first digital compact after film

[stuck]

Any one care to offer opinions on the pros & cons of:
Canon SX200 vs Sony DSC-HX9V vs Nikon S9100

If on-line reviews are to believed the Sony is the 'best' in this price range, ~GBP£200 but I'd like to hear what real people think.

Thanks,

Ken

[FrankMi]

Any one care to offer opinions on the pros & cons of:
Canon SX200 vs Sony DSC-HX9V vs Nikon S9100

If on-line reviews are to believed the Sony is the 'best' in this price range, ~GBP£200 but I'd like to hear what real people think.

Thanks,

Ken

Can you tell us what attributes are 'best' for what you want to accomplish with the camera, Ken? Do you need the best price, weight, size, lens zoom, resolution.....?

[Black Pearl]

Canon SX220 is the best from a photographers point of view as it has readily available manual, aperture and shutter priority modes. The screen is a bit rubbish but if you want the control it is number 1.

The Nikon has a better screen and a longer zoom range, probably feels a bit better (normal) too so if you don't want to use manual controls every day then this would be number 1.

Now then.....the Sony has a great lens, it has GPS (meh!) and it gets good reviews from none photographically based sites.....but.....the high pixel density sensor is awful at higher ISO's and the user interface is a bit cheesy.

I don't want to come down too hard on it as the results in a Point-n-Shoot way are brilliant but it is let down by the stupid pixel race and the 'catalogue buyer' based "Ooo look at all those pixels, it must be better" mentality that is spoiling each newer generation of cameras.

The Canon and the Nikon use a (almost unbelievably) Sony sensor that has 12 million good pixels and wipe the floor with the usual crop of silly numbered pixeled cameras. Panasonic have gone the same route as Sony with a 16mp sensor and it has the same issues - noise, noise, noise and more noise.

[stuck]

Can you tell us what attributes are 'best' for what you want to accomplish with the camera, Ken? Do you need the best price, weight, size, lens zoom, resolution.....?

This camera is to replace my wife's film point and shoot, which is a Canon but I forget which model. The three models I listed are all about the same price so 'best price' is not an issue, weight/size might be a consideration as far as the good lady is concerned but ease of use will be her top priority.

Canon SX220 is the best from a photographers point of view as it has readily available manual, aperture and shutter priority modes. The screen is a bit rubbish but if you want the control it is number 1.

Noted, and probably making it my No. 1 but my wife will not be interested in control, point & shoot simplicity is her thing.

The Nikon has a better screen and a longer zoom range, probably feels a bit better (normal) too so if you don't want to use manual controls every day then this would be number 1.

That pushes this one up the rankings then.

Now then.....the Sony has a great lens, it has GPS (meh!) and it gets good reviews from none photographically based sites.....but.....the high pixel density sensor is awful at higher ISO's and the user interface is a bit cheesy.

GPS might be useful for our forthcoming trip to New Zealand, at least we'd know where we were when the picture was taken

I don't want to come down too hard on it as the results in a Point-n-Shoot way are brilliant but it is let down by the stupid pixel race ...
...Panasonic have gone the same route as Sony with a 16mp sensor and it has the same issues - noise, noise, noise and more noise.

This was the main reason I'd not included the TZ20 in my list, Panny have gone for a sensor that gives 'good' video at the expense of image quality.

Thanks for that, it has helped.

Any one else care to expand on these thoughts?

Ken