Is there a better camera at ~$190?

[drapacioli]

Hi, I'm looking for the best deal I can find within my budget for a new digital camera in time for a few upcoming vacations. I currently have a Fujifilm Finepix 850EXR, and while it was okay for the occasional family photo, as I've learned a bit about how to use it I've discovered it's not really as good as I hoped.

I originally bought the camera because it was cheap (No surprises here), at just $80 it was the best thing I could get on short notice last year, but I don't think it's worth keeping. The lens quality seems rather bad, I absolutely can't stand the AF and how slow it is (as well as how often it thinks it's in focus but it really isn't...), you can't even bring up ISO above 400 without a serious amount of noise, and the absolute most annoying thing is the battery life, which only lasts for about 100 photos or 20 minutes of HD video (Of course, the HD video itself is capped at 5 minutes...really bad for extended recording). Finally, the interface is simply annoying to use. The manual modes don't allow for enough control, but the automatic modes take everything to the extreme, so I'm left with poor photo quality even when it seems that the camera should be able to perform better.

On to the new camera. I'm looking for something with a good optical zoom, at least 20x or better, better photo quality at higher ISOs, better battery life, and of course, more control over the camera. I know I obviously can't get (nor do I want) a DSLR camera + lens for this price, so I'm looking at bridge cameras right now. I recently found a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ70 kit for around $185 (factory refurbished from a highly reputable seller).

I've checked out photographyblog.com and compared the review of the FZ72 and 900EXR (Same camera internals, slightly different software), and it seems to be leagues better than what I have, plus the 60x optical lens seems to indicate the lens quality should be very good for the camera style (The 850EXR I had suffered from poor quality when zoomed fully in, so I believe that means 20x is close to the limit of the lens itself, correct me if I'm wrong?). Additionally, the FZ70 is supposed to have a wider range of manual control, including a full manual focus. The only thing that confuses me is that the camera seems to have a smaller sensor than the Fujifilm model, a 1/2.3 sensor instead of a 1/2. From everything I had read in the past, sensor size was a huge factor in how good image quality was. Is there a reason why that doesn't appear to be the case here?

Regardless, this seems like the camera I should buy at this price, but I wanted to ask the community what else might be out there at the sub-$200 price (used or new) that might be a better purchase? A lot of the photography review places list msrp prices or don't allow you to filter results from their best "budget" options very well, so I've found it impossible to compare older camera models very well while keeping those only within my price range.

 

[USAFRet]

Video capped at 5 mins is probably a function of the SD card size, not the camera.
dpreview.com is a good source for camera comparisons.

 

[drapacioli]

Video capped at 5 mins is probably a function of the SD card size, not the camera.
dpreview.com is a good source for camera comparisons.

Hi USAFRet, the 5 min cap is a file size limitation, it's capped at exactly 4.0GB, despite me having an empty 64GB card in. I believe it may be a .mp4 limitation? Regardless, I could quickly start another recording but obviously I would lose a second or two in the process, not good, and I've owned other cameras in the past that were able to split files automatically. Given how often I need to do 6-7 minute videos, it's become a problem and I've been relying on my cell phone instead, which has its own set of problems...

I'll check out dpreview.com, I've never heard of it before. Thanks!

 

[drapacioli]

Hmm, okay, so I took a look at dpreview.com, they don't really have much of a "review" for any of the cameras I'm looking at, just spec sheets and occasionally a sample album, plus a lot of specs seem to be missing on their comparison feature. Are there any other reputable sites I should be using? A lot of them seem legit, but then if you read enough reviews, you start seeing them upsell or make comparisons to other cameras outside the same class, so that you can't even tell if the camera is good because it's being compared to a prosumer model...

Also, should I consider an interchangeable lens camera or DSLR? I've noticed the Sony Alpha series has a lot of mirrorless and slr type cameras with interchangeable lenses that produce better image quality for around $200 as well (Mostly I'm looking at the A3000 and NEX-3N), and I've even noticed a few older DSLR kits in the price range, such as the Canon Rebel XS/XS-i and T3, Sony A330, Nikon D40x, or even older ones, but obviously they are older (though still less than a decade old) and I imagine some recent features on today's bridge cameras aren't on the older DSLRs? I'll be honest and say I know next to nothing about DSLRs other than the fact they are more hands-on and rather expensive (plus lenses can cost a fortune), but I wouldn't mind learning to use one properly either, so long as I can get decent vacation photos this year from it.