Recommended point & shoot Cameras

[Wools]

I'm going to be doing a track day at Brooklands in the near future and wanted to get a new camera.

I'm currently with a simple Sony DSC-S730 that I've owned for over 2 years. The simple drawback for me is that it does not offer widescreen shots and the shutter speed is a bit slow. As I'm going to a Motorsport event, I want it a little bit quicker!

I'm after a camera priced between ?60 - ?140, that has a faster shutter speed and can take widescreen shots rather than the 3072 x 2304 my camera is outputting now.

Many thanks for any advice or recommendations.

[Brad]

1. Sensor aspect ratios are generally all the same and not widescreen, ergo most (all?) digital cameras offering a widescreen mode are simply cropping the top and bottom of the shot. You can do the same thing in photoshop or whatever.
2. To get a higher shutter speed you need either a faster lens (lower f-stop e.g. f/2) and or higher ISO setting available to you. Both are rare on point and shoot cameras sadly and high isos on such tiny sensors = much noise!

TBH mate I don't think your budget isn't going to get you what you're after. Hopefully someone else will prove me wrong though. Hope you enjoy the track day though regardless.

[Wools]

That's odd, from reviews I've been reading, all of the basic point and shoot cameras offer what I'm after within the price range.

I was interested in the Casio EX-H10 as that appears to have everything I'm after. However the Sony DSC-WX1 looks brilliant but I'm not sure of the differences and whether it justifies the extra £70 over the £130 Casio?

[Brad]

Hmm, maybe I've misunderstood what you are after. What do you mean by the shutter speed is a bit slow on your current camera?

EDIT: Do you mean shutter lag? The time taken between you pressing the shutter and the camera actually taking the photo?

[Wools]

That's what I mean, sorry if I worded to wrongly!

The time it takes to press the button to take a shot and the image actually being taken. It's okay on mine but I used it at the 2009 Festival of Speed and it was a little tricky to time the shot with a car. Also not every image was in focus and I presume the shutter speed (?) along with my cack handedness was the reason.

[Brad]

Aha! That makes sense. Yes, general camera tech has moved on enough that shutter lag is less of an issue. DSLRs still tend to have the edge but compacts are much betetr than they used to be.

All the other stuff I said still applies though. If you want a fast shutter speed then you need really good light, a fast (large aperture i.e. low f-stop) lens and good high ISO performance. The high ISO performance of compat camera's is unavoidably crap due to the small sensor size and the lenses tend not to be too fast either but at least they will fire when you tell them too. Best advice then is to configure your apterture and ISO settings so you can shoot at about 1/250th second and practice your panning technique!

[Wools]

Thanks for the information and advice, I've got my eye on the following and I may go with the camera.

http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/casio_ex_h10_review/

[Brad]

What is it about that camera in particular that you like? It seems ok to me but the sample images all look pretty crap when viewed up close. Not a problem at all unless you are planning on big enlargements or viewing on a big 1080p TV though so that may not bother you.

It's best feature as far as I can see is the huge zoom range and in particular that it starts at 24mm (unusual for a compact to go this wide angle).

EDIT: The huge rear screen is nice too! The lack of an optical viewfinder is a shame but not surprising.

[Wools]

I was after a wide angle as I wanted off the bat widescreen shots without needing to crop them afterwards.

However I'm lost with the possible options and wanted to know about whether the angle was wide screen along with the time it took to capture an image.

[Brad]

Ok, it's not wide screen ratio. What it means that with 24mm (equiv) lens, when zoomed right out you can capture more of the scene in front of you. Useful for landscapes and also indoors when you have restricted space to move backwards and capture a group of people for example. 28mm(equiv) is usually the widest that compact cameras will go. Kit lenses on DSLRs are also usually 28mm(equiv) at their widest setting.

I got a Ricoh GX100 because it went 24mm wide and the lens is quite fast at f/2.5. The telephoto zoom on that is nowhere near as much as that casio though (the Ricoh is only 24mm - 72mm). That Casio seems like a pretty versatile camera, especially for the money. Sticking in that price range I don't know what else I could recommend based on your requirements. My biggest gripe would be in the actual image quality but without nkowing how large you want to display or print I couldn't say if that's a real issue or not.

Good luck.

[Wools]

Thanks so much for the advice you've given me.

I'll probably hold off the apparently fruitless quest of a widescreen camera and use your suggestions for a good quality camera.