Good camera suggestions?

[bobdabiulder]

Hi!  I am looking  for a $350 or less camera that would be pretty good at getting general pictures, but also night sky.  I'm not looking for nebulae pictures, just ones of the moon, landscapes at night, etc.  Currently, the Sony wx500 looks great.  The Sony hx50v that my friend has works pretty well also, but is out of my budget.  NO DSLRs!

[ALwin]

12 hours ago, bobdabiulder said:

Hi!  I am looking  for a $350 or less camera that would be pretty good at getting general pictures, but also night sky.  I'm not looking for nebulae pictures, just ones of the moon, landscapes at night, etc.  Currently, the Sony wx500 looks great.  The Sony hx50v that my friend has works pretty well also, but is out of my budget.  NO DSLRs!

A lot of compact cameras are OK in daytime and anywhere that has enough light (or brightness) for a proper exposure.  But will have some issues with (for example) trying to take a photo of a full moon on a clear night.  You'll either get:

• very noisy images, noise that will be very noticeable in the shadows, blacks, any dark area
• the moon will appear only as a very bright white circle
• you can see some details of the moon but everything else is dark/way under exposed

For other general night photos, for example you go hiking up a mountain under a full moon and you want to take a group photo (I do that every year with some colleagues), even if the sky is completely clear and the moon is fulling shining on the group you will still need to use a flash to get a proper exposure.  Otherwise the image will either be underexposed, very noisy or be blurry due to the long exposure needed.  So you can imagine what will happen if there is no full moon.  Even street lamps are not considered really bright for cameras without raising the ISO, opening the Aperture very wide or using long shutter speeds.  Light sources that appear bright to our eyes do not necessarily appear bright to the camera sensor.

 

But other than in low light, night time, etc situations, as long as there is enough light almost all cameras are good enough for general photos.

[bobdabiulder]

Thanks @ALwin!  Here are some pictures taken with the Nikon S9900, which I don't personally like, but I don't really want that camera.  I mostly want suggestions and/or good specs to look for in a camera that is all around good that can also take *good* night sky pictures.  Thanks!

[ALwin]

Alright, aside from those photos, what is it that you are looking for in a camera:

• Since you said "No DSLRs" does that also mean you don't want mirrorless camera systems with interchangeable lenses?
• Do you only want compact Point&Shoot types of cameras?

Because even if you don't want a DSLR, but you don't care if the lens is fixed or can be changed on the camera body you can buy some second hand Sony A6000 or A5000 or Canon EOS M, or other mirrorless cameras.  They tend to come with larger sensors making them perform much better for taking photos of the night sky than cameras with tiny sensors.  And you can switch lenses for different situations.

 

But if all you want is a compact Point&Shoot and you don't want to change lenses, then look for cameras like a Canon S120 or S110 or other compact cameras you like, such as that Sony you mentioned.

 

$350 or less does not provide a lot of choices in the brand new market, but if you are lucky you can find a nice camera in the second hand/used market.

[bobdabiulder]

@ALwin Thanks again!  I am mostly looking for Point and Shoot cameras, however,  I am open to mirrorless system cameras, so long as they include lenses.  Thanks

[ALwin]

Just now, bobdabiulder said:

@ALwin Thanks again!  I am mostly looking for Point and Shoot cameras, however,  I am open to mirrorless system cameras, so long as they include lenses.  Thanks

Check where you live, you might be able to get a nice mirrorless Sony Nex with a kit lens and perhaps a nice telephoto zoom, used.

 

As for point and shoot, check reviews of models you find interesting.

[bobdabiulder]

Opinions in the WX500 from Sony?

[bobdabiulder]

 I basically want confirmation that this is a good choice and if anyone here knows someone with it, please ask them of their opinion, because I plan to buy this this weekend.

[bobdabiulder]

After *some* research, the fz70 seems like a worthy competitor, from an unikely source: Panasonic.  The fz70 has better zoom, wider aperture, and more.  With only a few comparative disadvantages over the wx500, I am left unsure of my final choice.  Any guidance?

[ALwin]

Sorry for not replying earlier, I live in Europe and it was already past midnight.

 

At this price point, and especially since you are mainly looking at point & shoot cameras, they will all be more or less similar.  So my first recommendation will be look for one with the largest sensor you can, check of the camera offers the zoom range you want, and look at what people (if they own it) have to say about the camera.

 

For example: 1/1.7 sensor is larger than 1/2.3

[bobdabiulder]

Thanks @ALwin

I was hoping more for you to outright say which one you think is better, instead of rephrasing previous posts

[ALwin]

20 minutes ago, bobdabiulder said:

Thanks @ALwin

I was hoping more for you to outright say which one you think is better, instead of rephrasing previous posts

Cameras are a personal choice, I won't say which one is better because there will people who take great photos with either.

[ShadowCaptain]

You could try looking for used RX100 mk1 that would be the best low light compact 

[bobdabiulder]

oh sweet, do you know how old that would be though?

[bobdabiulder]

Uhh...  Why do all of the RX100 series think they can get away with ~3x optical zoom?  What is wrong with Sony!?!  I want at least 30x optical

[ALwin]

2 minutes ago, bobdabiulder said:

Uhh...  Why do all of the RX100 series think they can get away with ~3x optical zoom?  What is wrong with Sony!?!  I want at least 30x optical

Because of the sensor size.  The larger it is the more expensive it becomes to make a super zoom lens for it.

[bobdabiulder]

Oh eww

[ALwin]

4 hours ago, bobdabiulder said:

Oh eww

For a 35mm photo camera sensor, which is pretty large (if you look at the image below) a 10x lens would be something like a 10mm-100mm lens, a 30x would be 10mm to 300mm.  Designing a lens that produces an image circle large enough to cover that sensor, trying to maintain a minimum quality in the various amount of glass elements used in the lens, etc. will make the lens very large and heavy.  An an APS-C sensor a 30x zoom lens equivalent to 10-300 would have to be 6.7mm to 200mm.  That's still a pretty long focal length range.

 

 

Look at the number of glass elements in a lens (I think this is a cutaway of a Zeiss 18mm lens).  I count 10 glass elements for a single 18mm fixed focal length lens.  Imagine how many elements and how large the elements have to be for a 10-300mm FF lens, especially if you want to make it a constant aperture lens.

[ALwin]

Here's a video that highlights the manufacturing process for a camera lens.  You can't simply take sand from a beach, melt it and turn the resulting glass into a lens.

 

 

[bobdabiulder]

Please read in full

 

Oh!  I found another camera, the Sony HX80.  This camera is basically the same as the WX500, however, it is like one year newer, and also has manual focusing and an electronic view finder.  Which one would be better?  ALSO: Are there any other cameras in that price range made in the last 2-3 years that I should consider?  I completely understand that I won't be getting pictures of something like the Crab Nebula with these, but I expect them to perform well, as other cameras that I have used with the 1/2.3" sensor have done excellently at getting pictures of the moon etc.  I would have considered the P340, but it doesn't have a big enough zoom

 

  THANKS

[bobdabiulder]

As I write this post, my fingers are frozen due to the cold Wisconsin night.  I got excellent pictures of M45 on my Mom's camera.  It looks like a super-mini version of the "big dipper" on some pictures   

 

Taken on the Nikon S9900 camera.  This has a VERY small sensor (1/2.3) but it packs 30 times OPTICAL zoom.  It's amazing!