Bruce with a Canon Loc: Islip

my .02.
I was at a ball game with the "offical company photographer" a died in the wool nikon shooter ( top shelf gear) He had at this game the Nikon P510 point and shoot.
16MP 42X OPTICAL zoom, articulated viewfinder. VERY nice images cost near 400 bucks.
If that is in your budget, go to a camera store and pick it up and play,
I have a couple shots at a game using a P510 and I think you will agree the camera has great capability.
Flickr Brue seltenright photography for sample shots.

Hope this helped

shirl2sg Loc: Northern Minnesota

Had a friend that got the new Sony RX100 for $600. She took it on a canoe trip and her pictures were great so she has decided to sell her big Canon D as it's too heavy for her since she broke her wrist. Its true there's no zoom, but she crops in Photoshop and gets a great zoom that way.

Wahawk Loc: NE IA

The P510 has a TILTING screen, NOT articulating like the Canon SX40. There is a BIG difference.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

Really it all comes down to what we have discussed many times before in this, our UHH forum, are DSLR on their way out, how good are P&S, what has been your personal experience, what criteria do we use to chose....etc.

Personally the only reason I have two DSLR is to make me look professional when shooting weddings etc.. that bulk and the extra long heavy lens sets me apart from Uncle Joe and his new mistress Louise. For practical purposes of display, 8x10s, 52" TV, Cell Phone, 7" desk electronic frame, the superbness of DSLR huge files and quality is an excess, the camera a burden. Ouch, what a disgusting, tho true, statement. Next to add to the disgust of most I will say that with out close comparison the unaided public can not tell a difference between an Epson 4 color and an Epson 6+ color printer.... what... heretical!!!

Now coming down to P&S vs DSLR,, P&S are there when you need them, on your belt, in your pocket or purse. Life is of the moment (plus stutter lag :lol: ) and beyond if you use burst mode or even bracket mode. The DSLR on the shelf vs the P&S in your hand... P&S the winner. :thumbup:

$600 for a P&S that has a 3.5 zoom... Big sensor great... but compare that to a super zoom with 20x Leica lens and superb electronics and what is the advantage? crop! to zoom!! humph do the math 3.5 vs 20x... roughly 6x the lens magnification .. that is a lot more surface area, 36 x. Is that right!? Wow!

Excellent night image? Good if you shoot a lot at night - not me. Items needed for the P&S must be defined around one's way of life... their real needs. Weight, hand (grip-ability), quality of image needed, zoom desire (photo a rattle snake give me big x# please), how will your carry it (pocket, belt pack, neck strap, etc.), and hate to mention it $$$$. $600 for that Sony 3.5x vs Panasonic 20x at $225, you evaluate!

Comes down to being real and rational and personalized. The original question said, as I read it, shrink my DSLR and make it a P&S. Question could have stated size maximum, any physical limitations (shaky hand, grip etc.), size of hand, type of shooting usually done, color! (black is safer), .. these things listed first then seek the camera. My gosh, it hard to be rational ... and with so many flavors out there! Well perhaps all those really professional review sites on net are our salvation... aaah and then there is going in to a shop with our SD card in hand and shooting a close and far card target and describing to our selves how the camera feels in our hand.. Tough question isn't it. Care to make a check list... care to automate it?

The devil is in the details vs needs :evil:
http://snapsort.com/compare/Panasonic-ZS20-vs-Sony-Cybershot-DSC-RX100/score
Sony wins, but is it worth 275% more cash out lay? and are the photos really better after crop?

Racmanaz Loc: Sunny Tucson!

Actually the Canon G12 shoots at 720p not 1080P

shirl2sg Loc: Northern Minnesota

This is the remarkable new digital camera from Sony. Read this rave review ("best pocket camera ever") by David Pogue (who is perhaps the most respected reviewer of tech stuff):

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/28/technology/personaltech/a-pocket-camera-even-pro-photographers-can-love-state-of-the-art.html?pagewanted=all

If that link doesn't open, just google "pogue sony rx100" .. here are some pretty impressive photos from that camera:

http://poguenyt.smugmug.com/Photography/Sony-RX100-Samples/23731968_DFbxtC#!i=1921887872&k=LtzDMr2

The next iPhone will probably be announced Sept 12 and maybe other new/updated Apple stuff too.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

I read Pogue's review and the RX-100 is fantastic, so I drifted off and did dream-control/lucid-dreaming. I enjoyed the camera a great deal.... Then my lucid-dream took a bad turn!! In the nightmare phase of the dream I stuck the RX-100 camera in my pocket, the flash would pop up, next in a hurry to shoot a moment-in-time, grab the camera, yank it out of my pocket and then fish out the now separate flash unit that just broke off!!!

OUCH, $600 and to think it takes more mfg $ to make a pop-up than an embedded flash. For $600 invested in a fantastic camera, then give me a built in flash and a hot shoe.. With that change, then it becomes a great SLR-ala-Alice-N-Wonderland smaller and smaller camera and with a 1" sensor... Manual Control... Raw Files !!!!

BUT....Without external flash hot shoe and the little crap-up-pop-up I will pass on this one and buy the $220 Panasonic SZ-20 which ranks highly. OR one of the many in this under $300 price range and still have $$$ in my pocket instead of a broken-off Sony RX-100 flash.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

There is 3x zoom from 28mm (equivalent) to 105mm (equivalent).

Bill

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

If you re-read the orginal post the key phrase is "And of course I want the same quality as my SLR." The OP did not ask how the flash worked.

The pop up on the RX100 will rotate for bounce and could trigger a room full of slaves -- if that's your goal. It is intended to be an "extra" feature that rotates and is bounceable compared to built in. I've read a lot of reviews from around the world, and none suggested the pop up was crappy. Some said it was a little less bright than they wanted. In fact, the reviews all say it is solidly built. Perhaps you've had a bad experience with cheaply build cameras. This one is not aimed at that market.

On a somewhat similar HX9V I own, I normally have the flash selected to off and it has never popped up in any of my pockets.

Maybe your best choice would be with one of those rugged mountain man/scuba diver models you can throw around. If you are at all interested in video, the new Sony GW77V takes great .jpgs, shoots fantastic video, is water proof, sand proof, you can throw it around, it fits in a pocket and the flash does not pop up. Unfortunately the GW77 costs even more than the RX100.

This year's camera budget IS going to put one of those two in my pocket before the Panama Canal cruise my DW is taking me on this fall. One does better photos and RAW, the other does a little better video and no RAW.

Bill

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

bsprague said in part.... Perhaps you've had a bad experience with cheaply build cameras. This one is not aimed at that market.

I realize that, but many years of Process/Product Development and solid background in mechanical engineering ... well I would never put the flash out there in jeopardy. I may be all wrong on that for this camera, but betcha they break!! I am not the only one who thinks the flash has problems... "It's a poorly made pop up flash that feels like it will be easily broken if you're ..."
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-DSC-RX100-Sensor-Digital-Camera/product-reviews/B00889ST2G?pageNumber=8

For $600 plus I would expect more!
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bsprague also said "bad experience with cheaply build cameras" No, I have a couple of $45 refurbished 8 mpix cameras by Sanyo to use as "friends/family" audience loaners for shooting weddings. The cameras are quite rugged and the photo quality is good enough for SlideShows and 4x6 photos ...

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

OK, I'm a newbie here. I defer to ranking experts. I just take pictures.

Bill

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

Bill, perhaps you are a better photographer, "just doin what comes nachly" (www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS_TZDrOKdc) instead of wallowing in technicalities.

Use the "scene" selection that your camera provides, they work quite well. For portraits buy one or more low cost slave flash for about 10 and a cheap lite weight tripod for supporting it and again by simple repetition, be able to take good photos without machinations and teeth gnashing and hair pulling..... in otherwords.... just enjoy the heck out of taking a lot of photos and selecting those that turnout good and trashing the rest. Use bracketing, take lots of shots. Remember memory chips are not expensive and can be reformatted. Above all enjoy.