Very hard decision between 4 excelent p&s cameras, need your help!Please dont ignore!

Hey; i am looking for a good p&s camera to use both underwater and regular. I have narrowed my options to 4. Please help me what to buy! My criteria are photo quality, high ISO, good video quality, raw format, long battery life(without using GPS, i have no interest about fancy gps tool)

Canon PowerShot S100 - 430 dollar / Housing - 250 dollar
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX9V - 300 dollar / Housing - 400 dollar
Nikon COOLPIX S9100 - 277 dollar / Housing - 400 dollar
Canon Powershot SX230 - 220 dollar / Housing - 250 dollar

Thank you, waiting for your advices!

Of those, the Canon S100. But the Olympus XZ-1 is muuuch better, definitely the best. Of those the only one that offers Raw is the S100, and the XZ1 has it as well. The XZ-1 has an f/1.8-2.2 range lens, which is a lot more efficient for low-light usage than a stop of ISO.

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Originally Posted by Anbesol

Of those, the Canon S100. But the Olympus XZ-1 is muuuch better, definitely the best. Of those the only one that offers Raw is the S100, and the XZ1 has it as well. The XZ-1 has an f/1.8-2.2 range lens, which is a lot more efficient for low-light usage than a stop of ISO.

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Thank you Anbesol, helped me a lot know i put that olympus in my list =)

As Anbesol said, the S100 is the best on the list for your needs, but it's not a point-and-shoot. You can use it as a point and shoot but I call it an experts compact (I have the S95 and I'm thinking about the S100).

The S100 is very good in low light. It sacrifices wide zoom range for wide aperture (to let more light in). It has a custom sensor which is bigger than the others (again to capture more light). It can shoot RAW and it includes the software to treat it (allows you to modify colour balance, contrast, etc. on pictures taken underwater). All this will be useful for your underwater shots.

In normal daylight conditions these features are not so important. You have a camera that is more expensive than the others but has a less powerful zoom. The results should be sharper than the others with less noise but it's up to you to decide

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It sacrifices wide zoom range for wide aperture (to let more light in)

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The aperture is only wide at the wide angle, as you zoom the aperture range quickly becomes ordinary, even slow at up to 5.9 on the telephoto end (120mm equivalence). The XZ1, however, has everything that the Canon does, with the addition of a lens that is fast all the way through the zoom range. It ends at a 120mm equiv at 2.2, comparably the Canon's at 5.9, thats 2 2/3 stop difference, an enormous amount of light. Canon's would comparably require an ISO of 1600 when the XZ1 would only need ISO 250 when used at the telephoto end.

The Canon S100 really is a great camera, but aside from 1080p video recording, the Olympus XZ1 does everything it does and with better, faster glass, and a hot shoe.

You probably don't need a very tele setting for underwater shots. The water will make the view of the camera more tele anyway.

I missed the announcement of the Olympus XZ1. I checked it out this afternoon. It's bigger than the S100 but it has everything - except the control of the lens focal length on the ring round the lens. I like to walk around with the lens set to a "50mm equivalent view", turn the camera on and know it's going to be at the right setting.

Waiting to get my hands on a Fuji X10. It's much bigger than a S100 but apart from that it seems to have lots of good features (including a lens that goes from F2 at the wide end to f2.8 at the tele end).

I have decided on s100. However it is out of stock everywhere. Some people are selling it for 500-600 dollars, this is insane. I am leaving states in a month. I guess I wont be able to buy it...

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Originally Posted by none133

I have decided on s100. However it is out of stock everywhere. Some people are selling it for 500-600 dollars, this is insane. I am leaving states in a month. I guess I wont be able to buy it...

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Best Buy $428 - "looks like" it's in stock

Canon - PowerShot S100 Black 12.1-Megapixel Digital Camera - Black - 5244B001 powershot S100 digital camera&cp=1&lp=1

Liz

Just bought it from bestbuy-online. Thank you Liz!

Awesome! That camera is almost as good as the Olympus XZ1!

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Originally Posted by none133

Just bought it from bestbuy-online. Thank you Liz!

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Congratulations! That's great news. :thumbsup:

Let us know how you like it - and post some pics when you get a chance.

Liz

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Originally Posted by Anbesol

Awesome! That camera is almost as good as the Olympus XZ1!

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Almost :)

The Olympus XZ-1 is my favorite compact camera ever. It has that subtle, hard to pinpoint image quality that is more than the sum of the parts. The Canon S-Series fit in your pocket but they never made me feel the magic like the Olympus XZ-1 does. It's a special camera - one of my favorites of 2011.

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Originally Posted by Photo-John

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The Olympus XZ-1 is my favorite compact camera ever. It has that subtle, hard to pinpoint image quality that is more than the sum of the parts. The Canon S-Series fit in your pocket but they never made me feel the magic like the Olympus XZ-1 does. It's a special camera - one of my favorites of 2011.

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Noted. This is what I'm looking for.. But I'm still very happy with the S95

Hey,

I have taken many pictures during my chrismas trip with my Canon S100. It is amazing in daylight. Pictures are cyristal clear, like real. Manuel function makes you able to get very good quality. However night pictures are not "perfect". They are great but it takes so much time to collect light, and even with a tripod it cannot get a stable and clear shot for view picures such as city lights. It is relatively big compare to a p&s camera but still does not bother in your pocket. Couple days ago there was a shade on the camera screen and it has shown on some of the pictures that i shot. I was devestated for that moment. After a couple hours shade has dissappeared and never came back. It was weird but anyway now works perfect. Bottomline: Love it so far. Everybody who sees my pictures says it is like a DSLR shot. That is what i see tough.

Tolga

oh，really hard to believe it，but....

Tolga - the S100 is considered by many to be a fast lens option, great for low light. What those people who say this don't tell you, is that its lens is only fast at the widest angle, it quickly turns into a slow lens as you zoom in. As I said earlier in the thread, the Olympus XZ1 has a fast lens throughout its zoom, ending at 2.2, as opposed to the 5.9 that Canon ends at. The Oly will certainly do better to maintain a fast shutter speed in low light than the Canon does, throughout its zoom.

And as well - if you set the lens to a telephoto position then the lens will magnify the camera shake and the faster the shutter speed that you need to make the image sharp. So that's two reasons not to use a tele setting in low light.

Personally when I'm out at night I stick to the two most wideangle settings (displayed as equivalent of 28mm and 35mm) and I get in close to the subject.

My point wasn't 'don't use telephoto in low light', it was 'if you want telephoto in low light, the Olympus XZ1 does it very well" The canon, at 5.9, is quite slow and awful at telephoto setting in low light, basically useless in low light being that slow. Still - for portraiture, its always best to zoom in a bit, at the wide angle those perspective distortions are very unflattering to the human figure and shape.