Here's the story. My younger brother (13) has taken an interest in photography after being asked by his school to take pictures on a couple of field trips. I certainly want to encourage this, and was thinking that with Christmas coming, I'd like to get him a decent P&S. He's currently using my ancient Vivitar, and the thing is beyond atrocious.
I'm a DSLR guy, and even my Canon P&S is heavy on the Manual controls. I really don't know a lot about the simpler P&S market. I've done some research at B&H and DPReview and have come up with these two cameras:
Canon Powershot A530 Fujifilm FinePix A500
Being a Canon fan, I'm pretty comfortable with the Powershot, but I've heard good things about Fuji, too. I looked at the Nikon Coolpix L3, but it was a full star less in the ratings compared to the others. I would love some input from anyone who owns/has used/knows about either of these. Feel free to make other suggestions, too! My criteria are:
About $150 or less
At least 4MP
Optical Viewfinder
Built-in Flash
CF/SD cards - these are the only ones I really know about, so I'm open to other options here.
EASE OF USE - something easy to learn with
Some growth potential - enough "guts" that he won't outgrow it in a year.
Well I am chomping at the bit to go dslr, but my little fuji has served me well, I suppose.
It is easy to learn with, but I feel as if I have outgrown it. But I may say the same for any P&S for me right now...
Feel free to browse my portfolio, or the cam page for my cam to see some examples.
Hope he has as much fun as I have had with it all !
I like the Canon for the manual controls and the flip and twist screens.
Fuji has their FX series with their special CCD with low noise, but everything else they put out seems pretty mediocre.
I own a Canon S2 IS because of the flip and twist screen and movie mode because I knew that these were two things I will not get with my 30D. I don't use those features much, but when I do, I'm GLAD of them. I have an angle finder for my 30D and I still find the flip and twist screen more useful in many circumstances.
