Help choosing a point and shoot

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Nespresco

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Alan
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Not the usual topic here I know, whilst I find myself perfectly competent choosing a dSLR I am tasked with getting a relatively cheap point and shoot for my Step-Dad. He isn't really sure what he want's and to be perfectly honest I think he just wants a new camera to enjoy. I can't imagine him ever wanting to really play in depth with manual controls, but it would be nice if there were some so he could get a grasp of the basics. I'm fairly sure he doesn't want one of these mega-zooms and I have explained to him that on a sensor that size mega pixels is almost irrelevant past 10 or so. I suspect it will mainly be used for landscapes, indoor portrait (social gathering) and outdoor portraits as well as a carry along to various events. He has a very modest budget of £100 which I expect could be increased slightly for the right camera. I am however fortunate to be in the USA and can take advantage of the lower pricing here. I believe him to be looking for something along the following lines:

  • Good image quality.
  • Well exposed images with good warm skin tones.
  • Low light performance, preference for a CMOS sensor although image quality takes precedence, I don't really know anything about the relative performance of CMOS/BSI-CMOS/CCD sensors at this price point.
  • Reasonable video performance at 720p or 1080p.
  • 24mm at the Wide-end to 110+ at telescopic end.

Bells and whistles really are not needed, given the budget I'd prefer it was all allocated towards image quality.

Thanks for all suggestions,
 
Im not really up on whats good and whats bad in the current low end of the compact area, but i do know you wont get any of the current good low light performers for £100.
You are going to have to compromise and get one thats ok at a push, and id expect yo uwill need to pay a bit more.

For what its worth my girlfriend got a Canon Ixus 125HS for about £119 from Amazon. Im very impressed with it, both for its size and features. Its good in normal light of course, they mostly all are, and it has a low light mode where it takes 3 consecutive shots and merges them in to one, and so reduces noise, but its no good for moving subjects.

In the past ive been very impressed with my old Panasonic Lumix TZ7, and these can be picked up pretty cheaply these days, although probably second hand as i dont think they are sold any more. the Lumix range of cameras are very good performers, even in low light (considering the small sensor limitation)

Good luck finding something, i think the budget will have to be raised slightly unless you look at the second hand market.
 
Thanks Dave,with the pricing over here I can go roughly to 150-200 equivalent UK pricing as I persuaded him to increase his budget to £150 for the very reasons you mention. My sister used to have a Sony, the night mode in that always seemed to produce good images.
 
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