With my old Sony digicam now useless, I bought a new digital camera right after the holidays. It's a colored blue Canon PowerShot A495 digital camera. Yup, it's another point-and-shoot camera. It took a bit of time before I decided on this particular brand and make. In the end, it was a toss up between this unit and Sony's CyberShot DSC-S2000.
Why these final two? Well, it's largely because they're the most widely available point-and-shoot digital cameras in shops around here that use AA rechargeable (penlight) batteries.
Sony and Canon Comparison
As I've narrowed my digital camera search to just two models, here are my comparisons that led to my getting the Canon brand.
- Price
Standard mall price for the Canon is Php5950, while that of the Sony is Php6999. You might as well compare Php6000 against Php7000.
From what I've heard from store personnel, Canon has slashed its price TWICE already. The unit came out originally in the Php9k price range and was reduced to Php7k and then finally to Php6k.
I'm not sure why Canon slash down the price on this model. The reason, according to the store staff, was that Canon released newer models immediately after this one. To date, the Sony unit has not reduced its price.
- Warranty
Sony seems to have this default warranty of 3-years for its digital cameras. Is it worth it? Well, in my experience, yes. My old Sony unit's electronic viewfinder (or LCD screen) just displayed white.
This was just a year AFTER I bought it, so the warranty covered the repair. But then, who knows. Maybe Sony digicams NEED to have a 3-year warranty, given their quality.
Canon just has the regular 1-year warranty like most electronic products. I'm banking on Canon's reputation as a leading camera manufacturer for its quality.
The store personnel was a bit biased to Canon saying Sony may have spread itself too thin on its products like TV's, DVD players, stereos, memory devices and other electronic gadgets. While Canon, she says, focused on cameras. She has a point though not too accurate. Canon does have printers.
- Picture Quality
For a long time, I've been a fan of Sony products, especially with their video cameras, players and TV's. In recent years, however, I thought many point-and-shoot digicams that have entered the market have overtaken Sony as far as picture or image quality is concerned.
I can say that at least for my Sony digicam. Maybe my camera used a technology now obsolete. I don't know. But I often wondered why friends' point and shoot cameras deliver better pictures.
Go ahead, post your comment below!