Need a new Sony digi cam, and recommendations?

[Lezam]

My mother wants to get a new digital camera with her sony points, a nice simple point and shoot for general family events. There isn't a really a price range, but I assume she doesn't want to spend a fortune, she just needs something simple. Can anyone recommend a good one? I've never bought a sony, always used a nikon.

[SmAlbany]

I've had a couple of sony P&S cameras over the years. Same deal - I had sony points.

I like the W-2 just fine. Only 5 mega pix but it took decent photos. We had an issue with it (got a dirt spot inside the lense) and it cost more to get it cleaned than to just replace it. I replaced it with a W-60.

You know what? I liked the W-2 better! W-60 is smaller and has more mega-pix - supposed "improvements".

In the end, smaller meant harder to handle - not more convenient. Picture quality was identical. The new camera does download photos at a higher rate. As it turns out, the W-2's dirt spot magically went away and that's the camera that we use when we need a P&S. The W-60 stays in the drawer.

What advice does this give you? In my opinion, photo quality across all the sony point and shoots will be very similar - how it feels in your hand will likely be the deciding factor. Take your mom to a camera store and let her play with various models. Pick the one that feels best to her.

Dan

[Lezam]

Hey Dan,

Have you heard anything about the W300 that just came out? A friend of mine reccomended it to me, but since the zoom doesnt actually extend outside the camera im a bit hesitant. Its just flat... heres a link:

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/sto ... 1665339390 (http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665339390)

[SmAlbany]

The last dpreview of a W series camera is here:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonyw80/

the W300 will have the same body design as the reviewed camera.

the W300 scares me a bit because it is cramming over 13 million pixels in a tiny sensor. If you are a regular reader of dpreview, you'll find that they believe that in a point and shoot, more pixels does not equal better picture quality - it just makes the images take up more room on your flash card/ hard drive.

My main issue with the current W series body design is the zoom control. The rocker button on the back of the camera is a lot harder to use than the older design that had the rocker switch on the top of the camera.

If I were shopping sony P&S right now, I would probably look at either the superzoom H series or the entry level S series - just because I don't find the current Ws comfortable to hold.

Your Mom's opinion might differ.

[Lezam]

Thanks for the reply. Im going to go back into bestbuy and see if I can take some pictures on my memory card and bring it home to see the results.

The thing that bugs me a little, is that I dont need the touch screen anyways. It just makes things more complicated and expensive, so I might not go with the W series after all.