anybody tested the sx160 is?? And related suggestion.

D

Hi all,
I have heard some good words about the canon SX130 and then SX150. Good stuff at around 8k.
Recently the SX160 IS was launched and is available on ebay for around 11k.
I had made up my mind because I wanted a camera with manual settings around 10k
I just want to learn all the intricacies of photography before jumping onto a DSLR.
Can you please suggest a camera that will suit my needs and budget?
I do nature,portraits,macro,pet photography! AA batteries aint an issue.

Deep

You may have to buy a quick charger and extra batteries if you go for AA powered camera. It would cost around 1k...

SX160 is just out... not many reviews for this camera. But I hope, this would be a decent camera.

If you are OK with low battery and slow performance, you can go for SX150 or SX160.

Is it a good decision to get SX160is + batteries and charger for 12k?

Better buy TZ25 Panasonic TZ25 Digital camera With MFG Warranty | eBay
- Fast performance
- Better battery
- Better IQ
- All manual controls except manual focus (compared to SX160)
- In camera HDR, faster focus

^ Very nice suggestion...

Deep,
Have you ever used any camera before? Usually it's not suggested for newbies to go for used DSLR, but since you wanted to learn and upgrade to DSLR you may think about this choice as well... You may get old DSLR (about 5yrs) and a kit lens/50mm prime in your budget...

D

nac said:
^ Very nice suggestion...

Deep,
Have you ever used any camera before? Usually it's not suggested for newbies to go for used DSLR, but since you wanted to learn and upgrade to DSLR you may think about this choice as well... You may get old DSLR (about 5yrs) and a kit lens/50mm prime in your budget...

Thanks. I have considered that already, but I have never been very enthusiastic about second hand stuff. I just need to play around with ISO ,shutter speeds and stuff till I get the DSLR. Besides, my family might want to use it for family portraits.
I am okay with a slow flash and battery issues, but I seriously don't want the shutter lag that I had on my galaxy Note.(I presume that it is not an issue with the digital cameras).
I think that you have an SX130 and your pics are really good.
Now, I have been skimming through the past threads and the Panasonic has been a favourite everywhere.
But, my major issue is that I want to limit myself to 10k and need a new camera with manual settings.

D

marvelousprashant said:
Is it a good decision to get SX160is + batteries and charger for 12k?

Better buy TZ25 Panasonic TZ25 Digital camera With MFG Warranty | eBay
- Fast performance
- Better battery
- Better IQ
- All manual controls except manual focus (compared to SX160)
- In camera HDR, faster focus

Good Camera this is. I mean REALLY good. I have seen the sample images and they are amazing.But again, the problem is the budget and thats just 10k .

Only manual cams in this budget apart from canon are Fujifilm S3300 and a certain Samsung model. So SX160 wins

So for 10k with manual controls you have very few choices here...

SX150 + quick charger and extra batteries would fit
S2950/2980 may fit under 10k but quick charger and extra batteries would exceed your budget.

TZ18 would nicely fit in your budget. Take your time and compare what you gain with this cam against SX150 and what you will lose and pick the one you like and find best suit your needs.

Note: It's a discontinued model but still you can find it in ebay...

+1 for SX150/160 because of CHDK support

^Yeah, CHDK is a good thing. Let see what OP decides...

All the SX series cameras have digic 5 procy except SX160 and SX500. It would be excellent if this low end SX160 equipped with digic 5.

if not TZ25 then I would also suggest SX150/160 ...they are great performers...and very nice learning tool for newbies...specially coz it wont fit in pockets and neither will a DSLR in future

D

nac said:
So for 10k with manual controls you have very few choices here...

SX150 + quick charger and extra batteries would fit
S2950/2980 may fit under 10k but quick charger and extra batteries would exceed your budget.

TZ18 would nicely fit in your budget. Take your time and compare what you gain with this cam against SX150 and what you will lose and pick the one you like and find best suit your needs.

Note: It's a discontinued model but still you can find it in ebay...

That is a good piece of advice. I didnt think about the batteries that i would have to buy.
hmm... Fuji makes me dicey. Never heard anything good(or bad) about their cameras. How do you like it?

And hey! TZ18 ... I just saw its reviews. Pretty nice little camera for 9999 bucks. have you heard good things about it from someone who has it?

D

marvelousprashant said:
+1 for SX150/160 because of CHDK support

Now this is something that I am still trying to figure out. RAW or Jpeg or RAW+Jpeg ... and then there is CHDK
can you please explain it to me briefly cz seriously wikipedia is no help here

D

sujoyp said:
if not TZ25 then I would also suggest SX150/160 ...they are great performers...and very nice learning tool for newbies...specially coz it wont fit in pockets and neither will a DSLR in future

good point you have there!
but please tell me, SX150 is considered really good by a lot of people. are there any features that should make me buy the SX160 over 150? Its just that MP's dont matter to me(ofcourse),but they say that canon has drastically improved the auto-focus time in the new model. Was it that bad in the 150?

T

dpkml said:
good point you have there!
but please tell me, SX150 is considered really good by a lot of people. are there any features that should make me buy the SX160 over 150? Its just that MP's dont matter to me(ofcourse),but they say that canon has drastically improved the auto-focus time in the new model. Was it that bad in the 150?

Poor Battery..only 90 to 100 shots..
better you get some second hand sx150..can make by rs.5k/4k..

D

titlingkm said:
Poor Battery..only 90 to 100 shots..
better you get some second hand sx150..can make by rs.5k/4k..

hmmm... okay. but is there some online source from where we can get second hand cams?

dpkml said:
I didnt think about the batteries that i would have to buy.

You will need extra batteries and quick charger for sure. Else you have to wait for looooong time to charge your batteries with standard recharger.

dpkml said:
hmm... Fuji makes me dicey. Never heard anything good(or bad) about their cameras. How do you like it?

S2950 is one of the most popular camera in flickr. S2980 is just little upgrade from S2950.

dpkml said:
And hey! TZ18 ... I just saw its reviews. Pretty nice little camera for 9999 bucks. have you heard good things about it from someone who has it?

I don't know anyone who owns TZ18, but I have used TZ10 (predecessor with GPS). It's nice and smooth... You don't have to worry about extra batteries and quick charger here... Battery life is better than SX150. I have extensively used SX130, so I prefer Canon over Panasonic.
Both the cameras do have + and - It's up to you...

dpkml said:
Now this is something that I am still trying to figure out. RAW or Jpeg or RAW+Jpeg ... and then there is CHDK
can you please explain it to me briefly cz seriously wikipedia is no help here

CHDK is just third party hack... with which you can enable some feature which is not actually available in the original firmware.
Note: CHDK is for Canon cameras only.

dpkml said:
good point you have there!
but please tell me, SX150 is considered really good by a lot of people. are there any features that should make me buy the SX160 over 150? Its just that MP's dont matter to me(ofcourse),but they say that canon has drastically improved the auto-focus time in the new model. Was it that bad in the 150?

You will get extra zoom with SX160. Not sure how improve the AF is...

titlingkm said:
Poor Battery..only 90 to 100 shots..
better you get some second hand sx150..can make by rs.5k/4k..

It's not that pathetic

... With decent NiMH batteries on an average you would get around 180shots per recharge (normal usage). It's depends on usage... There was guy who claims he got over 900 shots per recharge.

dpkml said:
hmmm... okay. but is there some online source from where we can get second hand cams?

I wouldn't suggest anyone to go for second hand compact unless if it's from known source and few days to a month old cam...

what I saw online is the new SX160 have 4x more zoom,faster shutter speed, better battery life and slightly better focus
SX150 have bit more ISO range and its cheaper

in any case you have to buy rechargable cells and charger

D

nac said:
You will need extra batteries and quick charger for sure. Else you have to wait for looooong time to charge your batteries with standard recharger.

S2950 is one of the most popular camera in flickr. S2980 is just little upgrade from S2950.

I don't know anyone who owns TZ18, but I have used TZ10 (predecessor with GPS). It's nice and smooth... You don't have to worry about extra batteries and quick charger here... Battery life is better than SX150. I have extensively used SX130, so I prefer Canon over Panasonic.
Both the cameras do have + and - It's up to you...

CHDK is just third party hack... with which you can enable some feature which is not actually available in the original firmware.
Note: CHDK is for Canon cameras only.

You will get extra zoom with SX160. Not sure how improve the AF is...

It's not that pathetic ... With decent NiMH batteries on an average you would get around 180shots per recharge (normal usage). It's depends on usage... There was guy who claims he got over 900 shots per recharge.

I wouldn't suggest anyone to go for second hand compact unless if it's from known source and few days to a month old cam...

I must admit that I have been ignorant about Fuji, just because I was inclined towards nikon and canon for no apparent reason.
I read the reviews about s2950 , and noone was praising it. But flicker tells a very different story. Its got a lot of fan-following. And it clicks good pics as well.
I personally felt that SX150 has more grainy but more life-like photos, and s2950 has lesser grain and a better body.
What do you think ?

sujoyp said:
what I saw online is the new SX160 have 4x more zoom,faster shutter speed, better battery life and slightly better focus
SX150 have bit more ISO range and its cheaper

in any case you have to buy rechargable cells and charger

Cheaper and more ISO range. I think that SX150 is the better option out of the two.

Go for SX160
- CHDK lets you to shoot upto 12800 (although CHDK is not available now... will take 6 months)
- ISO1600 is useless... Maximum you can use is ISO400
- You are getting more zoom
- SX160 is sleek looking

I donnno much abt CHDK ...but it voids warranty ...remember that

go for sx160IS

FAQ - CHDK Wiki

Thanks for the link prashant

M

i dont think it chdk or magic lantern voids warranty.you can always remove them.

if you get some problem and tell service center that you have installed chdk then it will be an issue.

@mastervk it voids warranty just like changing ROM does....if u can remove it then its good...but if ur cam malfunctions coz of it ..its not covered under warranty

Warranty won't cover it if you took a long exposure of the sun and smoked your sensor. But that's not CHDK fault right. Advanced manual features are good only if you know how to use them

M

@ sujoy.. What I mean is there might not be any sign of chdk usage. It is installed in sd card and you need not give sd card at service Centre.. If camera internally maintain crash log then they might find about it.

In case of rom too you can go back to stock rom and not talk about custom rom. But here we are updating internal memory also.

I will install magic lantern on my 550d today. Been thinking about it for long time and have downloaded too but didn't get time to upload to sd card.

great idea...install magic lantern and tell us what changes do you see.....hope its stable for cameras

dpkml said:
I read the reviews about s2950 , and noone was praising it. But flicker tells a very different story. Its got a lot of fan-following. And it clicks good pics as well.
I personally felt that SX150 has more grainy but more life-like photos, and s2950 has lesser grain and a better body.

Overall Canon is better.
With S2950
- You can't use optical zoom while recording video
- Sensor shift
- Low light performance are not that good
- Uses 4xAA batteries

dpkml said:
Cheaper and more ISO range. I think that SX150 is the better option out of the two.

Don't mind ISO range... These compacts don't produce usable photos above 400 level.

T

i have two questions...
is sx160is better than sx150is in all around angle? what are adv and disadv. in relative aspects..???
and
whether sx240hs is good to learn photography for starters... or sx150 is best option..

SX150 vs SX160
I should say YES based on spec. But still there aren't enough reviews to say so...

SX240 vs SX150
Both are equally good to learn...

M

sujoyp said:
great idea...install magic lantern and tell us what changes do you see.....hope its stable for cameras

installed magic lantern on 550d..got lot of advanced settings.but as i don't understand most of them yet to explore..enabled some settings though...

D

nac said:
SX150 vs SX160
I should say YES based on spec. But still there aren't enough reviews to say so...

SX240 vs SX150
Both are equally good to learn...

Hmmm.. I have been following you guys from past one year. You DO know your stuff. So even though I found the pics clicked by s2950 a bit better than SX150, I believe that I'll go with your suggestion and buy the SX160 . Only if I had a 15% coupon for ebay which can bring down the price (11.5k). Maybe Diwali will bring some offers. Maybe!!!

dpkml,
I don't know where you checked the samples. Me too like the Fuji's bright day light images but ummm... I am not saying SX*** won't produce noisy images but overall it excels. Just compare studio samples here esp. @100% crop and low light.

If you want, I give you a link which contains some wonderful images taken using SX130.

Even if you get 15% coupon, the limit by saying "subject to maximum of Rs. 500/750/1000"

I have 10% (max of 1000/-) coupon, if you want you can have it. But it is user specific, I guess.
or 5%, 6% and 7% coupons available for those who are customers of xxx banks.

D

nac said:
dpkml,
I don't know where you checked the samples. Me too like the Fuji's bright day light images but ummm... I am not saying SX*** won't produce noisy images but overall it excels. Just compare studio samples here esp. @100% crop and low light.

If you want, I give you a link which contains some wonderful images taken using SX130.

Even if you get 15% coupon, the limit by saying "subject to maximum of Rs. 500/750/1000"

I have 10% (max of 1000/-) coupon, if you want you can have it. But it is user specific, I guess.
or 5%, 6% and 7% coupons available for those who are customers of xxx banks.

I checked out the samples of s2950 at flickr. I think that all of them were clicked during daytime and that too outdoors. I could not find any night-time or low light shots.
But this comparison clearly shows how their low-light performance drastically differs. If this is for SX130 , then I believe SX160 should be a step ahead.
Thanks man

And hey, I just checked my email. Even I got that 10% coupon. 1000 bucks off. Not bad I think.
How much does the eneloop batteries and the charger cost?

I bought two set (4xAA) of eneloop for around 600/- and charger for around 700/-

So everybody getting coupons for this festive season

D

nac said:
I bought two set (4xAA) of eneloop for around 600/- and charger for around 700/-

So everybody getting coupons for this festive season

Can you please tell me the name of that charger? I think that there is a normal one and then there is a quickcharger.
and the batteries? 2000mah or 2500??
Cant wait for tomorrow. Hope the coupon stays valid till then

Hey!!!! Good news. I just ordered the SX160 on ebay using the coupon.
After discount,its 10500 and I will get the camera,case,4gb card, Rechargeable batteries(Not eneloop).
Will order the eneloop, if the bundled batteries are not good enough

It's Envie speedster quick charger and 2000mAH. If you go for higher rated, it will last longer...

The bundled battery I got was as good as eneloop so far. But still you would need an extra set at least.

D

Hey !!
Got the SX160 along with the MMC , case,charger and batteries.
This one looks really good.
Pics coming up soon

Thanks for the advice. Great piece of work for 10500!!

Congrats

happy clicking

Look at this pic of the new Sony DSC H100. I plan to buy a P&S but with full manual controls. In the dexcription on various online sites it says that this cam has the 'manual exposure' setting. Can anyone tell by looking at this that does this sony has a full manual control?

Thanks

K

Yes - It has the 'M' mode which would your manual mode.

kneo said:
Yes - It has the 'M' mode which would your manual mode.

Thanks, but dropped the idea of buying the sony h100