[RandomMan]

I'm getting too frustrated with having my current point and shoot auto focusing on the glass in my tanks, rather than my shrimp/plants/fish/whatever I'm trying to photograph. I've got a birthday coming up, and I want to get a new point and shoot that has manual focus.

Anyone have any experience with them? The MF seems to work fine in store zooming in on price tags and such and using the wheel to get it to focus on what I want. Canon has several in the $175-240 range, and I'm sure other camera companies have them as well. Cameras can get confusing for me as its often hard to tell the difference in features between models. All I'm looking for is A) Manual Focus in macro mode and B) Decent low light photography without flash. (I do have tripods) Any suggestions?

Let me make one thing absolutely clear, I DO NOT want a DSLR.

 

[cggorman]

www.dpreview.com

high quality flashless low-light images are a very tall order for a P&S in the $200 range.

 

[RandomMan]

Just to be clear, I'm not struck at the $200 range. That was just the price range of P&S that I saw where they started having manual focus.

 

[Gvtv44]

Are you looking for an interchangeable lense camera or no?

If so:
Micro four thirds:
GF1 (absolutely amazing camera)
Olympus (Pen type)

If not:

Canon S95

 

[Mr. Appleton]

Panasonic LX3/LX5 are great P&S cameras. Leica lens, decent low-light, manual control over aperture/shutter speed.

Fits the bill nicely on top of being rather pretty

 

[Wasserpest]

Canon S95 or G12 would be my recommendation. S95 is smaller, cheaper, and has the F2 lens, the G12 has some more stuff, most notably an external flash adapter (for when you want to take great flash pics one day) and a tilting/swiveling LCD screen.

 

[Rocketlily]

My P&S is the Panasonic LX5. Very sweet little P&S, highly recommended.

 

[Gvtv44]

Yes, but do those have manual focus?

 

[Rocketlily]

Sorry, just checked my Panasonic and it has manual exposure, but not manual focus. I think if I were looking for a small camera, not DSLR, with manual focus, I would seriously look at the Sony Nex 5.

 

[Mr. Appleton]

The lx3 can definitely manual focus. I'd be surprised if the lx5 lost it.

 

[flip9]

Canon SX130, full manual control.

Good learning camera before you buy an expensive DSLR.

 

[leviathan0]

Do they actually make P&S cameras with manual focus? I don't think I've ever seen one.

What kind of P&S do you have now? Perhaps you could hack it to force focus - not as ideal as a manual focus ring, but it would give you control over what the camera is focusing on.

 

[Rocketlily]

Mr Appleton is right. The Panasonic LX5 does have a MF and AF switch on the lens. I've never used this camera in any other way than a P&S.

 

[leviathan0]

Looks like the LX5 does have manual focus, using a wheel. You learn something new every day. Don't think it works in macro though.

 

[Mr. Appleton]

definitely works in macro. Also the only way to really achieve bokeh on a small P&S

 

[radioman]

I have a Canon S5IS and it is great for manual focus

 

[Bk828]

Canon SX130, full manual control.

Good learning camera before you buy an expensive DSLR.

I agree, dslr like features and quality but without the bulk.
(ignore all the bad reviews with this cameras battery life, people just dont know about great rechargables)

 

[Wasserpest]

Canon SX130, full manual control.

Good learning camera before you buy an expensive DSLR.

I agree, dslr like features and quality but without the bulk.
(ignore all the bad reviews with this cameras battery life, people just dont know about great rechargables)

Yeah, battery life is awesome with a set of Eneloops.

However, the re-cycle time for the flash is excruciating on this model (up to 10 sec... doesn't sound like a big deal but it can be). Also, trying to shoot moving fish is pretty hopeless due to the shutter lag.

Apart from these two points, it is a sweet camera, lots of bells and whistles and decent image quality for its price, and great zoom range for its compact size.

 

[RandomMan]

What about the Canon SX230 instead? It's $100 more, but is supposed to have much better low light photos.

 

[houseofcards]

I'm getting too frustrated with having my current point and shoot auto focusing on the glass in my tanks, rather than my shrimp/plants/fish/whatever I'm trying to photograph. I've got a birthday coming up, and I want to get a new point and shoot that has manual focus.

Anyone have any experience with them? The MF seems to work fine in store zooming in on price tags and such and using the wheel to get it to focus on what I want. Canon has several in the $175-240 range, and I'm sure other camera companies have them as well. Cameras can get confusing for me as its often hard to tell the difference in features between models. All I'm looking for is A) Manual Focus in macro mode and B) Decent low light photography without flash. (I do have tripods) Any suggestions?

Let me make one thing absolutely clear, I DO NOT want a DSLR.

Are you sure your glass is perfectly clean? I never had that problem when I was using P/S. What kind of camera is it?