Suggestions for a *simple* point and shoot

ray wrote:
On Thu, 07 Aug 2008 12:37:11 -0400, Clair Johnston wrote:

ray wrote:
On Thu, 07 Aug 2008 06:58:38 +0100, Dave wrote:

Following my questions about where to buy a D3, I now have another
issue - at the other end of the camera spectrum.

I'd like to buy my wife, who is retired, a point and shoot camera, but
she is not at all technical and has a strong dislike of gadgets.
Ideally I'd like something that flashes when it needs to without her
having to make a decision if it needs flash.

I'm looking for something with the least buttons, knobs or other
controls, so she has less chance of getting into a mess with it. I
want something quite compact too, but simplicity is more important
than size or picture quality.

Suggestions?
FWIW, I would not suggest the cheapest/simplest P&S. Let me give my
reasoning/experience.

I have been taking pictures for 45+ years and my wife has showed little
interest other than to critique. For Christmas 2006, our youngest son,
bought her a Nikon L6 (~$100). With little help from me she began
taking pictures with a vengeance and outgrew the camera by June. I
bought her a Panasonic TZ3 which she has learned to use a little bit at
a time and is now very interested in photography. She likes the smaller
size and the 10x zoom and has no interest in my DSLR's. Many of her
pictures rival (some exceed) mine. The only problem she has, is not
being able to control the focus accurately and anything requiring fast
response time.

Not being technical is not an inhibitor. If she has a desire to take
pictures, that is all that is needed. Also, be cautious with how you
offer help. Let her critique her own work and offer suggestions
reluctantly. My guess is she will surprise you.

Clair

What 'work'? It sounds like the woman wants a simple camera to take
snapshots with!

That is it.

ransley wrote:

Suggestions?

Get a good camera, all have an auto function, all she has to do is be
sure its set for full auto. Go to camera stores and have them shown to
you.


The problem is she can tend to fiddle with something and get in a mess.
I'm sure we have all hit the situation where some electronic gadget gets
into a mode where its hard to get it back to some sensible settings.
Auto is fine if you can find it.

One thing which would help is a camera which defaults to auto if
switched on, and does *not* remember settings. I'd be a bit annoyed if
my D3 defaulted to program mode each time I switched it on, but in
contrast I'd rather the point and shoot did.

Dave wrote:
ransley wrote:

Suggestions?

Get a good camera, all have an auto function, all she has to do is be
sure its set for full auto. Go to camera stores and have them shown to
you.


The problem is she can tend to fiddle with something and get in a mess.
I'm sure we have all hit the situation where some electronic gadget gets
into a mode where its hard to get it back to some sensible settings.
Auto is fine if you can find it.

One thing which would help is a camera which defaults to auto if
switched on, and does *not* remember settings. I'd be a bit annoyed if
my D3 defaulted to program mode each time I switched it on, but in
contrast I'd rather the point and shoot did.

And I am quite unhappy that my camera does NOT default to my last
setting! Having to turn off the automatic flash every time I use the
camera is a REAL PAIN. My camera has the on-off control on the scene
setting wheel, which has 'auto' as the first detent, so it is easy to go
there.
The ability to make some settings the 'default' is a valuable feature.