Let's talk about cameras. Small ones.

[mikebw]

If anyone cares to recommend which point & shoot camera I should buy from Costco tomorrow I am open to suggestions. I need this for a trip and we leave soon.

Right now I am looking at the Canon SD1200 and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS15. Want small, fast with pretty good quality too, if that's even possible.

Seems like most reviews of small camera end up with a disclaimer that the image quality is just going to suck no matter what you get. I suppose with these tiny lenses and CCD sensors that will be par for the course.

I had a Casio Exilim Card S600 which I thought was pretty good except in low-light and really close up macros. I was considering the Nikon S630 recently but there seems to have been a number of poor reviews on that one too.

[pRICE cUBE]

The Panny you mention has a 29-145mm lens., the Canon is a 35-105mm equivalent. You will be able to get wider with the Panny.

[tenders]

I have the SD1200 and bought it because of David Pogue's rapture with Canon cameras, which he mentioned in a recent column (though not pertaining specifically to the 1200). I'm not disappointed--this is my first Canon and they really are in a class by themselves. It is a big improvement over the 3-year-old, 5MP Kodak camera I had before, which I was quite happy with.

Quirks:
* it uses a proprietary battery, which I don't mind and which I may in fact prefer. In my experience batteries last 3 years whether you use them hard or gently, and proprietary batteries mean smaller cameras and/or slightly higher capacity than rechargeable AAs.
* you have to remove the SD card from the camera to load the photos onto the computer, unless you use the Canon proprietary software which I opted not to mess with on top of iPhoto and Photoshop Elements. Not a big deal to me.
* it does not come with any SD card whatsoever. You probably already have one anyway, or more than one.
* you have to press an additional button to get the second set of custom scene settings. This isn't well-documented in the manual. A minor point.

Otherwise it takes great pictures, fast. I only wish it had a bit of a larger LCD instead of the optical viewfinder. But the screen is certainly large enough and quite bright. Apparently some people really like the viewfinder. I don't use it, myself.

I picked mine up at WalMart because I broke my Kodak, had to replace it quickly, and only had electric blue to choose from. It's growing on me but the kids think it's the coolest camera in the world. If you have a bit of time, Buydig.com has all colors at a much better price. Buydig's UPS Ground comes overnight to me north of NYC, sans tax. I don't know how Costco prices compare to Buydig's.

Intriguing Canon-only feature:
This third-party firmware hack doohickey hasn't been developed for the SD1200's Digic IV chip yet, but it's quite robust for other Canon cameras, is apparently coming for the 1200 and looks really neat:
http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/CHDK

Here's the CHDK status page for the 1200:
http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/SD1200IS

[AAA]

I love starting the day off on a good foot.
Thanks for opening my eyes to this. It is available for my camera.

tenders wrote:
Intriguing Canon-only feature:
This third-party firmware hack doohickey hasn't been developed for the SD1200's Digic IV chip yet, but it's quite robust for other Canon cameras, is apparently coming for the 1200 and looks really neat:
http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/CHDK

Here's the CHDK status page for the 1200:
http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/SD1200IS

[what4]

I installed the CHDK software hack on my old Canon A630 to enable it to shoot RAW, and it gave the camera a new life. Such a camera apparently takes in more visual information than a jpeg can display properly, so keeping it in RAW gives you access to more picture when you digitally process it.

Does that sound like a plausible explanation for RAW?

[macphanatic]

My understanding is that RAW captures the information as the sensor sees it. It's not unusual for RAW images to need some post processing. However, an over or under exposed RAW image can be corrected and be much better than a corrected JPEG.

[OWC Jamie]

Don't know what kind of trip and pics youtake, but the wider capability can come in realhandy with sme vacation pics.
Ability to turn a flash off can come in handy, too.

[AAA]

sme ???

[mikebw]

billb wrote:
Don't know what kind of trip and pics youtake, but the wider capability can come in realhandy with sme vacation pics.
Ability to turn a flash off can come in handy, too.

Does one of these cameras not have the ability to turn off the flash? That would seem extra lame.

[anonymouse1]

If you want a superb camera with an amazing wide-angle lens, get one of these, a Canon with a 24mm to 120mm (35mm equiv) lens. I want one!

http://www.kenrockwell.com/canon/compacts/sd980.htm