Best Digital Camera Under $200?

[Flyn]

Amy's birthday is coming up and she wants me to replace her Canon PowerShot 1000 that got sand in it when she was at the beach.

Do you guys have any suggestions for under $200 cameras?

Amazon's top cameras by review are the Canon PowerShot SX510 and the Panasonic Lumix ZS20.

What do you guys recommend?

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[sickmint79]

looks like a question of form factor between those two no?

dpreview.com is super camera review site, i'd trust more than amazon stars. i used a nice older point and shoot panasonic when i went to germany, might be older than you'd want to buy though. it was part of the DMC series. it seems new the more current version is closer to 300 though.

 

[Flyn]

Thanks for the site. I'll check it out.

Yeah, Amy and I are having a discussion on what form factor to buy. Amy likes to take beach pics and then drop the naked camera into a sand filled, wet beach bag. I like to take a camera to listing appointments in case I need to take decent pics of the home. She just wants point and shoot. I want better quality.

If I can find one that will do both, great. Otherwise, I'll get her a cheaper point and shoot and get myself a better camera for the real estate pics. One thing I will invest in is a case that she will (hopefully) use when she goes to the beach.

 

[Flyn]

So far, after an hour's research, I'm thinking that the Panasonic Lumix ZS20 https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...1_AtJq4hM_nzWYK7A&sig2=h8mq0LVY5MlZG2G-_hk9pw does a good job of meeting my requirements. It's relatively small, has a decent zoom system and is available in the sub $200 price range. I'd prefer the ZS30 but it's double the price. With the 20X optical zoom, this should be a decent camera for Amy's beach shots. It has 1/10th second auto focus for action shots, can take 5 shots in a second focusing each one and seems to have enough features that I can use it for real estate photos. The GPS and WiFi features may come in handy. I can geo tag my real estate locations and send the pics directly to my work computer (if I'm understanding the features correctly, that is).

 

[Flyn]

After a few days more research, I'm still leaning to the Panasonic ZS20. Amazon has it for $161 which I think is a bargain price for a 20X zoom camera with a MOS sensor. List price was $350. Canon overestimated the demand and, with the new model out now, they have to dump the ZS20s for a bargain price.

Reading a lot of reviews has showed me there are two basic Point and Shoot pocket camera levels that I would think about buying. There's the $100 price point which gets you a regular pocket camera or the $200 price point which gets you one of the megazoom cameras. I'd rather spring for the $200 level since you get a lot more features and the better lens/sensor.

Here's the one I'm looking at. Alternatives are Sony and Canon but this Panny seems to have them beat as far as features.

Amazon.com: Panasonic Lumix ZS20 14.1 MP High Sensitivity MOS Digital Camera with 20x Optical Zoom (Black): Camera & Photo