I cant decide on a camera?

Question

Right now i have a Casio EX-Z29. I love it and have had it for 3 years. But now im interested in photography as a hobby, so i want a more advanced camera. A point and shoot under 200. Ive been looking at the Nikon L810 and Olympus SZ-10. Looking for a megazoom. 14x and up ! Thanks!

Answer 1

Those are both nice cameras! =) But, being an owner of a Nikon DSLR, I'm partially biased towards Nikon's as I ADORE mine! I'm a fan of Wolf Camera, so I did a little search to see what deals they had with the specifications you're wanting and they have a pretty good deal right now on the Fujifilm FinePix S4200 Digital Camera. It is currently $50 cheaper than list price, but only for a limited time. It's features are:



•14 MP CCD

•24x Optical Zoom

•3.0-inch LCD Display and Bright EVF SR AUTO with Red-Eye Removal

•Dual Image Stabilization

•HD Movie

•Built-In mini-HDMI port

•Tracking Auto Focus

•AA Battery operation





BUT, between the two you're considering, I'd choose the Nikon, all biasedness aside.

Answer 2

The best camera in my view for under $200 is the Canon SX130 or SX150 (and I own mostly Nikons).



The advantages are that they have manual mode, which allows them to be more flexible. I have a SX130, and I was even able to get some amount of selective focus out of it - if you ever want go to advanced photography.



http://www.althephoto.com/concepts/sf-sx130-60mm-f56.jpg



I was also able to use a slow shutter speed to "blur" water.



http://www.althephoto.com/cameras/sx130-1.jpg



You cannot do advanced things such as this with the cameras you are considering as they don't have manual exposure capability.



Not as good as a DSLR, but some effect nevertheless.



And you don't want a megazoom if you want good quality. As zoom power increases, optical clarity typically decreases. Megazooms are not as much as an advantage as you might think, and 12x in the Canon SX130 is the very maximum I would go, and the lens is still fairly decent optically.

Answer 3

I'm doing the same thing and have come down to these two. I have searched all day and these have gotten the best reviews all around and prices on amazon.



Panasonic LUMIX® ZS8 $179 on Amazon



http://shop.panasonic.com/shop/model/DMC-ZS8K?t=specs



And



Sony Cyber-shot Digital Camera WX150 $235 on Amazon



http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&partNumber=DSCWX150&SR=sony_search_seo&SQS=DSC%20WX150%2018%202%20MP#specifications



One of my favorite features on this one is that you can take stills and video at the same time :)



Good Luck and whatever you choose hope you get a great one.

ps i had the nikon in my cart and something made me take it off. cant remember why but maybe because it takes AA batteries.