Digital Camera for Skiing

[Harvey]

I’ve got an old Sony that served pretty well, but has definitely taken some punishment, and I can’t rely on it any more. I want to replace it, but am somewhat clueless about what to buy.

Basically, I use my camera for my ski blog, so lots of megapixels aren’t really that important. I usually end up reducing the pics to half a meg or less for posting.

What I do think I need:

A viewfinder. LCD displays seem worthless in bright light. At least on my Sony it was. It would be cool if the frame in the viewfinder matched up to the actual frame in the final photo.

Speed. Not sure what it takes but it drives me nuts when the camera is calculating whatever and the shutter finally clicks after the action has passed. Not sure if what I am asking for is lowlight performance?

Some amount of toughness, if possible.

Good color saturation and sharpness.

Small enough to fit reasonably in a fleece breast pocket.

Quick startup/powerup.

In the neighborhood of $300 or less.

What are you using? Thanks.

 

[bobbutts]

well I'm not using it, but I've had my eye on the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT1

 

[riverc0il]

Good luck finding a new digital camera with a view finder for $300 or less. Canon still makes three of their cheaper models with a view finder. That is about it. Some of last year's Sonys are still on the market that have view finders. (130 and 150 were options I was considering) but Sony forces you to buy their proprietary memory stick instead of using your existing sD card so I won't buy Sony unless I have to on general principle (all products, not just Digital Cameras. Ironic because when I was a lot younger, I loved Sony products). Any ways...

My camera recently broke and after scouring the market, I eventually decided to look into the used market for a 2-3 year old Canon PowerShot A Series with IS. These cameras all have viewfinders, use regular AA batteries (another rarity which often comes in handy), and have really good picture quality for the buck. I am waiting for the new CMOS tech to filter down into the cheaper P&S market and the tech to develop and expand before buying a "new" camera. Too much change right now and the manufacturers are all still in the MegaPixel war instead of quality and feature war. At least zoom is still improving year to year on base models.

 

[RISkier]

I have a Panasonic TZ5 (there's a newer version) that I like a lot except for the absence of a viewfinder. As rivercOil says, finding a compact camera < $300 with a viewfinder is almost impossible. The only ones I'm aware of are the Canons and the old A series is a pretty good idea. The new Canon G11 has a viewfinder and they've scaled back the mp so that it's supposed to be much improved with respect to noise in lower light. It's not real compact and it's not cheap. Olympus makes some weatherproof compacts but I don't know much about them other than they are weatherproof. One feature I really look for these days is the effective focal length at the wide end. I find something with a 28mm effective focal length much more useful than some of the cameras which start at 35mm+.

 

[Glenn]

We've got a Cannon something or other. My wife bought it for us last Christmas. We actually came from a Sony as well. The pictures are great; even when using them to get printed to actual "photos". The camera takes some good video too. We can get in a days worth of pics and a good 10+ minutes of video off the memory card we bought for it. It's a smaller camera too, so it's easy to carry around.

 

[MommaBear]

Currently using a Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS. It has a viewfinder, but not one that will show the actual shot you may take (if you've zoomed in or out, etc.). Works well and fairly easy to learn. Kids love the video feature on it. Small and flat - same size as my cell phone - so it fits nice in breast pocket of jacket. $180 at Best Buy last December. Came in several colors - went with the blue; helpful to find the thing when it drops in the snow. ;-)

 

[skidmarks]

Canon PowerShot SD700 IS Digital ELPH

I've had great luck with this camera. I paid $349.00 for it a few years ago. Takes an okay movie as well as excellent pictures. I has a small viewfinder but I never seem to use it. Fits in my pocket and is built like a tank. I would hope the SD1200 is even better.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000EN0K94...e=asn&creative=380341&creativeASIN=B000EN0K94

 

[Highway Star]

I have a SD700IS and just upgraded to a Panasonic ZS3 (TZ7). No viewfinder, but the LCD is very large and bright. It has an AMAZING auto mode for difficult shots in complex light. 25-300mm zoom. Relatively compact. Fast. Best of all it shoots 720p HD video with very good quality, and can zoom while filming. You could potentially shoot video and frame grab from it for your blog....very easy to get action shots at 30fps.

 

[RootDKJ]

I'm using a Canon SD790 and I love it. No viewfinder, but I've learned to live with it. It's small and compact, which is what I wanted. It takes great pictures as well. It also uses a standard mini-usb plug. My only complaint with this is you can't charge the battery via usb. You have to use an external charger. That really hasn't been a big deal though.

 

[xwhaler]

http://www.steves-digicams.com/
Great site for reviews....some of the stuff is pretty technical and overwhelming but if you focus on the conclusion section you should be in good shape

Using that site I just went with this camera a few wks ago which I will primarily use for skiing.
It does have a viewfinder and seems to be pretty suick in terms of refresh rate and power up. It's a 10MP camera but as you said we've reached the point where addl pixels arent terribly useful

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16830120329

$179 shipped and you can can a free case and 4gb card right now with purchase.

 

[xfactor58]

I bought a Nikon coolpix S550 just for a basic p/s but it works really well on the mountain. Video recorder is better then a lot of p/s camera's ive used, and the picture quality is outstanding!

 

[Harvey]

AZers... I posted this thread here and at FTO. The input I got from this thread was especially good. I'm not a super-techie and you guys focused on the things that matter most to me.

It was a bit overwhelming....but the process of putting it into a blog entry has really helped me sort it out:

http://harvey44.blogspot.com/1970/11/camera-for-ski-blogger.html

The executive summary:

-There are a lot of great cameras out there.

-Canon is by far the brand of choice, with a dizzying array of models.

-Most would sacrifice a half inch on the LCD in exchange for a viewfinder.

-Riverc0il's head may explode if the camera companies don't get with the program and cut the crappola with more megapixels and lame or non-existent viewfinders.

I think I'm headed for a Canon (1000, 1100, 1200) or maybe the A70. Ultimately I need to see and touch the thing to decide. Maybe Santa will hook me up.

Xwhaler...GREAT tip on steves-digicams.com. Awesome site.

Thanks everyone.

 

[Robbski]

Canon sd 1200is

I just picked this up on Amazon for $170.00. Has the viewfinder. Should take great shots (other family members have them). Using it replace a five year old CanonA85, which has an small LCD screen that is getting flaky. Looking forward to using a camera that easily slips in a pocket.

 

[playoutside]

Canon sd790 is

Chose this one esp because of its size. Really wanted a camera that easily fit in a pocket. No viewfinder, but I got used to it. Only issue I've had with taking pics is that I can't see the LCD with polarized sunglasses on. Weird, but easy to deal with.

This model has handy adjustments for pics in bright sun, sunset, kids/pets moving, etc. dialing to the right mode is easy and greatly improves the pics.

really easy to use and quality of pics has been great.

I've been really impressed with the battery life. Recharged once on a 10 day vacation. That after taking tons of pictures and constantly reviewing them on the LCD. I think I've recharged it 3-4 times in the 6 months I've owned it.

 

[Geoff]

At this point, I really don't want anything in my pocket that doesn't do HD video clips and that doesn't have an HDMI interface. I was really pissed that the latest release of the Canon G series is still only capable of VGA video clip resolution since it's otherwise everything I want. In my opinion, the Canon PowerShot G11 is the best pocket camera on the market for shooting stills. A real 5x optical zoom lens that gathers a lot of light. Good optics. An idiot-proof automatic mode and manual controls you'd typically expect to find in a high end 35mm camera.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0908/09081908canong11.asp

The G11 just showed up on the market so you can't find it at a discount. $499 is pretty steep for a pocket camera. The significant changes over the G10 are that they shrank it back down to 10 megapixels from something stupid like 14, dramatically improved low light performance, and added HDMI for viewing directly on your HDTV. I just wish it could do higher resolution video clips.

 

[mattchuck2]

I was thinking about something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002T1J96O

I like the 5 fps continuous shooting.

But I don't really know that much about cameras.

 

[RISkier]

At this point, I really don't want anything in my pocket that doesn't do HD video clips and that doesn't have an HDMI interface. I was really pissed that the latest release of the Canon G series is still only capable of VGA video clip resolution since it's otherwise everything I want. In my opinion, the Canon PowerShot G11 is the best pocket camera on the market for shooting stills. A real 5x optical zoom lens that gathers a lot of light. Good optics. An idiot-proof automatic mode and manual controls you'd typically expect to find in a high end 35mm camera.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0908/09081908canong11.asp

The G11 just showed up on the market so you can't find it at a discount. $499 is pretty steep for a pocket camera. The significant changes over the G10 are that they shrank it back down to 10 megapixels from something stupid like 14, dramatically improved low light performance, and added HDMI for viewing directly on your HDTV. I just wish it could do higher resolution video clips.

I was surprised they didn't put HD video in the G11 as well. Sample photos I've seen definitely suggest the performance in low light is much improved. For stills it's arguably one of the very best "compact" cameras available. But, it's not that small. It's a chunk in a pocket. And at $499 it's not cheap. Right now you can pick up a refurbished Olympus e-520 with 2 kit lenses (covers an effective focal length of 28-300) for under $450. Granted it's not a camera you'd often want to take skiing, it's not cutting edge, and it's been discontinued, but compared to a $499 G11? Makes the G11 look very expensive in my mind. Personally, if I want small, I want small. Something that you can slip into a pocket and take anywhere. The G11 is really borderline on that score, IMO.

 

[riverc0il]

I was thinking about something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002T1J96O

I like the 5 fps continuous shooting.

But I don't really know that much about cameras.

I was seriously considering the CX1 but lack of view finder was an issue. Steve's Digicams reported that the LCD delay between pics on continuous shooting made it difficult for action shots.

 

[Geoff]

I was surprised they didn't put HD video in the G11 as well. Sample photos I've seen definitely suggest the performance in low light is much improved. For stills it's arguably one of the very best "compact" cameras available. But, it's not that small. It's a chunk in a pocket. And at $499 it's not cheap. Right now you can pick up a refurbished Olympus e-520 with 2 kit lenses (covers an effective focal length of 28-300) for under $450. Granted it's not a camera you'd often want to take skiing, it's not cutting edge, and it's been discontinued, but compared to a $499 G11? Makes the G11 look very expensive in my mind. Personally, if I want small, I want small. Something that you can slip into a pocket and take anywhere. The G11 is really borderline on that score, IMO.

If you want quality photos, you need enough glass in the lens to gather the light. For me, a G11 is the absolute biggest size I would be willing to put in my pocket and go skiing. Of course, yesterday, I had a Long Trail Double Bag in my pocket so my criteria are probably different from yours.

I really want to get the Panasonic HD camcorder with the optical viewfinder. At the moment, other things have spending priority so I'm not dumping money into consumer electronics.

 

[Harvey]

I went with the Cannon SD 1200 IS.

I think it was the best compromise if you consider the viewfinder essential. A major step up from my old Sony Cybershot.

This thread was a MAJOR help. Thanks to all.

First pics taken are here:

http://harvey44.blogspot.com/2009/12/hunter-mtn-ny-122009.html