Camera Suggestions

[Paul Lagasi]

Hi All

My cousin has been invited to Namibia to take part in a 4 country trip by Cessna (He is a pilot), leaving from Naua Naua Lodge. He is not a photographer but would like to purchase a camera, small and portable (pocket-size), cost is no object, works well in Auto mode, that uses rechargable batterys and of course great lens.
I haven't ever bought a point and shoot camera, so I leave it up to all of you, for suggestions.

Which cameras do you suggest?

Paul

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Paul,
If it has to be a small sized camera, then check the Canon G10. 14.7 MP with a 5X zoom lens, from 28mm – 140mm equivalent at f/2.8 – f/4.5. That should be good enough. He can shoot in Raw as well.
Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Robert Amoruso]

I have not used one of the G10's but I was looking at them for my wife. So far it seems to be a good choice if you want RAW files too. I would definitely suggest getting a P&S that can also shoot RAW as you don't want to go on such a trip and only have JPGs at the end of it.

Paul,
If it has to be a small sized camera, then check the Canon G10. 14.7 MP with a 5X zoom lens, from 28mm – 140mm equivalent at f/2.8 – f/4.5. That should be good enough. He can shoot in Raw as well.
Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Andy Biggs]

If he has the space, I would recommend a Canon Digital Rebel or a Nikon D90. The image quality is superior, and he can expand his lens lineup over time. Even the kit lens will be better quality than the G10, once you get up to ISO 200 or more. I value portability like the next guy, but in the end I care most about image quality, so I would go with a small digital SLR and whatever lens he can afford on top of that.

[Alfred Forns]

Would recommend the Panasonic DMC-FZ28 Its small and light 10.1 MP and has a 18X zoom !!!

If he needs a longer reach this is the way to go if not go for the Canon G10 btw quality from these is very good even if you use jpeg I have found the main drawback to be noise, best to keep a low ISO.

[Sandra Nykerk]

I have a G9 and while it is extremely sharp, the noise is so great at anything over ISO 200 as to render the images nearly unusable. I don't think the G10 is much better. I would search the reviews for point and shoots on dpreview.com and see what comes up with the most reach and highest quality jpegs with minimal noise at higher ISOs. Given that he is not a photographer and would most probably not be post-processing, I would suspect that the availability of Raw is a non-issue.

[Paul Lagasi]

Thanks all for the suggestions...Paul