suggestions for P&S digital

[GORDONCHICK]

My parents are wanting a digital P&S. They do not want one of the tiny ones - my mom has arthritis and the smaller the grip, the harder it would be for her to hold it (and she's the primary photographer between the two). Mom takes both family snapshots and scenery. She wants alot more zoom than her little P&S 35mm (up to 85mm). I have the Canon S1-IS and Mom liked the size of it, so I'm thinking of the S5, but does anyone have any other suggestions? They will use it in the most basic modes, so I want good MPs, lots of optical zoom, & simple settings.

[pierces]

Your S5IS idea is good if you want a lot of zoom.

 

One thing to keep in mind is that even with IS, older folk's hands tend to shake a bit which makes long telephoto shots without a tripod difficult to keep from blurring.

 

A decent-sized alternative might be the A720 IS 6X zoom and a larger format than the SD series.

 

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canona720is/

 

Dave

[bruce-r]

I agree. Canon makes nice quality cameras.

[GORDONCHICK]

Thanks Dave. That looks like a really good option too, and almost half the price!

[c-to-sea]

You might also want to look at the Fulj Finepix S700. I have one and really

like it. It is resonably priced, 10x zoom, 7.1MP and easy to hold. Some

comments on it here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=13631952#post13631952

[miami]

My sister is very happy with her Panasonic DMC-TZ3S. It has a large 3" LCD screen, 10X optical zoom.

[mrbill62]

I have a kodak Z-812 IS. Great camera. 8M.P. and a great zoom. Iam very happy with IT.

[mountainhouse]

My dad's 80, and he went through a lot of cameras before the Panasonic FZ50. It's hard with older photographers to choose the right camera. With her arthritis, I'd be inclined toward cameras with the best total auto capability. My dad was on a cruise to Panama, and messed up a whole bunch of photos by doing something to disable the autofocus. :confused: The other thought would be to go to a store, where she can actually hold the camera. Sounds like handling will be important.

[GORDONCHICK]

An update: I did go ahead and recommend the S5-IS to my parents. They bought it, and are having so much fun with it that there may be another purchase coming before the end of the year so they don't ahve to share. My dad has never been one to take photos. That's why most of our snapshots growing up were missing mom in them. Now, he's the one with the camera sitting on the patio shooting birds and squirrels. Every morning when I open up Outlook, I have a couple new photos from Dad.

 

Thanks to everyone with all the helpful advice.

[photodoodle]

Now, he's the one with the camera sitting on the patio shooting birds and squirrels. Every morning when I open up Outlook, I have a couple new photos from Dad.

Awww... I love that. It makes me smile. I'm so glad they are both having so much fun with it.

They may need some suggestions for archiving and storage of all their photos soon... I'm staggering under the weight of hundreds of gigabytes of photos of birds and squirrels, myself (mostly birds, though). :o Not that they are likely to accumulate as much as I have, but you get my point, taking pictures is fun, but it can take over your hard drive.

[GORDONCHICK]

They may need some suggestions for archiving and storage of all their photos soon... I'm staggering under the weight of hundreds of gigabytes of photos of birds and squirrels, myself (mostly birds, though). :o Not that they are likely to accumulate as much as I have, but you get my point, taking pictures is fun, but it can take over your hard drive.

True, but since DB is the one who works for Microsoft and is the computer geek, that's his area of expertise.....