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What P&S Canon is best for me? (based on a few points like...)

Started Apr 23, 2012 | Discussions thread
Coyote_Cody Senior Member • Posts: 1,166
Re: What P&S Canon is best for me? (based on a few points like...)

If you desire the same sensor & digital processing of the sx40 but want a true pocket size camera, the sx260 is the one.

Sx260 has a 20x lens (sx40 35x) and is equiv to 25-500mm, the sx40 is 24mm-840mm, the sx40 is 4-6x larger (heavier too) than sx260, but the sx40 has a significantly faster & larger diameter lens.

I have used both cameras, and ultimately the sx40 has a better lens BUT it only marginally better and most times no better, but small DSLR sized too!!

Diffraction limit: This limit makes sensors this size hard on lens, meaning the lens needs to be fast, because that 'physics' thing will make the picture fuzzy beyond f4 or so, for either camera.

Sony, Nikon,etc have brainlessly (marketing) gone to 16,18 mpixel 1/2.3" sensors, these cameras are ALWAYS in 'diffraction limit', no matter the fstop - ie fuzzy low detail pics ALWAYS !! Incredibly silly but sell them #'s!!

That said, higher fstops are useful for greater deep 'sharp' parts of picture while the lower fstops will give you nicer fuzzy backgrounds (bokah).

The sx260 lens seems reasonably good, and the 'real' diff of 20x vs 35x is only a small crop away, meaning you can get the same pic by cropping the sx260, helps with birds, critters but for many pic types completely irrelevant!

Good Luck!!
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