Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Which is better performance and picture quality wise - Nikon P510 or Sony HX200V?

Looking for people with experience with these cameras to advice me.

I'm a casual photographer and have used simple point and shoot and mobile cameras. I want to buy a bridge camera and have narrowed down my search to Nikon P510 and Sony HX200V. Both come within my budget so the slight price difference doesn't matter. I've read several reviews and now I'm getting more and more confused about them. Being a novice, I'm not aware of technicalities of photography so reviews with a lot of tech specifications are no good to me. Both seem to have their pros and cons (Nikon's autofocus and Sony's "painting" kind of pictures??). I've also seen the P510 and HX200V groups' photos on flicker and they both look good.

Which one would you suggest based on my requirements -
1. Good picture quality - color, sharpness etc.
2. I like clicking spontaneous pictures of my friends when we go out on trips/parties - so speed
3. I like clicking pictures of landscapes.
4. I'd like to explore night photography too - city streets in the night so low light performance.

I know I might be expecting a little too much from a point and shoot but I'll think about buying DSLRs only after I learn my way around a bridge :) So given my budget constraints and requirements, which would you suggest?

Thanks in advance for all your suggestions.
>>> Which is better performance and picture quality wise - Nikon P510 or Sony HX200V?