Ok guys, what's the best P&S for random family shots, especially fast 5 year old, good low light performance, relatively small, and easy to use. All for no more than $400. Optical viewfinder would be nice. Oh, and I'm a shitty photographer so I need something forgiving. Help me.

canon s95/s100 seem to be king these days in the ps market.

Methinks your best bet is S95 at $290 over on Amazon (S100 is out but it still costs over $400 at the moment). If you must have an optical viewfinder, Canon G12 can be had for $380, though it's nowhere near as small as S95 (and it'll have more or less similar image quality since it uses identical sensors).

Edited November 29, 201114 yr by Salt Peanuts

Thanks guys. How much better is the 100?

Jeff said he liked the S100 pics less than his recall of S95 pics.

^^^ Yep. I can't speak to the S100 but I have nothing bad to say about the S95. I am still considering the S100 because of its supposedly better low light performance.

Yeah and I just saw that it has a 5x zoom which is appealing to me.

Speaking of P&S, has anyone played with a X10 yet?

hmmm S100 on backorder.

hmmm S100 on backorder.

Cursed Christmas

dinny dont know where you are in nyc but there's one best buy that has it in store if you can't wait until they come back in stock. you get it now but would need to pay taxes on it...

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=pcat17006&type=page&skuId=3558321&searchpage=true&_requestid=630323

Edited November 29, 201114 yr by crappyjones123

Dinny: I would go for the LX5 over the G12. But if I were you, I would just get the S95. The LX5 is very nice and I like being able to use a bounce flash on mine (although the flash is just as large as the camera). But the LX5 is not pocketable like the S95 (it is more like a jacket pocket than pants pocket kind of camera). Also, I think S95 does better in low light than the LX5. I was hoping the S95 would go little cheaper than $289 (which is what it has been for the last week or so until it went up to $291) for BF/CM but I still may buy one at this price.

Thanks once again, everyone. Just ordered the S95. I'm really excited about it!

Thanks once again, everyone. Just ordered the S95. I'm really excited about it!

Good deal Dinny, I'm not the best photographer either but I love my S95. I think I've used it more this year than my T2i.

How does 200 Megapixels sound to you?

http://www.reghardware.com/2011/11/30/hasselblad_h4_d_200ms_medium_format_multishot_camera/

looks pretty good to me

Time for another Bronx Zoo trip to help Colin break in his new camera. Any of the NY crew interested in joining us? Sunday morning most likely.

What time are you thinking?

Typically right at opening time, 10AM? before the masses arrive. As it will be bit chilly it might be a low visitor day so people could come and go as they like all day.

Edited December 1, 201114 yr by VPI

I'm interested, I've been meaning to go anyway. I have a bunch of those $4 passes.

Great. Should be a fun day.

I am in.

Sunday's a little tricky, but I bet the little monkey would love to see the, um, other monkeys.

I need to get a spare battery for my S95. Trying to find an OEM one on Amazon is not easy. Is there a reliable third party brand that I should check out?

I have two Pearstone batteries that work just fine at about half the price of the Canon battery.

I had one from amazon that cost maybe 7 bucks. Worked great. Mom has the same one now.