[Rollin_Again]

I am getting my wife a new digital camera for her birthday and was looking for advice on what to get her. We have an older 4 megapixel Sony Digital Camera that has served us well for many years. I am looking to get a 8+ megapixel camera that is easy to use and takes decent video too. One of her biggest compaints with our current camera is that it takes too long for the flash to get ready and she often misses spontaneous picture opportunities with our son. She has a Sony Laptop that has a built in memory stick reader so getting another Sony camera would be convenient since we would not need an external card reader. There seems to be lots of debate on whether Sony is inferior to other brands such as Nikon and Canon. Any advise from you camera experts out there?

The two Sony models I have been particularly interested in are:

Sony Cybershot DSC-T100 8MP Digital Camera with 5x Optical Zoom and Super Steady Shot

Sony Cybershot DSC-N2 10.1MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom


Regards,
Rollin

[wilson44512]

heres a good place to help you decide

http://www.steves-digicams.com/best_cameras.html

[slipe]

Sony makes some excellent digital cameras.

You aren’t going to find recent releases like the T100 on anybody’s best camera list because none of the quality review sites have had time to test the camera. That it isn’t on anybody’s list isn’t an indication of quality.

You will see no difference between 8 and 10Mp unless you have a 16 X 20 or larger print made. Or crop extensively before making a large print. Unless you print larger than 8 X 10 you aren’t likely to see any quality improvement over your 4Mp shots. You do get faster cycle and focus times with newer models, along with much better movies.

Both cameras you listed have no viewfinder other than the LCD. For that setup you want true mechanical stabilization as the hold isn’t very steady without an optical viewfinder. The T100 is much the better choice IMO. The combination of optical stabilization and decent ISO400 performance gives pretty good versatility. The T10 through T50 had good ISO 400 noise and Sony is claiming better for the T100. If it tests out even as good it should be quite useable.

The T series have had weak flashes. Starting with the T10 they increased the flash range by pumping up the ISO it used for flash. That isn’t completely bad because they have improved the noise processing. But some people were disappointed with the flash. The T100 has evidently put a slightly stronger flash on the camera and it now seems about average for that genre of camera. Other than that the T series have become excellent cameras. If you have an HDTV the movies should be excellent. It has a large internal memory so you can store a permanent photo album on it to show on the beautiful large screen. Internal memory is much better than getting a useless throw-away card with a camera.

If your old Sony is one of the long skinny models like the P9 you are probably going to find a lot more red-eye in your pictures with any sub-compact camera. The P series of Sony cameras was particularly good for red-eye. Just about any brand has the problem as it is a relationship of the flash to the lens. T series Sony cameras have had some complaints about dust motes in the photo with flash shots in dusty conditions. I have no idea why the T series seems more prone to that or whether the T100 will also do that.

I’m reluctant to recommend any camera until competent reviewers have had time to run them through their paces. But since the T10, the T series have tested out very well. The T100 looks to be an excellent camera.

[Rollin_Again]

Slipe,

Thank you for your excellent insight, it has helped me tremendously ! After reading your input I am probably going to get the T100. The 5x zoom (Carl Zeiss lens) is one of the features that has sold me on this model. Do you know if the mpeg video quality is good with these types of cameras?

Thanks to Wilson also for providing a good link to camera review/ratings.

Regards,
Rollin

[slipe]

The other T series cameras have taken good movies. There are cameras that take wide screen movies on the market and Sony is a little behind with 640 X 480 on a new release. But the quality should be as good as the other VGA T series cameras.

[davef]

Not wanting to put a spanner in the works but have you considered the entry level Nikon D40 or D40x DSLR. The cameras work more than well as a point to shoot and have thew advantage over compacts/bridge cameras by not having any shutter lag and a very fast start up time. I had a Fuji for a while to try digital a few years ago and have since upgraded twice and now use a Nikon D200 (I kept the D50 I had as well). I know they cost more but you will be pleased with the results. (and upgrading lenses is easy as thet use the standard Nikon fit)

Dave

[Guyzer]

Originally Posted by davef

Not wanting to put a spanner in the works but have you considered the entry level Nikon D40 or D40x DSLR.

He's looking for something that also takes video and that's something a DSLR won't do.

[davef]

My advice to that would be have a seperate camcorder

[Guyzer]

Originally Posted by davef

My advice to that would be have a seperate camcorder