sony dsc-s85 or cool pixs 4300

[JEFFRO]

Which one would you buy and why? I'm trying to decide between the sony and the cool pixs. My goel is to be able to take some good macro shots of my reef. If anyone has this camera can you post some shots so I can check them out.This will be my first digital camera.
Thanks for your help.;)

[gregr]

howdy-
i went to www.dpreview and chose both cameras under the 'buying guide'- makes it easy to compare.
from what i can see the cameras are both pretty good- with some minor differences between the two.
the sony has a 35mm equivalent of a 34-102mm lens and the nikon is 38-114. that means for the close-ups the nikon will make the subject a little bit bigger in the frame. they both have a minimum focus distance of 4cm. the sony will be better for landscape type shots because it goes a little wider.
the nikon will not allow you to use an external flash and the sony will- the flash on both cameras is the same strength.
there are more white balance options with the nikon- but the sony still has a manual setting (as does the nikon). that comes in handy if you have 20k mh lights.
one thing that bugs me about the nikon is that when you are zoomed all the way in the biggest aperture is on f4.9-- with the sony it's f2.5- a significant difference. the nikon has a 50 step manual focus system whereas the sony only has 13 steps which makes me wonder how effective that feature will be (on the sony). i bet the 50 step system is pretty good.
i like the fact that the nikon has .2x step increments on the digital zoom- that may come in handy.
sony has no red-eye flash mode. hmm.
the nikon has a 3 second self timer which is nice. both cameras have a 10 second delay.
one other thing i noticed is that the sony has a 1.8" lcd and the nikon is smaller at 1.5".
there are more white balance options with the nikon- but the sony still has a manual setting (as does the nikon).
anyhow- no big eye opening conclusion- i just tried to point out some things i felt were worth mentioning.
hope it helps-
greg

[JEFFRO]

Thank you for the comparison. If any one has some pics from either of these cameras can you please post them.
Thanks.;)

[gljjr]

A friend of mine has the Sony and really likes it. One of the things he likes most about it is the small CD's. Since he's not really good with a computer they make it really easy for him. In fact he didn't like the Olympus D490z so he sold it to me after he got the Sony. To see a picture he's taken with it take a look at this Auction.

NEW CUSTOM PAINTED LEXAN DRAG BODY (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=2617&item=3112755416)


I know it's not for aquarium related stuff but it'll give you an idea what the camera is capable of. To take this picture he has some work lights mounted above a three sided cardboard box with the camera on a tripod. It's a pretty good setup and he takes the pictures fairly close up. I'm quite certain he doesn't retouch any of his photos either.

[CaptainCoral]

I have the sony DSC S85. I worked great until I got salt spray into it. Now it's at the shop. I really hope it's fixable.

[wyldebill65]

I bought the Sony DSC-S85 for Christmas and I am VERY happy with it so far. BTW .... it DOES have Red Eye Reduction which is accessed by selecting SETUP mode.

[wes130]

i've just bought the nikon coolpix 4300 over a sony today and it was a tough choice, but the advantages with the nikon were the megapixels (4.1 on nikon and 3.3 on the sony) i think the nikon has more manual control than the sony, and also the size, the nikon is half the size of the sony i was looking at!!!!
on the other hand though, the sony has the horseshoe bracket (for external flash) whereas the nikon doesn't, magic stick for sony digis is more expensive than compact flash cards (64 meg compact flash = £29.99 (UK pounds) whereas magic gate stick for sony works out at about £1 per megabyte!!!!
I can post an image taken on my nikon for you tomorrow after the battery has completed it's first charge.
otherwise, if you can't wait - here's a link to some photos taken at full quality with the nikon.................http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/nikon/coolpix4300-review/gallery.html (here)

[texasreefer]

I just bought the Sony DSC-S85 and I'm happy w/ it. I only have been able to play w/ it a couple of days, but it seems to be easy to use. I'm going to try to attach a picture I took w/ it, but I've never attached a photo before so I'm not sure it will work.

[texasreefer]

http://photos.msn.com/viewing/albumtheme.aspx

[DensityMan]

(4.1 on nikon and 3.3 on the sony)

The Sony DSC S85 is a 4.1 Mega-pixel camera... the DSC S75 is thier 3.3 Mega-pixel cam

I love my Sony DSC S85... in fact I had to ratchet down the quality to save time in PhotoShop post production. ;)

I am still trying to "fine-tune" the macro-shooting, but I have read a few tips today that I will try.

It was a rough decision for me as well between the Nikon, but price won me over in the end (I got a sweet deal on the Sony).

Picture from the Sony DSC S85 (taken on "Fine" quality 800x600 mode - 2 steps from "max")
http://www.densityman.com/images/reef_tank_new/wierd_white_blob_061903.jpg

Unfortunately I have nothing "prettier" to shoot at this time, but if you have any comments regarding what is happening in that shot, PLEASE comment in this thread (http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=202979). ;)

[bobioden]

I have the 4300 and love it.

Bob

[AcroSteve]

It is my understanding that you can use slave flashes with the nikon. These sence the internal flash firing and they they fire.

I am not sure how the camera compensates for this, but flashes are available.