Canon SX100 IS with flash

I recently purchased a new camera for the Alumnae Association. Why does the Association need another camera? Let me explain. Rochelle, the Executive Director and travel guide, recently went on a Alumnae Association sponsored trip to the Peruvian Amazon (we have photos online). She took with her our super compact Sony DSC-W30 camera. It is very small, about the size of a deck of cards and easily fits in a pocket. You can easily carry it almost anywhere. It is 6 megapixels and has a 3x optical zoom, unfortunately it was inadequate for capturing the birds and monkys in the trees along the banks of the Amazon and Rochelle was frustrated.

The other camera we have is the Sony DSC-H1 5 megapixel 12X camera and it would have easily captured close-ups of those birds and primates. Unfortunately, it is a big two-handed camera. It is not something you would want to carry around with you for very long. We use it mostly for capturing campus events, such as, Reunion. 

We needed something in between. A compact camera with a big zoom lens and fortunately there are some very good cameras to choose from. The Digital Camera Resource Page has a a great database and in depth reviews. I search their database and found some options. Digital Photography Review is another excellent site for camera reviews, I mean really detailed and in-depth reviews. Check out the reviews of the Canon at dcresource.com and dpreview.com.

I discovered that I could get a 10x camera in a compact body, but I would have to sacrifice the viewfinder and depend on the LCD screen which is what most people use anyway when they use a digital camera to frame a photo. I narrowed my selections down to the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3 and the Canon SX100 IS. I also liked the Canon S5 IS, but it very similar to the Sony DSC-H1 in size and bulk.

I decided on the Canon for the following reasons:

  • Canons are very popular and have a large following which translated into better support and familiarity with the camera. Many people do not know that Panasonic produces a line of cameras, despite the fact that they get great reviews.
  • It uses standard AA batteries, as well as, rechargeable AA batteries which I have on hand for the Sony DSC-H1. I figured that a camera that is going overseas, it would be more practical to use standard batteries that can be bought almost anywhere if necessary.
  • Image quality is a little bit better with the Canon. Digital Photography Review posted numerous side-by-side comparison images between the Canon and the Panasonic. 

Price was very comparable, as was the feature set. The camera cost $212 at Amazon. For a camera with this many features, I think that is very affordable, especially compared to what $200 bought just a few years ago. The face detection feature is pretty cool. I tested the camera on my one year old granddaughter, and the camera was able to track her face and focus the image for the most part. One year olds can move fast. The menus are easy to read and navigate. The print functions are pretty thorough. You can do a lot of editing directly on the camera itself and print directly to a compatible PictBridge printer so that a computer is not even required. 

One downside is that the flash can take a while to warm up between shots as was described in one of the reviews. But the zoom is excellent, as is the clarity of the pictures. Otherwise, I would recommend this camera for someone traveling and wants a smaller camera with some of the the features of larger models.