best compact point and shoot?

[montyharding]

hur hur.

 

[For Brutus]

Canon has some great point and shoots. Fuji also has some great cameras. The Fujis aren't as nice to use as the Canons but they have better low light capabilities. Don't underestimate how important low light performance is for a point and shoot. With many point and shoots shots in a darker room look like you used a flashlight to take the picture. The Fuji's excellent low light capabilities let you use less flash power thus you can see the background and the subject. Also the Fuji's flash can reach further from the camera because, well for the same power the camera has more sensitive eyes. Also, look at the wide angle focal length. A nice feature of Kodak cameras is they report their focal lengths in 35mm equivalents. So if you had an old 35mm camera with say a 28mm lens the Kodak point and shoot with a 28mm equivalent lens would give you the same field of view. This is nice because people who have been shooting awhile know things like a 35mm lens is your typical wide angle. 50mm is a portrait lens (less than 50mm and the distortion makes people look like they have big noses). With out reading up on my Fuji I would have no idea that 8mm gives me the same field of view as my old 35mm lens. Anyway, the reason why I mention that is because most point and shoots only zoom out to ~35mm. Well that kind of sucks in doors. If you want a group shot inside you will have to back up a lot. Kodak made a twin lens camera with a 23mm lens. That could have been a great camera if they didn't compress the stupid jpgs so much. Most Canon point and shoots are 35mm equivalent at their widest. A few are 28mm. That makes a big difference. I had a 24mm on another camera. That was wonderful. That wide angle is also great when shooting photos of rooms inside a house. So what do I look for in a point and shoot, wide angle and low light capability. Fuji is the clear low light leader. Canon and a few others have 28mm or better wide angle lenses. Since I couldn't have both in the same camera I chose low light. Fuji now combines the good low light with the wider angle lens. Now if they could just match Canon's (or just about anyone else's) user interface. Look at the F100df http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/Q408...oup/page12.asp