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I am in the market for a new Camera. I'd like to get a point and shoot, with excellent image quality (14+ megapixels), low light settings, panorama mode, and will be tough enough to take anywhere but in the water.

Thanks in advance.

Dan

I just picked up a Canon ELPH 300 HS. It is an awesome camera. It's only 12MP but Canon is known for taking really high quality pictures. My girlfriend says the images are nicer than her 16MP Panasonic. And as you probably know there's much more to picture quality than megapixels!

This camera lists for $229, but I believe it's been discontinued. Best Buy is having an awesome sale at $129... really can't beat the value you get at that price. On Amazon it's like $169. But hurry because I got the last one at a Best Buy after visiting 2 different stores.

Only thing is it may not be as sturdy as some of the other options out there, but it's VERY small and slim..

MP is a worthless measure of the quality of a camera.

I'm in the market for a replacement for my dead P&S, one of the higher end Canons might be calling my name. The burly ones just don't seem to have the IQ yet.

I've been using the Canon "travel" cameras since they have high optical zooms that are great for wildlife photos, plus they are compact so I can just put them in my pocket. My SX260 has 20x optical zoom and I've taken some good pictures with it.

As said before, the megapixel count has nothing to do with the quality. You can just ignore it these days.

Your highest quality (and one of the more expensive) options would be the Canon S100. The Canon SX260 would be a cheaper option as mentioned above. Panasonic has the SZ7 and SZ1 which are similar to the SX260.

All this really depends a lot on how much you want to spend. Start with that and then find the best option in that price range.

I'll go even further beyond the fact that the MP count is useless to judge the image quality by saying that Mucho-MP can actually these days degrade the image by creating too much noise. The smaller the actual pixels (when pixel count goes up, their size has to go down for the same size sensor), the more noise they create. There is a sweet spot for any given sensor size, and for a typical P&S, this is probably in the neighborhood of 10-12MP. Any more and you're just generating noise. The average consumer has no idea about such things, so they just go for pixel count, and of course the camera manufacturers know this and keep pushing the MP up for strictly marketing reasons. So go for a larger sensor size and lens quality. Lots of choices, these days; they make APS-C size sensor cameras (huge size sensor compared average P&S) in small bodies for not a ton of cash, like the Sony NEX-C3 as an example.

oldschoolczar wrote:I just picked up a Canon ELPH 300 HS...Best Buy is having an awesome sale at $129... really can't beat the value you get at that price.

I believe this sale is officially over, as I was not able to find one for this price at any Best Buys. Office Depot is selling the ELPH 100 HS for $109 right now, I just picked one up last night. The 100 HS is 30% cheaper and is more or less the exact same camera as the 300 HS (300 HS has a wider angle lens and a slightly higher max shutter speed). From what I have read and heard they are both great cameras.

+1 for the Canon Elph 300 HS. Small enough to carry in most pockets. Good image quality.

Yep, the megapixel count is not what makes a digital camera good, it is the sensor, as others have already stated. I love the Canon Powershot S-series.
http://usa.canon.com/cusa/professional/ ... rshot_s100

s100 is a good option.

Back in the market again! Posted in March or so about what to look for in a camera and ended up getting the ELPH 310. The lens cover stopped opening all the way on power up and would not shut all the way on power down. Best Buy just warrantied it out and so now I am looking again. They do not carry the 310 any longer.

So, Tory advised the "S" series before and I still like them but the $ tag is just a bit much for me (still). It is still beyond me yet to know what the real difference is between the Canon "A" and "ELPH" series. Tory? BB is telling me the closest thing to the ELPH 310 is the A4000. With the store credit, I am shopping Best Buy. Does anyone know anything about the "tough" cameras like : http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Olympus+-+T ... Id=4983194" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ? Still leaning towards several mentioned above but thought I'd see about these.

I've heard good stuff about the Canon Powershot line... and a few others... I'd consult http://www.snapsort.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;