Point & Shoot opinions

[Kaouthia]

I'm after some opinions on point and shoot cameras. I'm doing some timelapse sequences for a project I'm working on for a client and, while I could do them on my DSLRs, I don't really fancy putting 40-50K actuations over the course of a couple of days on those bodies.

So, that's why I'm after opinions here. There's so many different point and shoots out there, so sifting through all the crap to find the good stuff can be a bit of a pain.

They don't have to be anything super fancy, as cheap as possible really as I'm hoping to pick up 4 or 5 of them on eBay, but there are some specific requirements.

• Full manual control over shutter speed and ISO
• Must be able to shoot ISO100 or slower
• Manual focus (or the ability to lock focus between shots)
• 5MP or higher (told you it doesn't need to be anything fancy)
• Optical zoom range somewhere in the 20-100mm equivalent range
• Must have an interval timer ability (or the option to add one via 3rd party software, such as CHDK on the Canons)
• Must support cards of at least 4GB (preferably 8GB or 16GB)

And a list of "nice to have but non-essential" features

• RAW shooting (or the option to add via CHDK or similar)
• Ability to enter custom white balance via Kelvin (I'm probly dreaming with that one)
• Hot-shoe for flash
• Live Histogram

Given the features that CHDK can add to certain Canon Powershots, I'm leaning towards Canon cameras at the moment. But will consider any that meet the requirements.

 

[Musicman]

• Full manual control over shutter speed and ISO
• Must be able to shoot ISO100 or slower
• Manual focus (or the ability to lock focus between shots)
• 5MP or higher (told you it doesn't need to be anything fancy)
• Optical zoom range somewhere in the 20-100mm equivalent range
• Must have an interval timer ability (or the option to add one via 3rd party software, such as CHDK on the Canons)
• Must support cards of at least 4GB (preferably 8GB or 16GB)

I suspect that these requirement, especially, the ones I've highlighted, are going to mitigate against the 'cheap as possible' one.

Canon's G series spring to mind (perhaps the older models like the G6 if you want RAW, or the G7) but their zoom doesn't go down to 20mm.

 

[Kaouthia]

Well, I'm sure some point and shoots had those features 5 or 6 years ago, and I imagine they'll have been replaced 2 or 3 times by nice, hence the low MP requirement.

After doing some reading up, it seems that CHDK will add manual control over shutter speed & ISO, focus lock and interval timer abilities and RAW shooting to MANY Canon Powershot models.

I've been having a look at possibly the A480 (they seem to be anywhere from £30-60 each on eBay), but the colour doesn't really seem to pop all that much.

The only thing I seem to be having a problem with at the moment is a focal length wider than about a 30-35mm equivalent.