3 cameras to choose from. Which one should I get?

Hello everyone,

I'm not finding much in the way of direct comparisons between these models.

Elph 520 HS

Elph 330 HS

PowerShot SX260

I wanted the 520 because of the small size relative to the zoom (and price) but then read where PC Mag gave it a bad review, claiming it has a tiny sensor and poor low light performance.

I though that these new back-illuminated CMOS's were studs at low light?

PC Mag then gave the 330 high praise. Which confuses me.

I really like the PowerShot SX260 and its zoom, but the 330 is newer (may have newer features?) and this is for my 70 year old mother who currently uses a Powershot A540 and will likely appreciate bells and whistles over minor differences in picture quality (minor to her, maybe...that's what I'm here to find out).

She rarely ever prints anything out, but her A540 let us down in a large way today. We were taking an important photo in mid light conditions with no flash and everything looked good on the camera itself, but when uploaded to laptop screen, the resolution was horrible.

She wants zoom, small size, good image quality (will likely never use anything but auto) and bells and whistles that she will likely never use. And of course battery life is nice too.

I have read that some of the new Elph's almost never need a flash their low light is so good. Is that true with any of the above?

In short (TL/DR) taking price out of it and the fact that the PowerShot SX260 has been a stud for so long, out of the three (or maybe there's a 4th option), is one head and shoulders above or below? Or should I just get here the most feature rich out of the three?

I very kindly thank you for any and all help.

These small backlit sensor models are studs in low light, but because of the fact that the zoom lenses don't have particularly large apertures, typically f3.5 and they max out at ISO1600, then they must use slow shutter speeds to get an adequate exposure in low light. They do compensate for this by have extremely good image stabilisation, but you must still have a fairly steady hand at the extremes of low light or you could get motion blur.

The three cameras you listed are probably very similair in low light, and for most non pixel peepers, they would have a very similair IQ. I would say that any of them would work very well, but may need the flash in very low light. The Elph 330 HS or IXUS 255 HS depending on where you live is the most recent and would also be cheaper than the SX260 but only has 10X zoom.

The SX280 supercedes the SX260 but do a search here because many people have had premature flat battery problems with the SX280, so if you can still get a reasonably priced SX260 there is nothing wrong with those, I use one as my main camera.

You can get an idea of the picture quality in my SX260 album.

http://www.dpreview.com/galleries/5128303546/albums/sx260hs

Brian

Good reviews of a couple of these cameras can be found at www.cameralabs.com

The trick about the 520 is that the high zoom is achieved by using only the center portion of the sensor. So effectively the sensor in that camera is smaller than the other two choices you listed. That is a good reason to avoid that camera.

I have an SX260 and I really like the pictures it takes in good light. But mine does not have good autofocus indoors in less than good light. I find my Sony HX20V has much more reliable focus indoors in the same conditions where my SX260 is not getting a good focus.

Probably the best choice is the 330.   The man at cameralabs gives it a "highly recommended" and generally I find his write ups match my experiences quite closely.

The 330 is only 10x instead of the 20X of the SX260.  But actually that is a good thing.  When a lot of zoom range is crammed into such a small lens assembly, image quality is comprised.   So you should expect better image quality out of the 330.

I would recommend that you check out the Canon SX280 HS. I have got excellent all round results from it. It is small enough and has an excellent zoom range. DP Review recommends it in. You can use most of the manual functions of a DSLR or use the Auto function. The Auto function produces excellent result as well. It sells for around $300.

Guysakar wrote:

Hello everyone,

I'm not finding much in the way of direct comparisons between these models.

Elph 520 HS

Elph 330 HS

PowerShot SX260

I wanted the 520 because of the small size relative to the zoom (and price) but then read where PC Mag gave it a bad review, claiming it has a tiny sensor and poor low light performance.

I though that these new back-illuminated CMOS's were studs at low light?

PC Mag then gave the 330 high praise. Which confuses me.

I really like the PowerShot SX260 and its zoom, but the 330 is newer (may have newer features?) and this is for my 70 year old mother who currently uses a Powershot A540 and will likely appreciate bells and whistles over minor differences in picture quality (minor to her, maybe...that's what I'm here to find out).

She rarely ever prints anything out, but her A540 let us down in a large way today. We were taking an important photo in mid light conditions with no flash and everything looked good on the camera itself, but when uploaded to laptop screen, the resolution was horrible.

She wants zoom, small size, good image quality (will likely never use anything but auto) and bells and whistles that she will likely never use. And of course battery life is nice too.

I have read that some of the new Elph's almost never need a flash their low light is so good. Is that true with any of the above?

In short (TL/DR) taking price out of it and the fact that the PowerShot SX260 has been a stud for so long, out of the three (or maybe there's a 4th option), is one head and shoulders above or below? Or should I just get here the most feature rich out of the three?

I very kindly thank you for any and all help.