CCD vs CMOS for digital cameras

[Beest]

I'm keeping a sharp eye out for a digital camera with a big zoom in this discounting season. I'm looking to be taking pictures indoors, at high mag, swim meets and hockey games.
We had a Kodak with a 10X zoom that took decent enough pictures, more zoom always going to be useful, but build quality was crap and it died.

We bought a small cheap Nikon with 5X zoom as a carry about, but I find indoors the magnification is OK but light senistivty is poor so images are unreasonably grainy. I think even 5X zoom would be OK if the images were clear and sharp.

So I have been researching options and i think the conclusion is that CCD chips give nice high res pictures, but don't do well in lower light, I'm going need CMOS for the higher ISO low light shots I want to get.

I also see that cameras below about $200 are CCD and above are CMOS so that indicates that CMOS are better.

I'm not going to spend $$$ on a DSLR, ideally I'm looking for sub $200 with a CMOS chip and 10+ zoom.

Thoughts?

[BigV]

Beest, Twil has the new Canon SX40HS, and she loves it, and I love it. It's a little bit over $200, I think I paid $350 for it, and it's worth every penny. The optical zoom is 35x. Optical. There's a load of other features, but I won't bore you with them if the price is a deal breaker.

I've had a number of Canon cameras, and I've never been disappointed. You should check this one out. The review is kinda funny, just the first one I found. Don't be put off by his completely wrong use of the macro feature.

[footfootfoot]

CMOS
Canon
or Lumix ZS 20

[Beest]

i have liked the canons we have had. confirmd my thoughts. look out for deals on a cmos canon.

[anonymous]

Originally Posted by BigV

It's a little bit over $200, I think I paid $350 for it.

A little bit over? WTF were you doing on % day at middle school?

[jimhelm]

Define CMOS as it pertains, and CCD, please?

[BigV]

Originally Posted by anonymous

A little bit over? WTF were you doing on % day at middle school?

what if the bill was $0.02, but instead you paid $0.04, rounding up to the nearest penny of course, the *percentage* would be a lot, but the gross amount is not.

For a camera in this class, an additional $150 is a little bit over. If all Beest has is two benjamins, then it's a dealbreaker. But when I buy stuff like this, I am counting on the quality of the product to let me amortize the cost over a longer useful lifetime.

"a little bit" is subjective, and I gave suitable caveats. My math nerd card is secure.

[footfootfoot]

Originally Posted by jimhelm

Define CMOS as it pertains, and CCD, please?

CCD Charge Coupled Device is a type of sensor that converts wavelengths of light into an electrical signal. prone to smearing bright highlights like candles or other light sources.

CMOS Complimentary Metal Oxide Semiconductor is another method for converting light into electrical signals. Lower power consumption and lower noise.

There are a lot of complicated differences wikipedia has some good articles.

[Beest]

canon sx160 is on sale everywhere here for $150, looks like a great camera but it's CCD. 16 X zoom

Canon sx260 is $230 on amazon, 20 X zoom, cmos, but it doesn't take AA batteries, I like AA's as we have lot's for all the toys and there always lot's about and rechargeables. I was pleased to see that spare batteries for the sx260 aren't that expensive. It's breaking the $200 barrier, but probably worth it, if I could get a better deal on one I'd probably jump on it.

I'm trying to find out if there are any cmos cameras that use AA's, I'm expecting not.

EDIT:
HMM Nikon L610, cmos AA's, 14 x zoom, the little one we have is nikon, not all that keen on it.

[footfootfoot]

Check into the Lumix, a friend of mine has one and I thought the photos were made with his Canon 5D.

[glatt]

I have an older Lumix and love it.

Panasonic is probably my favorite electronics company. They just make good stuff and without all the proprietary crap you get from the likes of Sony and Apple.

[Beest]

Interesting recommendation, I had never considered Panasonic, Leica lenses I see.

Lumix DMC-ZS15


I'm also seduced by Fujifilm as they have viewfinders, the first digital we had was fujifil and I liked it.

Fujifilm HS25EXR - getting pretty pricey though

[jimhelm]

I'm thinking of getting that L610 for my mom for christmas.....

[footfootfoot]

Originally Posted by Beest

Interesting recommendation, I had never considered Panasonic, Leica lenses I see.

I'll ask my buddy to email me a photo he's taken with the camera.

[Beest]

I bought the canon sx260, it's within my $200 budget aim, cmos sensor, 20X zoom.
I bought it at best buy, which has a 30 day satisfaction return, so I can try it out and tack it back if I'm not satisfied.

Very impressed so far, main thing is the image stabilization as this allows me to take pics and long zoom and longer exposures because of low light, but still be pin sharp.

This is a hand held shot at maximum zoom, 20X optical plus x4 digital, you cannot keep the subject steady at this zoom, it wanders across the viewfinder and you snap when it's somewhere near the center.

(This is with the resolution turned down to 6 mP to conserve file size, the uplodaer has scrunched it a lot too)