Need help for buying Digi cam. Budget up to 20 K

pom99

Disciple
I am an amateur who needs to do some photography for my website and also make short 5 -20 min videos for the same in HD and other formats. I have a very basic Canon powershot A460 for last few years now which takes care of the pics and videos but now I want to graduate to something better yet not technically overawing.

I was checking out a few cameras and am undecided. If any experienced person here can recommend some models for my needs which are as follows :

1. Good in low-light conditions and good for night photography ( so that I can get good pics of the environment as it is even without using flash)

2. Optical zoom - 18x and above

3. Pixels - 12 MP and above

4. Capable of HD recording - could be either 720P or 1280P

5. I guess manual controls would help in my learning process for the long-term so ya don't mind them being there

These are models I checked out

1. Nikon L120 - almost no negative reviews about it but it is fully automatic and night photography seems to be not ideal for night photography or videos

2. Nikon Coolpix S91000 - Saw video for image in low light conditions in a review and was put off.

3. Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX9V - Seems very nice in all aspects but it is 16X zoom. (How is the quality of Sony cameras)

4. Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ35 Point & Shoot - seems nice but don't know if I have Panasonic showroom in my city and how is the after-sales of Panasonic. ( Any help regarding this will be appreciated)

5. Fujifilm S3300 - Seems nice but LCD display very poor it seems (from reviews) and image quality is poorer than nikon. Has low light issues. Not much info or comments about this cam online which also raises my doubts.

Any other suggestions are most welcome keeping in mind my requirements and also I cannot exceed my budget beyond 20 K at any cost. 20K is the extreme upper limit.



P.S. - I have not used any of the above mentioned cameras personally and to go only by reviews might be a bit harsh so if any of you actually happen to have any of the models mentioned above please do not hesitate to mention your experience.

Thanks
 
Well the Fuji HS20EXR is great and so is the Sony HX100v both have a 16 mp BSI sensors and are better for low light photography.
With the fuji HS20 it adds a EXR patten color filter to the BSI sensor(mostly made by Sony as per fuji specs) with the EXR-SR mode enabled it reduces the resolution to half at 8mp but has really good low light capability,better then the competition.

With the regular 16mp images the Sony is better and the HX100v overall is better features wise ,IQ wise,speed and video.

Now both of these cameras are above your budget MRP for the Sony HX100V 22.9k and fuji HS20EXR is 24.9k,street price should be a bit cheaper but still way above your budget.
They may however be within your budget if you buy from the grey market.

Other then this two the HX9v is your best bet,

As far as your other questions the quality of Sony cameras are on par with the likes of canon or nikon.There sensors are used in majority of the canon and nikon P&S cameras.

Panasonic has limited service centers ,they couldn't service my cordless phone.
 
@Adder: Thanks for the info.

@roadripprsid: Ya I did check it out. In fact I forgot to mention it in the list I gave above. i will just add it. I read some reviews for it and again it seems ok but the LCD display is pretty sad it seems. Fujifilm S3300 vs Nikon L120 Image quality wise it seems below Nikon L120. Also didn't seem to see very favourable reviews on some other forums. Though I do have it at the back of my mind.
 
i am doing my summer project of my mba n digicams dslr and camcoders ... i am doing report gtta submit tom so know which are the ones are good and which sell most ;)
 
Ok I will check out the Canon series. Any particular model you would recommend? I read a bit more about the Panasonic Lumix again. If I find that my city has a showroom and service is there I might go for that. Just a thought, of course, not final. No bad reviews it so far and seems to score a positive against all my requirements.

P500 beyond my budget and L120 yes, it is selling like hotcakes. Though sadly it is fully automatic and offers little scope for learning I guess.
 
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