at ISO400, Tv 1/25 last night. It's not going to win any prizes or anything but it illustrates my point I think.

[Oblique Human]

Nice photo, Steve. Kindly try to share the EXIF data when you can.

[scottish steve]

Er, right. Centre-weighted metering, f/2.0, shutter-speed 1/25, ISO 400, Manual mode, 28mm focal length, AF mode 'Single AF', Auto WB, IS mode 'shoot only.'
I used NR of 7 and chromatic NR of 8 in Canon's digital photo professional software. It's quite clean, not smudged due to inherent lack of detail anyway and is nicely atmospheric for a compact's output. Don't think it'll be getting printed. Since getting my new 35mm lens I've become quite unsatisfied with the little S95. Not it's fault of course, but I've started to just bring out my "big" camera and take pictures with rapidly decreasing embarassment (as my latest threads shows). I think if people see you actually doing work rather than mucking about and you look like you're concentrating on what you're doing and have a rough idea how to handle a camera, they give you a lot of leeway.

[malocchio]

the canon pocket cameras are great,I have the elph 300hs,with an extra wide lens,does everything....check out http://www.kenrockwell.com for some great tips on pocket cameras