Good + Cheap wide angle digital camera recommendations?

[The Adam Blaster]

Well, my 2yo son seems to have damaged my wife's digital camera that I bought her for Christmas so I am looking for a replacement.
I think for scenic shots I'd like to get a wide-angle camera if they aren't too expensive. (Less than $200.00) I'd also like to get one that doesn't have much delay from the time you push the button to when the pic is actually taken. We experienced this problem with her Kodak, 1-2 second delay waiting for the picture to be taken.
It makes it tough to get a clear picture of my very energetic and fast-moving son. lol

So, any recommendations for a decent camera to fit my criteria?

 

[ruditron]

i use a old Sony cybershot.... its been everywhere with me for the last 5-6 years including an Iraq deployment.... the body is dented all to hell... its been thrown around inside Humvees...survived sand storms, and still works very well it doesn't match my DSLR but it is convenient. here are a few pics Ive taken with the little guy....

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7947&page=76

 

[The Adam Blaster]

B&H only has 140 that fit your general criteria...I lean towards the water resistant Pentax's or Canons. I have a Samsung with a 24mm lens that's been fine for web based shooting -

I should say I'm basically photo-illiterate, I know a little about digital cameras, like digital zoom = mostly useless.

Looking at that link, they aren't all wide-angle cameras are they?

 

[Wander]

I just got my wife a Nikon S4000 P&S for about $150 that I like. It has a host of features (how do they cram so much in something so small???) and it's pocket size small. The only issue I've noticed is that the small rechargable battery doesn't last a super long time so I'd suggest getting and extra battery and charger so you can have a fresh one to swap out.

 

[The Adam Blaster]

I guess there are only 20 or so in that list when you omit the color of the body...I filtered that list for wide angle - looks like they call anything 28mm & wider wide - which is reasonable.
(35mm film camera equivalent -that's the standard they use when comparing cameras even though the actual number on the camera is different - due to the smaller sensors (smaller than 35mm film...) used on all but high end, "full frame" digital cameras so always look for the "35mm equivalent" phrase when comparing cameras...

Ok, that is the kind of thing I'm not (or wasn't) aware of.
Thanks for the info!

I had bought my wife a Kodak because the one she had before was a Kodak and I figured the familiarity would be helpful. Especially since she is one of those people that are not necessarily techno-phobic, but she isn't really willing to spend much time figuring out some new device.
That familiarity with Kodak didn't overcome the camera's short comings though...

I'll take a closer look at the canon's because I have heard good things from them from at least a couple other people as well.

 

[The Adam Blaster]

I just got my wife a Nikon S4000 P&S for about $150 that I like. It has a host of features (how do they cram so much in something so small???) and it's pocket size small. The only issue I've noticed is that the small rechargable battery doesn't last a super long time so I'd suggest getting and extra battery and charger so you can have a fresh one to swap out.

I have an older Olympus that I bought a while back because it was water and dust resistant - I killed my first digicam by getting stuck my XJ stuck in a mudhle, which I promptly got stuck in as well as I was trying to get back into the Jeep. The camera was in the cargo pocket of my shorts at the time, and I was sunk up to my belly button. lol
Anyways, point is that the Olympus came with a li-ion battery and charger. I have lost that charger and replaced it, only to find it later. Now I have lost both chargers and since I'm thinking about buying a new camera for the wife, I think I'm giving up on the Olympus and I'll sell it cheap on kijiji or something.
But, I think I will get a camera that uses AA's for the convenience factor.

 

[The Adam Blaster]

I'm 35, still have pretty good eyesight.

I really would like a tripped down camera to be honest. I've owned a few different cameras over the years, and to be honest, I probably haven't used 1/10th of their features.

I do like the idea of the screen on the front of the camera, my wife and I ike taking self-portraits in te different places we have been. I remember being asked by a German guy at some touristy place if we wanted him to take a pic of us. We had a bit of trouble trying to explain that we did indeed want to take a goofy pic of ourselves, by ourselves. lol

I like a good zoom, 10-12 is really nice.
A quick reaction speed when I hit the button.
Wide angle, this is a new feature I'm interested in, should have had one a long time ago...
Video - not crucial but nice if getting out our actual vidcam out might take too long.

All the rest of the features are just a bit much - even that face/smile recognition stuff didn't seem to work all that well on the latest Kodak. And a HECK of a lot of the pictures turned out blurry <-- that was disappointing.

I wonder if going to a decent camera shop should be something I do?

 

[Wingnut19]

Go with something from the Canon lineup. Although the Nikon's are incredible with picture quality, they have extremely senesitive focusing drives. If you drop them once in just the right way, your camera will never work properly again.

I've heard good things from friends with Canon Elph's.

 

[Tucson T4R]

My wife and daughter just took a trip to France and all they took with them were two Canon Elphs.

Here is an untouched shot from one of them.

And one that was enhanced a tad in Lightroom:

They both had the picture size cranked way down too so these would have been much better if they had captured larger images.