Canon a70 vs Olympus stylus400

[Wedge1]

My dad is choosing among several digital cameras. These two, the canon a70 and the olympus stylus 400, are a couple of front runners at the moment.

My dad is a point-and-click amateur. The more manuel a camera is, the worse for him. He is looking for good image quality with little hassle.

He's wanting to stay below $400 dollars and wanting to get 4MP's, but will settle for 3MP's if the camera is great otherwise.

Advice is needed. If not these 2 choices, then what?

 

[ultimatebob]

I'd recommend the Canon Powershot S400, because it's more suited to amateurs than the A70. It's smaller than either the A70 and the Stylus400, and is easier to use.

Of course, it's not the cheapest 4MP point and shoot camera out there (It has a street price of $380 right now), but it is probably the best one the market right now.

 

[Bonesdad]

if he wants 4mp, why consider the A70...take a look at the A80 instead. I'd get the Canon.

 

[Wedge1]

Well, ultimatebob was right to suggest a point and shoot camera. I did not know which series of canon were "point and shoot". I just picked out the a70 because people seem to love it, but now I'm assuming that it's not a camera for amateurs.

The canon powershot s400 is damn expensive. Over $400, which was pretty much the limit.

Is there an canon s300, which would be 3MP, and is it a nice "point and shoot" camera?

 

[Wedge1]

At Sam's Club there is an Olympus C50 for $390. It's a 5MP camera. Any opinions on this model?

 

[PCFetish]

why would you say A70 is not a point and shoot camera?
I had A70, i was total newbie and I never had any problems
Just set it to auto and point and shoot? that's not a point and shoot camera?
If you want compact, point and shoot camera, that's not too expensive then consider canon SD100
A70 is not as small as SD100 or S400 but it's not too big either
I took it with me on my Euro trip and carried it around with me all the time

 

[Yoshi]

I would get the A70. A fool can shoot with that camera in full Auto mode and it has a nice set of manual features should you ever need them. If I were your dad I would not get hung up on 3MP vs 4MP. A 3MP is going to make an 8.5x11 print that looks great.

 

[Mem]

I would go with the A80 ,has virtually all the features of the A70 but with 4MP and swivel out back LCD (also the body is more solid,uses more metal).


Btw both the A70 and A80 can be used as a point and shoot camera,plus they have lots of options for the user, so as you grow with the camera you can start to use the more advanced settings.

 

[thorin]

I'd say go with the A70 as well.

To find out why go here:
http://www.geocities.com/thorin.geo/search.html
well here actually:
http://forums.anandtech.com/search.cfm?catid=27

search for things like "camera" "a70" . We've rehashed this topic about half a dozen times over the past 2 months.

Thorin

 

[corkyg]

A buddy and I just gave a camera to a mutual friend in L.A. - he has little, and survives on Medical. We selected the A70 because it is a solid performer that can be fully automatic - point and shoot. We decided the A80 was nice, but not worth another $100. The swing-out LCD is nice for some special circumstances, but is also a weakness structurally. Basically, we were looking for best value as a gift. The A70 was it.

 

[beatle]

The A70 is an easy to use camera. Its advantage is that it has the options to get "artsy" if you feel so inclined. Set it to auto if you want quick, easy, quality shots. Canon also has some of the best macro in the business (great for pc parts).

 

[Anubis]

4mp go with the olympus C750 UZ 4mp 10x optical zoom lots of options. great camera

 

[Wedge1]

Cool guys, thanks for your input. He's decided the a70 it will be. At our local Officemax he can get it for $299 with a free 128MB Compact Flash card. I did not realize this is a good camera for newbies as well as the experienced.

@Anubis
We looked at that model too so I'm glad you mentioned it. If my dad were an experienced user I would encourage him to get that model, but I have a feeling it's not as simple to use as the a70. I bet the ultra zoom 8x feature is awesome, though.

 

[aka1nas]

The A70 will give him more room to grow into it if he ever wants to do something more than basic point and click shooting. It also uses AAs and takes compactflash memory, which is much cheaper, faster, and larger than the XD cards used in the stylus.

 

[ultimatebob]

Originally posted by: aka1nas
The A70 will give him more room to grow into it if he ever wants to do something more than basic point and click shooting. It also uses AAs and takes compactflash memory, which is much cheaper, faster, and larger than the XD cards used in the stylus.

The A70 is a nice camera, but I doubt that Wedge's dad will EVER add a lens attachment or even move the function dial off of the "Auto" setting. Remember, this is what he said...

"My dad is a point-and-click amateur. The more manuel a camera is, the worse for him. He is looking for good image quality with little hassle."

My recommendation is still the S400, which can be found for under $400 online.

 

[aka1nas]

Regardless of the features, it is a nicer camera on automatic still and the battery and memory situation definately make it prefferrable over the olympus. The Canon s400 ain't too shabby either, though the price range and the fact that it uses a proprietary battery make it a little less palatable. Keep in mind that if you bump up to a higher resolution that you should probably get more memory as well. Our AT digicam FAQ(written by yours truly) explains a lot of this stuff btw.

 

[Wedge1]

Originally posted by: aka1nasThe Canon s400 ain't too shabby either, though the price range and the fact that it uses a proprietary battery make it a little less palatable. .

That's interesting to know. I had been thinking that Lithium batteries were a good thing due to their extended life, but just quite a bit more expensive.

Going to read your FAQs, thanks for that, too.

 

[aka1nas]

Lithium-ions have a better charge density than NiMH AAs, but they also have to have extra circuitry and are themselves usually smaller than say, 4AAs. NiMHs on the other hand, have ramped up in capacity and it's possible to find cells in excess of 2100mAh. 4 of these will last about as long as any li-ion battery. The only other important feature of li-ion is the fact that it doesn't lose it's charge if you let it sit anywhere near as fast as NiMh. A NiMH cell will be pretty close to dead if you let it sit in your camera bag for 2 or 3 weeks, which is why you ought to buy a 1 hour charger if you go that route.

 

[Antoneo]

Originally posted by: Wedge1
Well, ultimatebob was right to suggest a point and shoot camera. I did not know which series of canon were "point and shoot". I just picked out the a70 because people seem to love it, but now I'm assuming that it's not a camera for amateurs.

The canon powershot s400 is damn expensive. Over $400, which was pretty much the limit.

Is there an canon s300, which would be 3MP, and is it a nice "point and shoot" camera?

Hmm, there is a Canon S230 which is similar in size and shape of the S400 but 3.2MP. You can check it all out at
DPreview. It is an older camera so it might be harder to acquire but I believe Amazon still has it.