I know that some of you know a lot more about small digital
P&S cameras than I do, so I'm looking for recommendations.

I have a good SLR for 'serious' photography, but looking for a good
point and shoot, minimum of 12 MP, tripod mountable, and decent
zoom for occasional pictures.

I'm also interested in three things :

1 - best bang for the buck camera
2 - good small pocket sized camera
3 - several easy to use features

With any luck, someone will suggest one that meets all three.

Thanks in advance!
-Mike

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I don't claim to be a photographer but I use a Nikon Coolpix S series that is a good 35mm point and shoot. I bought a table top and a floor mounting stand for it also. Takes great pictures.

Here is a link to look at Mike,
http://www.digitalphotographywebsite.co ... views.html

I have the Coolpix S550 model

The Nikon Coolpix and Fuji Fine Pix are pretty capable lines of digital cameras. I have two Nikons and one Fuji. One Nikon is a "professional-grade" type with external flash capability, tripod-mounting, and remote-shutter release. The other two I use as "point-and-shoot" travel cameras.

If "63supro" shows up he'll have more recommendations -- he's a professional photographer and really knows the gear.

HTH

Arjay

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Mike, My day job is a Professional Photographer.
I own mostly Nikon digital gear so I may be a little biased. fhopkins hit the nail on the head with the Nikon Coolpix series pocket cameras. Here's a listing from B&H Photo.
Image stabilization is nice as is the ability to go into the high ISO's which means it will shoot in low light. I have a couple of Canon cameras as well as an old Olympus and I also use a Fuji S5. It's more of a professional portrait camera. All said my Nikons give me everything I need.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Nt ... Search=yes

I've dealt with them for roughly 20 years. Always great service and prices.
If you have any questions feel free to contact me either here or directly and I'll try to help.

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I never would have known that about my friend 63supro!! Cool!

In my experience Canon and Nikon are the Mercedes and BMW (or Fender and Gibson if you prefer) of the camera industry, so you can't go wrong looking at these brands first. Sony and Samsung have also been making decent cameras recently. Hope this helps.

Also photographers tend to split into two groups, Canon or Nikon. A Nikon photographer wouldn't let anyone see him with a Canon and vice versa.

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Hi Mike, I to make my living with photography, and like supro, I use Nikon. I like the cool pix stuff, you really cant go wrong. Oh By the way, You don't need 12 mega pixels for anything... Unless your making great big prints!.. I can make optical quality 20x 24 inch portraits with 8. If you are not going to make anything larger than an 8x10... 4 to 6 will get you just fine. All Im suggesting is, don't spend more $ to get more pixels...

Bill

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Hey, Boy Blue is back!

Thanks guys! I knew that some of you would have some good suggestions and I'm glad I asked - - my wife was pushing me towards a Sony Cybershot model (not that it's a bad choice with the Carl Zeiss(sp?) lens) - - but from what I've read on reviews, the Sonys don't always respond quick enough for two or three quick shots.

So, I'll start looking at some Nikon and Canon models. A friend has a new Canon G12 that he likes a lot, but a little too bulky compared to the Nikon Coolpix models.

Lastly, what is the main difference between optical and digital zoom?

Thanks again!

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

Also, thanks to Hop and 63supro (I think I had read about your photography in a thread on here) for the links and to all for the advice!

I've kind of been following the CES 2011 Conference and it seems that cameras
aren't in the top five tech gadgets for the year, so there should be some stability
in what's currently available.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities ... ces-2011/1

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

Hi mike,
Optical zoom is a physical movement within a lens... Digital is more like a enlargement or reduction of the image achieved by the cameras software.

Ps the sony is also a great choice

Bill

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Hey, Boy Blue is back!

I know that when I turn my Nikon on the lens automatically moves out to focus.

Yep, I find the image quality much better with optical zooms. I've gotten great looking 16x20" prints with a 6mp camera. Like Bill said don't get too hung up on pixel counts. And yes the Sony's are fine cameras too. The pocket digital cameras have come a really long way in the past couple of years. Image stabilization is a neat feature too.

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Life...... It's sexually transmitted and always fatal

I have an older Canon SX100 IS (8MP) and have been very happy with it. I've been looking at newer Canons a bit and would definitely get another.
However, for you old-timers, a bit of nostalgia

You Nikon guys should recognize both of these!

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I'm checking out consumer reports ratings and reviews.

Some of the touch screen models look good for easy point and shoot.

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

take a look at the panasonic dmc tz - 6 or the bigger in the tz series, brilliant little camera, 12x optical zoon, awsome image stabilizer... i have one and it rivals a nikon d 90 picture quality wise... and the thing i like is that it has almost no noise at all...

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