Point & shoot cameras

[rage-wrx]

I need some advise on which point to shoot camera to buy. I need something small enough to fit in my fanny pack My budget isn't that high. In the $200 range.

So far I have narrowed it down to either

1. Canon ELPH 300 HS Canon U.S.A. : Support & Drivers : PowerShot ELPH 300 HS Silver

or

2, Canon SX260 HS Canon U.S.A. : Consumer & Home Office : PowerShot SX260 HS

The ELPH 300 seems to be the most popular model & a bit cheaper. Also it is more compact & lighter than the SX260.

But I am leaning towards the latter since it is a newer model & has some other extra features which I will never use.

[wrxtreme06]

I dont have experience with the ones youve listed but I've used my trusty Nikon coolpix L3 for many years and I've taken some pretty awesome pictures with it.

[RayfieldsWRX]

I have to say that I'm surprised that there's still a market for these. My father-in-law has a relatively new, $200'ish Canon P&S, which he took with him to Europe. I went through every one of 800 photos with him (he's computer illiterate, so I had to teach him how to use photo organizing software), and the quality of what he got was < what I get with my iPhone 5.

That latter camera seems to have a larger lens, so may perhaps be a better option for lowlight conditions. My phone still sucks at that. These guys gave it a little bit of a knock for battery life:

Canon PowerShot SX260 HS Review: Digital Photography Review

[rage-wrx]

Oh, I forgot to mention that the ELPH 300 HS seems to have a longer battery life.

[Ruh Roh]

theyre both very nice. is there a camera store u can try them out at?

[rage-wrx]

theyre both very nice. is there a camera store u can try them out at?

I guess I could go to a store to look at them. Not sure I would be able to judge much about image quality or features though.

[Ruh Roh]

both of the specs are very similar. black has a much higher optical zoom but depends what kind of shots u want to take

[Soobvirgin]

The 300 is currently $220 on Amazon, while the 260 is $215. I'd guess they have exactly the same image sensor, so you'd get very similar results from both. The only difference is probably in the gimmicky features. I'd go for the more recent one.

In ideal lighting conditions, the recent iPhones will produce very similar results as these point & shoots (only without the optical zoom and some amount of manual control). But the iPhone has horrible color rendition - just try shooting the sky at twilight. It's also not able to handle highlights very well; bright areas in a scene go bright white and lose all detail.

[rage-wrx]

The 300 is currently $220 on Amazon, while the 260 is $215.

The black version of the ELPH 300 HS is $168.95 http://www.amazon.com/Canon-PowerSho...on+elph+300+hs vs the SX260HS which is $214.95 elsewhere.

I need this mainly for trips where I cannot use the phone. Which is why I don't want to spend much. I'm not sure there is much of a point paying the extra for the SX260HS for mostly the same specs & features which,lets face it,I won't use. I would buy it only because it is a later model. Both have rave reviews.

[Soobvirgin]

The black version of the ELPH 300 HS is $168.95 Amazon.com: Canon PowerShot ELPH 300 HS 12.1 MP Digital Camera (Black): Camera & Photo vs the SX260HS which is $214.95 elsewhere.

I need this mainly for trips where I cannot use the phone. Which is why I don't want to spend much. I'm not sure there is much of a point paying the extra for the SX260HS for mostly the same specs & features which,lets face it,I won't use. I would buy it only because it is a later model. Both have rave reviews.

Oh, ok. That's a bigger price difference.

[Mikie13]

I have a point and shoot Iphone that takes good pictures.

[Mikie13]

That being said, mi madre has had a couple ELPH models in her lifetime, and they are all generally phenomenal cameras. Never any problems, and quite durable. Only reason she's had a couple is cause my sister always took it and lost em.

[rage-wrx]

Okay, so I went to the store on my break. I haven't camera shopped in a while. The similar ELPH 330 is crazy small. Like fits in the palm of your hand. The girl there says Canon doesn't make them anymore & that the ELPH 330 is what I need. The SX260 in comparison is large although it is a normal sized camera. It is also heavier.

Considering the 330 is the middle road price wise I may now consider that too.

[PalisadesWBL]

Any chance you could double your budget? The Canon T1i and T2i can be had on Craigslist in NYC for about 350-400 with a lens. the camera is super easy to use in full auto and will look 10x better than the camera you are talking about. It certainly is a bigger than what your looking at but it's small for a DSLR and they can take a beating.

[Monk_Knight]

Any chance you could double your budget? The Canon T1i and T2i can be had on Craigslist in NYC for about 350-400 with a lens. the camera is super easy to use in full auto and will look 10x better than the camera you are talking about. It certainly is a bigger than what your looking at but it's small for a DSLR and they can take a beating.

I don't think that's really what OP is looking for. I'm personally not a big fan of P&S cameras, but there's no way you'll have the portability of one with even a very small DSLR. Not to mention that you have to be a lot more careful with a DSLR than a P&S (as far as just throwing it in a bag and going somewhere).

Between the two, they look very similar in many respects, here are the differences I noticed.

The SX260 has about double the zoom range (talking about optical zoom here only), has a bigger screen, and can shoot a bit faster in burst mode (more shots in a given amount of time).

The ELPH will work a little bit better in low light.

They look like they use the same image sensor. so the image quality should be very similar between the two.

If you are looking to step up to something a bit nicer, I'd recommend the Canon S100.

Amazon.com: Canon PowerShot S100 12.1 MP Digital Camera with 5x Wide-Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Black): Camera & Photo