Looking for new camera-compactish. Have Sony W90

[pcumming]

Looking for new camera-compactish. Have Sony W90

Have Sony Cybershot W90 with 3x zoom. I like it except for 2 things.

1. Would like a 5x or higher optical zoom. The new Cybershot W150, W170 have such but have same features and issues as W90

2. Does not shoot well with flash indoors or low light conditions.

Took some pictures indoors recently and it was something out of the Twilight Zone. We are all thin people but we looked huge. Strange. Perhaps it was taking pictures of the future....like in this movie I once saw...



Battery life with LI-Ion is great, camera size is fine, do not need smaller camera, LCD fine, want fairly rugged camera (will not break too easily with normal care)


Need to have: Image Stabilization, Price 250-$350. Movie mode is nice. 8MP is fine for me, if higher and not a big price diff-okay..

Level: Novice

Thanks for your recommendations.
Peter

[Photo-John]

Peter-
Although you are worried about low light and flash photos, if you're used to the W90, I think the W150 would be a good choice. The truth is, low light and indoor flash photos are always difficult. New cameras have much better high ISO performance, though. And it's possible we can help you learn to use your flash better. Auto flash is terrible and I never use it.

However, if you want something different but comparable to the Sony W-Series, I recommend looking at the Canon PowerShot A-Series cameras. The A720 IS has a 6x zoom lens, image stabilization, and an 8-megapixel sensor. The Canon A-Series cameras have always been among the most popular with the PhotograhpyREVIEW.com community and I've been impressed with them as well.

Here's a link to our Sony Cybershot W150 Pro Review
And here's a link to the Canon PowerShot A720 IS user reviews

I hope that helps. Let us know if you have more questions. And maybe post the weird picture you were talking about. I don't quite understand and I'd like to take a look at it.

[pcumming]

Thanks very much. Read the Sony review. The latest Sony camera W150/W170 is 98% the same as the W90 except has smile detector, 5x zoom and a new mode they added. So indoor shots will be difficult as well.

I did indeed read that indoor shots are hard for most smaller digital cameras like you mentioned.

Peter

[Photo-John]

The latest Sony camera W150/W170 is 98% the same as the W90 except has smile detector, 5x zoom and a new mode they added. So indoor shots will be difficult as well.

Peter-
It may look the same in terms of specs and features. But one area where cameras have been improving in the past couple of years is sensitivity and noise reduction. What this means is that the W150 should be better in low light than your W90, even though they have the same resolution. Resolution is only part of the story. Unfortunately, I haven't tried the W90 so I can't say for sure that the W150 will be better. But over the past couple of years I have been really impressed with improvements made for higher sensitivity settings you have to use in low light. Also, Canon and Sony pretty much have the best image quality. So I don't know that switching brands is going to make a huge difference. Camera companies have tried to convince us that digital cameras are magic and the right camera will take great pictures anywhere. That's just not true. Low light and flash are always problems and the real solution is to accept the limitations of available cameras and learn to work with them and not against them. I'm not saying there isn't a camera that will work better than your W90. But I do caution against believing a new camera is the answer.