11/05/2015 UPDATE:

Took away 1 star because when taking pictures of the same item, the colour is not consistent. Say I take a picture of a rose coloured blanket trimmed in light pink. Some pictures are true to the actual colours, but other pictures of the same thing, the pink looks like and entirely different colour, even though it should not. For that reason I took away 1 star and downgraded this from a 4 star to a 3 star rating. I also have a very robust photo software package, and no matter what I could not get the colours to be accurate across the board. Also, it only had 4x optical zoom and I wanted/needed more. I still believe in CANON so when I bought yet another camera, got a CANON, just an upgrade from this one. Basically this camera is for fun shots or facebook and stuff.



Since I had to get another camera with a much higher optical zoom range, I bought ANOTHER CANON with 30x optical zoom, but had to buy a flash separate. I got the PowerShot SX400 and once I get it and use it I will review it. I actually needed something more, but not an actual professional camera as it was overkill for me. I sell items on the internet and needed an upgrade from this to get better pictures, that look like the items I am selling and looked true to the actual colour. Also bought a 5 foot tripod.



___________________________

FINALLY BOUGHT A CANON!!!!! I got an older model with 10.2 megapixels but when buying a camera that is one of the things you look at but not the most important with "Point and Shoot", it is like the third thing as you can buy a 15 or 21 megapixel and still get really bad grainy or dark pictures, like I did, and anything over 18mgp does NOT do well in low light. Also, camera manufacturers push out new lineups every single year with only minor upgrades, so phased-out models can be a real steal for the same thing costing 2x.



TIDBIT on Optical and Digital Zoom:

If you are using a digital point and shoot camera you may have something called "digital zoom". For great pix AVOID digital zoom. If you have the option of optical zoom, use that instead.



DIGITAL zoom is basically a digital crop within the camera and is NOT true magnification. Basically you are only capturing part of an image with LOWER RESOLUTION and not the full frame. So it is like fools gold, it looks like gold but not worth anything and in fact makes things worse.



OPTICAL zoom IS magnification created by the lens. This is a TRUE ZOOM and should not degrade the image quality. Optical zoom should ALWAYS be your first choice for magnification to make sure the quality of the pix is high.



Also, Optical zoom is the most important zoom measurement because it measures the “Focal Length” of the camera. For example, a 10X Nikon zoom lens might have a 35mm film equivalent of 24mm-240mm, while another might have a 35mm-350mm equivalent.



The 24mm lens would have MORE wide-angle capabilities than a 35mm lens, and a 350mm lens has more zoom than a 240mm lens. So, if you can start with a 25mm – 100mm zoom in “optical”, which is usually the first number.



So that is why megapixels really is the third of fourth option to look at since such numbers refer to the magnification and wide-angle capabilities of the lens and the quality of the pix is in Optical or Digital Zoom, and NOT JUST megapixels.

___________________________



So, after trying 2 highly rated point and shoot cameras, reviewed next, in the $200 range I finally just spent the money and bought a CANON, which I have used since a teenager and still have my film camera, which to me is the only way to take photos.



(9/17/2015 - Full Retail $250) CANON POWERSHOT A3000 IS: 10 megapixel, 4 times zoom



Set Up:

Easy enough, but check the site for updates AND there is a lot of great support and information about the model, so thumbs up. Also, you can option in the descriptions when looking what to set the camera on in the LCD screen, like with the OLYMPUS.



Picture Quality:

First, the megapixels of this camera is ½ of the NIKON @ 21 and the OLYMPUS was 14 and the quality is actually very good where there is a lot of light with the ISO at 400 or under and excellent at 100. I especially like the “vivid” shooting option which beefs up the colours as I am taking pictures of hand knitted items to sell. And while it has image stabilization, I turn it off as I use a tripod. Video quality is par for the course, but I did not buy this for video.



CONS:

Shooting speed is slow, slower than most at 4 seconds in between shots with the flash and 3 seconds without the flash. Most others are at half this



Editing Software:

The same as everyone else, I do not think is it better or worse. I use Corel anyway



Camera Quality:

Overall for a camera that was around $250 full retail and you can now buy for $150 new I would say a top contender for ones costing over $200. It feels like it has a metal housing, it has weight and feels substantial in your hands, so if dropped I think it would survive, which I could not say that of the plastic cameras I tried before I finally bought this one. If you are looking for something basic that takes great pictures in optical mode, then this one is a great little camera. Taking off 1 star because of delay in between shots and slight picture noise.



So, again hands down I go for the CANON, needless to say that from now on I will just stick with CANON. They are the higher priced point and shoot, and in general if on sale not much of a discount, but I think this is because of the quality of the camera. My “film” camera is 30 years old and still works like a charm. External reviews rate between 4 to 4 1/2 stars and B+/A- on average.



If something changes, I will update the review.

______________________



OTHER CAMERAS: NIKON AND OLYMPUS

I first bought an Olympus, then a NIKON before the CANON and I did not like them. Also, I did buy these used, but I do buy products on AMAZON that are used about 25% of the time and usually do not have issues, but always buy items stated as “LIKE NEW”. Here are my reviews:



1. (9/3/2015 - Full retail $200) OLYMPUS STYLUS -5010: 14 megapixel, wide angle dual image 5 times zoom,

There is not much support on the OLYMPUS website, so that is a bummer, and it did not come with a CD. From what I read in the very basic manual the driver, software and manual should download when you plug it into your laptop, so if it is pre owned, this does not happen. The pictures it took were grainy and mostly out of focus. Also, there is a lag time from when you press the button to take the pix and it actually taking a pix so the moment for all intent and purpose is gone.



Upside: Newer models may perform better, I do not know. But, I did like that when I scrolled through the different options on taking a pix, a brief description pops up on the screen as to why you would use this option. This I have to say is a great option as I am not a photographer. The editing software is average, but I have Corel for that. Also, it is a “dual lens” so it has optical and digital options.



External reviews rate OLYMPUS highly, but more of the high end cameras costing $450 and up. Can be as high as 4 stars and a B+ grade, much higher than NIKON, but not better than CANON. My camera failed miserably, I could not even download my pix, so I got a refund.



2. (9/8/2015 - Full retail $150 - $185) Nikon CoolPix S3600: 21 megapixel, 8 times zoom NIKKOR lens, video 720HD

The photos are really bad, something about the lighting just does not work and when you hold the button for a shot it takes forever, so as with the OLYMPUS the moment is gone. Also, not very user friendly. In addition, when using video it barely captures any audio, so the speakers are either really bad or whatever it is that tapes is really bad.



It may be a “dual” option lens as I am assuming the NIKKOR lens means digital, but there is no upside to that, as stated above optical zoom is the best.



On the upside, the photo editing software does allow you to apply the different filters in the camera after you download them, I like that option. The manual is comprehensive, but the website support is minimal, as it seems with all point and shoot.



Con, the camera body feels very cheap, like thin plastic so if you drop this one I doubt it would survive. External reviews give NIKON mostly an average score, 3 out of 5 stars and a C grade, and after seeing one I understand why.



Sent this camera back and got a refund.

_________________



I know a long review, but I hope this helps with your choice.



SIDE NOTE: Anyone can get a great picture with a digital, especially since you can alter the pix after, but a real photo artist to me is one that uses film. I am not that, but I can really admire that type of photography and the skill required from taking the photo to developing it in their own dark room.