Bienvenidos a Argentina! I'll be stealing your camera.

June 5, 2007 11:07 AM

Point and shoot showdown: Sony DSC-T100 vs. Canon SD800IS (vs. Olympus Stylus 770SW). Very detailed question ;-)

I'm currently in the market for a new digital camera (see headline) and thought that no research effort would be complete without getting some feedback from the AskMeFi community.

Here's some background. I've been a Casio man for the short time that I've ben in the digital camera world. My parents had an EX-Z50, and they gave me an EX-Z850 as a graduation present. I liked the manual controls on that (Shutter and Aperture priority modes), but I am ashamed to say that I very rarely used them. (Remember that.) I had originally gotten a Canon SD700IS, which I enjoyed but traded it in for the Casio for reasons that now escape me. Maybe it was the familiarity of the OS. It could have also been that I love Casio's "Best Shot" modes (aka scene selection), which cover pretty much every situation possible and include pictures and descriptions. However, the reviews I've been looking at don't even mention Casios.

Following are my preferences, in no particular order. I want something with good macro capabilities, good night shooting abilities, and something that can fit in my shorts pocket (unless I hear a very good reason otherwise). I don't like big megapixelage (files get annoying to move around and noise becomes a problem) but I want to be able to make some big prints (say, 8x10 or maybe 11x14). I want to be able to see the screen in bright sunlight (not a viewfinder fan). Image stabilization isn't necessary, but preferred. Exposure bracketing a big fat plus. And of course, it must take pretty pictures with as little intervention as possible. I like shooting natural scenes (especially in the woods); sunrises, sunsets, and general sky pictures; and flowers.

After having read the exhaustive reviews at the CNet Digital Camera Review site, Imaging Resource, and Consumer Reports, I've got it narrowed down to three cameras. I would love any advice on a choice, especially by someone who's actually used one or more of these.

1.) The Sony DSC-T100 is at the top of the CNet list, and received an Editor's Choice. (It was not included on the Consumer Reports review.) I like the sound of its gigantic 3" LCD, 1cm macro mode, 5x zoom, image stabilization, and fast startup. I saw the phrase "exposure bracketing" in one review, which would be stupendous but I'm not sure if it actually has that.

2.) The Canon SD800IS is high up on nearly every list I can find. I loved the image quality from my previous Canon and I know the image stabilization to be excellent. The Face Detection feature has received decent praise as well.

3.) The Olympus Stylus 770SW caught my attention because I enjoy the great outdoors and fancy myself a backpacker. As such, its all-weather, shock-proof design (it can even operate up to 33 feet underwater with no modification, which is incredible) could come in handy. It also comes with 27 built-in scene modes. However, it's slow to operate and I've heard iffy things about the image quality.

Thanks for your help!

posted by dondiego87 to technology (8 comments total)

I love my DSC-T100. Yes, it does have exposure bracketing; the huge LCD screen is amazingly beautiful and the shots I take always come out gorgeous. It comes with a huge load of features that I don't take full advantage of yet but I can assure you, I don't need to use them to take pretty shots.
posted by pinksoftsoap at 12:57 PM on June 5, 2007

I have the Canon SD800IS and I don't believe it has exposure bracketing; you can double check their manual to be sure. I've not used it at night, but in low light situations, images are adequate, and the image stabilization is very good. It's very pocketable, has an excellent display that's usable in daylight situations. I've not used the macro mode (see Ken Rockwell's review for macro samples), but I really like it's movie mode and use it frequently to shoot videos.

If I had to do it all over again, I'd probably reconsider getting the SD700 (or it's newer equivalent) instead. The wide angle capability of the SD800 is nice for landscape and nature photography, but I find I'm doing more portrait and action shots of my kids, so it would probably have made more sense to go with a camera with better telephoto range.
posted by jaimev at 1:31 PM on June 5, 2007

Also Cannons do not use Sony's stupid proprietary memory format, they use regular SD cards which is a big plus in my book.

Disclaimer: I use an SD600.
posted by BobbyDigital at 1:59 PM on June 5, 2007

I've had nothing but excellent service from Canon and am now bordering on consumer whore-dom for them. I've not used the 800, but my mom's last mother's day gift was a IIRC sd600 which is just as excellent as my now elderly but still functional S200.
posted by Skorgu at 2:01 PM on June 5, 2007

I have to second Canon's customer service. I was momentarily stunned when I had problems with some equipment; that is, with the quickness with which they addressed them.
posted by phaedon at 2:04 PM on June 5, 2007

And when I broke my out of warranty Canon SD450 (camera not waterproof - who knew?), they offered to fix it for $107 or sell a refurbished SD600 for $125. I took the SD600 and it is indistinguishable from a new one.

When I broke my previous out of warranty SD450 (yes, I'm hard on cameras - not a design fault) they fixed it and it was back in a week.

Canons are great cameras and I like their service.
posted by jpmack at 4:03 PM on June 5, 2007

I have the Canon SD800IS and I absolutely love it. Image stabilization is a great feature and face recognition is neat. Whenever I ask someone to take a picture for me they always comment on it. The macro is pretty darn great too. Here's a shot if you wanted to check it out and there are some other flower macro shots should you be interested. I've had no problems with it so far and it's been a breeze to use.
posted by harrumph at 6:03 PM on June 5, 2007

I own a Canon SD750 and love it. The SD750 does not have Image Stabilization like the SD800 IS that you're considering, but I would still recommend it. It's a gorgeous point and shoot compact -- definitely pocketable.

The SD750 lacks an optics viewfinder, but it has a 3.0" PureColor LCD screen. I haven't had a problem with the absence of a viewfinder. I find the anti-reflective and scratch-resistant screen to be really useful in direct sun light. The only downfall is that if I run into a low battery warning, I can't switch off the screen to lengthen battery life.

The SD750 has 17 shooting modes versus the SD800 IS' 10. I took a photo of a moving duck the other day under the "Kids & Pets" mode and the result was impressive.

Both cameras have the DIGIC III processor. Although it seemed a little gimmicky, the Face Detection is a definite plus especially with portraits. The SD750 focuses on up to 9 faces.. Not sure how this measures up with the SD800 IS, but I've found it to be a great aid in making sure the subject's eyes are the thing in focus. Plus, the Red-Eye Correction is an easier and (in my opinion) more natural solution than Photoshop.

I'm not sure whether the SD800 IS has Noise Reduction Technology, but I do know that the SD750 produces smooth images at up to ISO 1600.

The time lapse movie, color accent, and touch spin dial features are really neat as well.

So to sum it up, the only drawbacks that I've found with the SD750 is that it does not have an optical viewfinder, an icon that shows the status of the battery (not sure if this is a universal Canon thing), IS, or RAW support.

Hope this might have helped in some way. Good luck.
posted by fiasco at 10:29 PM on June 5, 2007