A simple point and shoot for my wife?

[texchappy]

My wife wants a point and shoot she can keep in her purse and carry all the time.

Budget: <$300US
Zoom of some description (i.e. any zoom range as long as it has it)
Good image quality
Video would be nice

What would you recommend?

 

[charjohncarter]

You didn't say digital or film. As I know nothing about digital, I'll give you the one I bought for my wife over twent years ago. It still works and I use it now. It is the Olympus Stylus Infinity. They have one with a zoom but it is bigger. Look it up.

 

[Darkhorse]

How about the s100?

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-PowerShot-S100-Wide-Angle-Stabilized/dp/B005MTME3U

 

[Bill Clark]

iPhone.

You can send them immediately!

 

[Jubb Jubb]

Canon S100. Beautiful shots from this camera, built in GPS, wide angle lens. Fantastic pocket camera.

 

[Texsport]

Having just come from a firearm forum, I thought you were talking about a carry/conceal pistol 'till I saw the price.

I agree on the iPhone camera.

For a pistol, make it $1,000 and she can have the finest pocket pistol made--the Boberg Arms XR9.

Texsport

 

[SausalitoDog]

I agree - iphone. She will always have it, will love using it. And it takes some pretty awsome pix ... And has a huge list of cool apps for photos.

 

[daveleo]

I bought this for my wife . . . wicked nice little digital camera . . . about $140

Nikon Coolpix S3000 12.0MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Vibration Reduction (VR) Zoom and 2.7-Inch LCD (Black)

 

[tstermitz]

I agree, iPhone or Canon s100. If you need to borrow the s100, you can flip it to raw for greater dynamic range.

There are only a couple of capabilities a non-photo geek sometimes wants that aren't satisfied by the iPhone:
- macro mode for flowers or butterflies
- super x zoom for extra reach or wide angles.

I guess the third thing would be a flash for sunny portraits, but a non-photographer has a hard time believing they should use a flash in the sunshine.

Even using the s100 for snapshots, there are only two really important things that I as a photographer find missing: (1) High-iso performance and (2) a fast aperture. It is really hard to isolate a foreground subject in an optically-noisy environment.

 

[matt_mcg2]

As an alternative to the S100, the Olympus XZ-1 is now super-cheap after the launch of the XZ-2. Excellent (class-leading?) lens, much much faster at the long end than the Canon. Good colour, too. Below about iso 250-400 the image quality is really excellent. Downsides: like most compacts it doesn't do high ISO that great, it's fairly noisy from 400 up. Continuous autofocus isn't great for capturing fast action.

 

[Bob T]

The Canon S100 is hard to beat, small and very capable. It's video function is very good also.

 

[Pentudlian]

Sony Cybershot DSC WX100, perhaps? 18 mp, 25mm - 250mm equivalent zoom, and a very good video recorder. I got one at Christmas and am impressed.

 

[bwcolor]

S-100, or from time to time in that price range and better image quality: Panasonic LX-7

 

[bigeye]

Fuji XF1?

I can recommend the S100, too. But the LX-7 is very inexpensive right now.

-Charlie

 

[bwcolor]

Run .. don't walk to Crutchfield and you will find the LX-7 for $299.99. I've had the S-100 and now have (purchased for my daughter) the LX-7 and the LX-7 is a wonderful little camera. I usually shoot digital with my NEX-7, NEX-6, or X-100 and except for the lack of an EVF/OVF, which you can add an EVF, I would be just fine taking out the LX-7 by itself. A really nice camera and a steal for that price.