S400 vs Sony PC10 or other fast and small

[DougP]

I am about to purchase a replacement for my Epson 800 camera. I want a small point and shoot camera with fast shutter lag and great auto functions. With 3 kids I don't have space for lugging a big camera or the time to fuss with setup. My Epson is too slow, from the time I push the shuter release, to the time it takes the picture the action is long gone.

My criteria:

Small & Light & fast
Fast start up, fast to focus, fast from shot to next shot.
Great auto everything, I don't have time to figure out modes etc.
I figure 4 + Megapixel so that I can aways crop etc. to make a photo nice after the fact.
Great outdoors and indoors pictures. minimal redeye. Great autofocus, fast, fast, fast. I will load it up with lots of memory and try to take lots of shots.

Options:
Olympus C50, I think this camera has indoor low light focus issues, also it is a bit bigger than the other options.

Pentax S, nice and small, kind of hard to hold. IS 3 Meg enough? Also I understand shot to next shot speed is an issue?

Sony PC10, slightly longer and shorter than Canon S400. uses memory stick, but not a big issue, I have a Sony camcorder so I can always share MS. Not sure how all the auto functions compare to Canon

Canon S400, nice size, only 4 Megpixel. how well do the auto shoot features work, indoors and outdoors.


So I think I have it narowed down to S400 vs PC10 but boy that Pentax S is a nice size!!!! I would appreciate feedback on what people think on these.

Thanks
Doug

[DougP]

It appears that with the Canon S400 after taking about 3-5 successive shots the camera gets busy and further shots are delayed, it took me 58 seconds to take 10 shots vs 24 seconds with the Sony PC10. Is this a fair test? Is there any special settings I should be making? I am trying to replicate a scenario where I may be taking pictures at a game and following the play, taking a bunch of shots trying to get a good action shot. If this is the case, it appears I have amuch better chance of getting a good action shot with the SOny due to it's ability to continue writing the pictures to the memory vs Canons need to write slower. Is theis a function of the memory type, CF vs Memory Stick?

Any ideas appreciated.

thanks.
Doug

[DougP]

Can someone direct me to where I might get some help on this please
Thanks
Doug

[David G.R.]

Hello DougP.
I too am considering various compact cameras like the Canon S400 or Sony P10.
What camera did you decide on?
-david

[CyberSky]

Originally Posted by DougP

Can someone direct me to where I might get some help on this please
Thanks
Doug

Doug, have you checked the reviews here at Steve's DigiCams? Have you checked the reviews and searched the forums at dpreview.com? How about imaging-resource.com? dcresource.com? megapixel.net? There's a lot of places to go and read professional reviews as well as comments from owners of these cameras.

Something that is very useful is the "comparometer" at imaging-resource.com:

http://www.imaging-resource.com/IMCOMP/CDISPLAY.HTM

You simply select one camera and picture on the left and then another camera and picture on the right and you can compare them side-by-side.