Which Point and Shoot to buy - Nikon S9100 or Sony HX9V

Hello all,

I am trading up my current digicam to something with higher specs. I am not an SLR person and prefer the convenience of a point&shoot. I have a budget of 15-18K which hopefully should get me a good P&S. Following were the criteria used to narrow down my choices:

- Budget of 15K-17K including basic accessories (Memory card, pouch and spare batteries if needed)
- Availability at an Indian brick&mortar or online store.
- Options for service centers in India
- Suited for travel

After some good amount of web trawling, I have narrowed down my choices to two models:

- Sony HX9V
- Nikon Coolpix S9100.

Does anyone have any feedback on the above two models? Are there other models comparable models available?

By the way, my first choice was the Canon SX230 HS or equivalent in India, but unfortunately, havent been able to locate it in a retail outlet for me to get a feel for it.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ20 gets good reports too.

If you are strict about your choices, Sony HX9V anyday! I have used it for a while and found it super impressive in this range.
S9100 has some hanging probs last I heard of !

Thanks. I am also considering the Powershot sx230 HS from Canon. I tested the HX9V. The only issue I had was with the positioning of the flash. I felt it was intrusive to the grip of a normal person using it. Any thoughts/experiences on that?

I just bought this, very impressed so far and it's waterproof to 10 meters with GPS.

Nikon Coolpix AW100

Well it depends, varies from P2P. You can always hold it from left horizontal sides rather than verticially and only in case you are using flash, there is no chance blur can occur, so that shouldn't be an issue.

Hi
My friend is using a Nikon S 8100 and he is satisfied with the result

Thanks
Alok

Hi Siva, I too faced the same problem with Sony HX9 and I got used to it now. It takes good pictures and best in price range plus value for money.

Thanks all for your suggestions. After a mini-shootout at the neighboring mall between the HX9V, the S9100 and the Canon SX220 HS, we settled for the Canon SX220. Dont ask me why, it just felt that we were more comfortable with that camera than the other two. We are off to a mini trip this weekend. Hopefully, will try to post some pics from the drive using the new camera.

Congrats, n_siva.

Believe it or not, that is the most important thing - to be comfortable with your gear. Happy shooting.

Certainly post them. Will look forward to see them.

n_Siva

That is the most important factor IMO once you have narrowed down the choices to a few. I have been writing exactly that on some other threads!

Look forward to the pics of your trip.

Cheers

Nattusbs

buy SX220 HS from Canon..
its the best bang for buck in that price range.
good zoom range with great picture quality and most important..PASM mode which you won't found in that price range point and shoot camera.
my Uncle has the same..its pretty darn good camera..
btw look for newer model of the same cause I guess Canon has recently launched newer models of its Point and Shoot Range.
Best of luck.

biman, nattsubs, thanks for the wishes.

praksy, I got the SX220 yesterday itself.

-ns