Best point and shoot around $300?

DanMcG wrote:

Rudy61 wrote:

I strongly recommend:

https://shop.usa.canon.com/shop/en/catalog/eos-sl1-18-55-is-stm-lens-kit-refurbished

The SL1 is no bigger than many mirrorless models from some of the other makers (e.g., Olympus, Panasonic, Fujifilm) that are far, far pricier. It is a fully fledged DSLR that can utilize the entire range of Canon EF and EF-S lenses. Over the years I've purchased quite a few (too many) items from Canon refurbished- 2 camera bodies, several lenses, and 3 or 4 compacts. Without exception they have always been impeccably clean, professionally packed with all-new accessories, and are indistinguishable from retail-new except for a modest number of shutter actuations. And Canon supports their refurbished products with a full 1-year warranty, which is the same as the retail warranty. You cannot go wrong with a refurb purchase. Personally, I almost prefer refurbished because a human being has actually "gone over" the item, rather than it being something that just rolled off the assembly line and was popped into a box. This deal comes with the 18-55mm STM kit lens, definitely sufficient for an introductory photography class. (By the way the SL1 also comes in white; it's there on the site as well). If your friend gets "into" photography, I would recommend that she add the companion 55-250mm STM lens at some point, which sometimes goes on sale on the Canon refurbished site for as low as $129 (look for reviews; it's an excellent lens). One last recommendation would be to add the 50mm f/1.8 STM, which can also be found at times on the refurb site for around $100. This will allow your friend to experiment with shallow depth-of-field photography, and that focal length on a DSLR like the SL1 is perfect for portraits with great isolation of the main subject. Last but not least, she could consider adding a small external flash (270EX II or 320EX) to learn about bouncing flash and off-camera flash lighting. But this basic kit to start -- SL1 with the kit lens-- is both small and light for travel and will be more than sufficient for her class, and is in the right price range you specified. I have the SL1 as well as 2 other DSLR camera bodies (a T3i and older 40D) and several high quality compacts, but I use the SL1 far more than any other. I could live with it as my only camera.

Good luck!

Rudy

I have a G1X but keep looking at the refurb'd SL1 and some lenses as my "next step" into photography, your post definitely pushed me in that direction a bit more. Thanks!

Dan McG, you're welcome and if I might add a further suggestion for you, if you do decide to buy an SL1 you might save yourself a few dollars and skip the kit lens, as in my opinion the image quality of the G1 X (one of the compacts I also bought refurbished from Canon, lol) is a tad better than the 18-55mm kit lens and goes both a hair wider and noticeably longer (I might add that it's definitely better than the kit lens at the wide end, in lower light).  However, as you undoubtedly know, the focusing and operational speed of the G1 X is fairly leisurely so if you want to shoot fast-moving targets (kids, pets, street scenes, etc.) then you might want to get the kit lens after all.  If I didn't already have that 18-55mm STM kit lens myself, and too many lenses in general, I'd instead buy the EF-S 24mm pancake lens, which gives a fairly "normal" field of view of approx. 38mm.  Then you'd have G1 X for wide angle shooting where you can take your time (e.g., scenery, shots with people where they can hold still for a few seconds), the 24mm to cover the wide-normal, faster moving subject matter, and then the 55-250mm for telephoto.  Just a thought.  Good luck with your decision!