Nikon P300 or Canon S95

Djarum

All-Pro
Location
Huntsville, AL
Name
Jason
My sister is wanting a new camera. She has a 7 year old Olympus UZ. I'm thinking about either above camera because they have come down in price. That, and they are fairly compact. The LX5 and XZ1 are out because of the lens cap and the price of both are still over 300 bucks(out of my budget). She's a P&S type of shooter, so lots of manual features aren't as important as it is to me. Her biggest complaint is noise so even in AUTO mode I think either should suffice.

Opinions?
 
The Canon S95 is much better. The P300 is another half-hearted attempt to create a decent compact camera by Nikon. So far they have not succeeded.

The thing that looks attractive is the nicer screen on the p300. For me perosnally, I think I'd get the s95. But this is for someone who is going to be using AUTO mode.
 
Virtually any camera on the market today will show a vast improvement in noise handling at higher ISO's than her 7 year old Oly. While the Canon does the have the edge, I sort of doubt your sister would really be able to tell the difference. I would suggest going for whichever you think she likes better if she is an Auto shooter. I might even suggest you look at some real P&S cams - there are quite a few that do a good job if she doesn't crave manual mode or super fast lenses.
 
Virtually any camera on the market today will show a vast improvement in noise handling at higher ISO's than her 7 year old Oly. While the Canon does the have the edge, I sort of doubt your sister would really be able to tell the difference. I would suggest going for whichever you think she likes better if she is an Auto shooter. I might even suggest you look at some real P&S cams - there are quite a few that do a good job if she doesn't crave manual mode or super fast lenses.

Well, I thought about getting her one of the travel zooms, but at ISO 800 and above the s95 is much better. I haven,t ruled one out yet.
 
I have, and still occasionally use, the S90; it's a truly pocketable camera with good manual controls and decent image quality. One of the biggest concerns with the S90 was its rather loose wheel on the back - too many instances of a key parameter inadvertently changed by a mere touch of a thumb. I fixed mine with an after-market wheel protection ring.

I considered the S95 when it came out (with a less fiddly wheel) but the differences weren't enough to sway me to upgrade. However, with prices down due to the release of the S100, the S95 looks like a great choice.

As an aside, the S100 is a bit controversial now, owing to lens decentering issues noted by dpreview.com in all three samples it tested. I'd stay away from that one until that gets all sorted out.
 
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