Filed under: Leica Digital SLR
rate the following brands in order from what you have read or understand to be the best rated camera BRANDS in the POINT & SHOOT camera segment. (performance, reliability general performance rated scores etc.) SLR cameras are NOT A FACTOR in this question.
Canon
Fujifilm
Kodak
Leica
Nikon
Olympus
Panasonic
Pentax
Sony
I have used a lot of Canons, and they have all been built well and had high image quality.
http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ProductCatIndex1Act&fcategoryid=101
I have used many many cameras in the point and shoot field. There is one accurate generalization about these: Poor quality. The worst that i have used of these would be Olympus of your list here, minus Leica as i am not familiar with that one. Olympus uses an xD card, unique to them, and they are pricey over the very very low sD card prices. Optical zoom is the best to look far, as digital zoom is far aliens maybe i dunno it doesnt look good. Kodak has some cameras starting in the $250 dollar range. I currently have a Canon Powershot SX10 IS. It takes decent pictures, takes a little time to get used to the options, has great zoom (20x) but the biggest part that i dont like is the viewfinder. It has an LCD viewfinder.
If you are looking for a camera to carry anywhere, like a small camera, I have no advice as these cameras, usually in the 100 to 250 price range are all the same. Its like there is a standard there. If I had it do over again, I would just have gotten a DSLR, maybe something like the Rebel.
References :
I have used a lot of Canons, and they have all been built well and had high image quality.
http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ProductCatIndex1Act&fcategoryid=101
References :
Canon is probably the better performer in regards to image quality, features and performance.
Sony (which ONLY use Memory Stick) are ok. Some have quite speedy performance, but can't beat Canon in image quality.
Olympus (which only uses the slower xD memory card), Kodak and Pentax are probably the worst. Nikon compacts aren't much better either.
Panasonic are renowned for their very 'noisy' sensors, so if you like noise, they're the one to get.
Some Fujifilm cameras perform very well in low light, however their image quality will never match or beat Canon.
Don't know much about Leica compacts, but they are bound to be way over priced for what they actually offer.
References :
http://www.dpreview.com/
http://www.dcresource.com/
http://www.cameras.co.uk/html/shutter-lag-comparisons.cfm