VeeshanVault

I taking the fam to disney next week and we were in sore need of a decent digital camera. Had some nikon coolpix we bought 2 years ago on the cheap at the best buy across the street from sesame place. http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-cameras ... ncol;lst;5
I had a budget of $350 and ended up picking the panasonic lumix dmc-zs8 for $300.http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/7 ... amera.html
I heard good things about last the zs5 and zs7 but they were being updated this year with the zs8 and the zs10. Apparently March is when the years new camera's get released. Seems like a good choice, but as always I'm looking for good experiences with cameras in the price range in general.

We bought a decent camera about 5 years ago (about 350$ then) that served us well enough for years. I bought my wife a coolpix in 2009 for xmas and we use that more than the "big" camera. For a vacation camera, a little digital is the best way to go IMO. Who wants to carry a bulky camera strapped around their neck all day at a theme park? Then you have things like rain and theft to deal with as well. No thanks! Those little cameras are pretty amazing for the price.

Having just said all of that, my wife and I are seriously considering investing in a really nice camera for everyday photos. Something in the 1-2k price range.

I have a Panasonic Lumix for my point and shoot, and it takes great pictures. All of my awesome Japan pictures were from this camera.

I have a Canon Rebel T2i for my bad ass camera, it was only about $700 or so at best buy.

I bought this Sony CyberShot before my honeymoon last year and I totally love it. We got it on a friend's recommendation, and it couldn't be easier to use. Some nice features on it are the ability to take really cool panoramic shots, the ability to hold the button down to get a bunch of exposures (might be good with kids, so you can hold it down for 3 seconds and take 25 pictures and choose the one where they all have their eyes open and aren't poking each other in the eyes), and the fact that you can take HD video with it.

The only drawback is the battery life is fairly short, but the batteries are pretty small so you can just buy an extra one to keep in your camera case.

A touch out of your price range at ~$500, the Canon G12 is one of the better compact cameras out there. Although it is bulkier than your average point and shoot, it bridges the gap nicely to a DSLR. I have the G11 and love it. Being able to shoot in RAW and photo bracketting are key points that are missing in most compacts. Then again, the extra features may not be that important for a vacation with the family!

This is pretty much the camera we're going with so versatility is definitely a plus. Pretty good range of selections out there, thanks.
My wife's friend and a rebel T2i and she loves it, and the pictures are definitely impressive. the $700 range was out of our budget though. I probably could get away with the G12 though. It's about as bulky as we would want to get but it's all in one and the ratings on B&H's site are really good


Might just try to make the switch. I'm thinking

I have a large size camera but find I just don't like carrying it around.

These days, the cell phones take pretty good pics and are so quick and easy to whip out of your pocket. The iPhone 4 takes nice still images and decent 720p video, all without having to carry an extra device.

I'm not knocking nice cameras but I thought the same thing about getting a nicer camera and it turns out I don't use it that much but I do take lots of pics with my iPhone now and they look great for general purposes unless you're really into photography and need the super megapixel images or special lenses, etc.

I went with the ZS-7 about a month ago because I didn't want to shell out for the brand new model of the year right off. I figured the 7 had enough time to get good reviews and usage out there. I really like it, it's infinitely better than our old Cybershot (forget the model but it was about 4 years old at this point). The Cybershot wasn't bad, it was just fine until somebody dropped it in a river. Amazingly enough the Cybershot was dried off and worked for another year and half before the autofocus/pictures started flaking out.

I went also went with the ZS-7 because last I checked, Sony had that stupid propriety card they use and that annoys me. I'm not that in to photography so that for what it's worth. Also, the whatever feature that helps prevent blurring in photos for the ZS-7 is pretty awesome and massive step up from our old Cybershot.

ZS-7 was $200 when I bought it, I didn't see anything that the ZS-8 had that really made me think another $100 was worth it for my very amateur needs. In retrospect, I should I have looked more at the ZS-5 because I don't remember all the differences but for some reason I never fucking imagine an instance I'll use GPS tagging.

I'd like geotagging for some things. If only Canon would get around to adding it...

Psyloche wrote:I went with the ZS-7 about a month ago because I didn't want to shell out for the brand new model of the year right off. I figured the 7 had enough time to get good reviews and usage out there. I really like it, it's infinitely better than our old Cybershot (forget the model but it was about 4 years old at this point). The Cybershot wasn't bad, it was just fine until somebody dropped it in a river. Amazingly enough the Cybershot was dried off and worked for another year and half before the autofocus/pictures started flaking out.

I went also went with the ZS-7 because last I checked, Sony had that stupid propriety card they use and that annoys me. I'm not that in to photography so that for what it's worth. Also, the whatever feature that helps prevent blurring in photos for the ZS-7 is pretty awesome and massive step up from our old Cybershot.

ZS-7 was $200 when I bought it, I didn't see anything that the ZS-8 had that really made me think another $100 was worth it for my very amateur needs. In retrospect, I should I have looked more at the ZS-5 because I don't remember all the differences but for some reason I never fucking imagine an instance I'll use GPS tagging.

The ZS-7 was actually a $400 camera that was replaced with the ZS-10, you happen to get a really good price because it was being replaced. The lens is improved on the 8(according to panasonic's specs, probably minimal) but your camera has a lot more features than mine.
So far I'm pleased with it while running through my learning curve stuff. Did not go more expensive or larger if you can tell.