Point & Shoot vs Cell Phone

I honestly can't imagine spending money on a point and shoot camera these days with the quality of phone photos. There are only a handful of reasons for a true P&S, IMO.

One, you want to give it to a child who doesn't have a phone. We won one once as a door prize several years ago, and my kids take it on vacations because they don't have phones yet. My DD is going to sleep away camp in a couple of weeks and a camera is the only electronic they are allowed and she is very excited to take it.

Two, you need the optical zoom. There are advantages to this, but not sure it's worth buying a separate device for. With 12MP phones you can crop in post for most things.

Those are really all I can think of. So not even a handful, just two! I have two camera bodies and take them on vacation or special events. I use them around the house. But I do use my phone just for small silly things when I don't have a big camera with me.

You mentioned your DD has an old Rebel. If I were you, I'd get a cheap ($100) 50mm f/1.8 lens for it. Rebels are pretty small and you would get such better images out of it over a P&S, even if you shoot on auto. The big limiting factor for phone/P&S cameras is the shutter delay and if you aren't outside in good light, your photos will pretty much always be blurry to some extent. A dSLR on auto will give you a better photo than a P&S. But a Rebel with a 50mm lens would not be that heavy for a purse.

Oh, and I have a GoPro for underwater stuff. So fun! But really wide angle so a bit of a learning curve with it.

 

I have a big camera. But honestly, I hardly EVER pull it out any more since cell phone cameras keep getting better. If we're going somewhere I know I want the Zoom then I bring my big camera. Otherwise, I use what I have handy all the time, my phone!