rolanni | Subcompact cameras, anyone?

Current Mood: curious

Subcompact cameras, anyone?

I've gotten a bug in my ear about getting a new camera. Mind you, I have a perfectly good (as soon I replace the duct tape holding the battery compartment shut, again) Minolta Dimage Z1, which takes a pretty good picture, though I could wish for image stabilization. Also, as it has been my goal over the years to lighten my load when I travel, I have deemed it "too big" to lug with me to, oh, WorldCon, and left it home, only to regret later that I had no pictures from the event.

This all being true, I've been looking at acquiring a subcompact camera; something I can slip into my pocket and take with. I'm not by any means a professional photographer, though I do have some proficiency, due to having had to be reporter-AND-photographer back when I was roving freelancer.

So! Bearing in mind that I cannot actually afford a new camera, but that Inquiring Minds always Want To Know, what are your recommendations?

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[Delurking]

Panasonic Lumix ZS-3.

If you can wait a few months and are willing to check back at sites like dpreview.com, there are models in the pipeline which will be small and have far better low-light sensitivity; this will fix one of the biggest problems with pocket cameras. If you need one now, get the Lumix.

Cami has Luminix that she loves for taking pictures in restaurants (some low light, some just bad light). She has a food blog.

I have a Sony Cyber-shot that I love because it is really small and is a great camera.

I've been satisfied with the Sony "Cyber-shot" version I have -- many years old (3.2 megapixels, gives you an idea of age). I mainly use it for documenting construction projects, but it does produce landscapes and close-ups good enough for passable 8x10 prints. Not up to the Nikon and Kodachrome level, but.

And calling them 8x10s tells you I'm still a film photographer in habits . . .

Canon PowerShot SD-1100 Digital Elph is what my sister gave me last year. I love it. It's tiny, easy to use, and takes great pictures.

I've got the Canon PowerShot A1100IS. Love it just as much, ditto the great pictures.

this was going to be my recommendation. We've taken some amazingly hi-res pictures with this model ... and it fits in my pocket.

Kristen

Burton from Montreal

I recommend any of the new 12 Mega Pixels plus camera that's under $100 from any Brand except Sony. Always goes for the the biggest Mega Pixels count and don't use the digital zoom. Which crop the actual captured image.

Just saw ad for a Fuji sub-sompact camera from online vendor Newegg. You might be interested in something like this.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16830122213

As with any digital camera. You will need memory cards for the camera. This will quickly be more expansive than the camera. The current generation of digital cameras requires SDHC memory cards with at least 4GB of memory for still photography and much bigger for video.

The recommendation I saw somewhere (she said vaguely) is that for casual use anything over 7 megapixels is unnecessary. I have an 8-megapixel Samsung S860, which I quite like. Several of the other small, inexpensive cameras I looked at were so covered with buttons and controls that there was nowhere to conveniently hold them.

I've head that about anything over about 6Mp, unless you're planning on blowing them up. I currently use a 7Mp Canon that I got just before I went to Switzerland for most of 2008, which means that every pic in this collection (http://www.flickr.com/photos/filkerdave/collections/72157604508042977/) was taken with it*, including this one (http://www.flickr.com/photos/filkerdave/3048190310/in/set-72157608789031241/). It's not the best in low light, but I get a LOT of use out of it.

*I forgot my camera battery in the charger when I went to Lugano, so all of those pics came from my Crackberry :(

We buy these for our students to use:

http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&fcategoryid=145&modelid=18144#ModelTechSpecsAct

They're good little cameras, and relatively cheap (you can usually get them at Best Buy or the Wal Marts for around $149) but they don't provide manual control of aperture settings, etc.

This is my camera:

http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&fcategoryid=144&modelid=17630

It's HUGE and it weighs a ton and I love it. :D But you definitely can't put it in your pocket. ;) If I were to buy myself a pocket camera, it would be the PowerShot SD1200 IS, the one I linked first.

My Canon Powershot SD800 IS is great. Very good pictures for small size; easy to carry around. The Image Stabiization makes a big difference. Don't get a camera without it. 7 -8 megapixels is all you need unless you plan prints over 8 X 10. The zoom is OK but not fantastic. The marco feature takes excellent pictures. A good all round camera. The cost of SD and SDHC cards is falling all the time.

Peggy

I'll weigh with a recommendation from the other end - we've been real happy with the tiny (pack of cards-sized) Olympus FE-360 we picked up for when we didn't want to carry around the SLR (translation = airport security). I've gotten some lovely pix with it.

I've been carrying around a Canon Elph in my purse for years. (The SD400, maybe?) I love them--light and easy to carry, and I love Canon for point-and-shoots.

One thing I'd recommend, though? If possible, get a camera that has a viewfinder, not just the LCD screen. Even if you almost never use it--because, yes, it's so convenient framing a picture on the screen--it can be invaluable on really sunny days when you can't SEE the screen, or if (God forbid) the LCD screen were to break. That happened to a friend of mine, whose camera was working and taking pictures, but she had no idea if she'd even aimed it correctly (much less things like being in focus) until she uploaded the pics to her computer later on. At least with a viewfinder, she would have been able to aim the camera.

Burton from Montreal

Aah folks you do know that the current model year of digital cameras got at least 10 Mega Pixels for entry level users. You only find cameras with less Mega Pixels that is either discontinued or remainder merchandise.

There is a lot of digital cameras on sell right now under $100 with 12 Mega Pixels resolution. Some vendors even throw in free delivery.

I have heard that one should be cautious about cameras that make a point of having high megapixels, because not all of them do it by the obvious method of adding more pixels - some do it by having the same number of physical wossnames, but subdividing them, which doesn't greatly improve the resulting image and may actually make it worse.

We got a Panasonic Lumix TZ5 and hated it. It never seemed to take a "clean" picture. If a picture didn't have enough light, it was grainy/noisy.

We recently got a Canon S90 and we're much happier with this camera, although it is not cheap. Just thought I'd throw in my 2 cents. I've always enjoyed my Canon cameras, even back when they were film cameras.

I own an Olympus Stylus -- I either get really great pictures or really crappy pictures. Not really much of an endorsement. I think it might be more of an operator error than equipment. I always had bad luck with cameras.

If you ever stitch pictures together -- I suggest hugin.

Heh! Hugin...the quickest way to get yourself to walk into a print shop and ask what their price per square foot is for large format printing!

Some of the Nikon Coolpixes are quite small and take exceptional pictures...they are, of course, a bit pricier than the average. And the damned things don't loose their value very quickly on eBay either.

I have a herd of older Coolpixes (from back in the days when the macro went down to 0.4 inches)...although I am very tempted to upgrade...for typical use, the new ones provide very good images in auto...and you still have access to manual settings.

Full disclosure: I'm a second generation Nikon user, and I just upgraded my Nikon DSLR.

I love my nikon coolpix. I got it earlier this year and took it on vacation. I was able to take zoomed in shots (7x optical zoom) from the deck of a boat on a river and have them come out sharp thanks to the image stabilization.

--Susan

To help find sale prices on various gadgets of the electronic nature, this site is really kind of amazing. Choose your state, then the particular electronic gadget you covet, and it will tell you what local(ish) stores have the item on sale at the moment. Sadly, it only covers the big chain stores -- Sears, Staples, Best Buy, etc. -- but I think that information is always useful in one way or another.

Happy Hunting!

I have to laugh at those posts that say you don't need anything more than 6 or 7 Mp. I have had my Olympus C740 (3.2 Mp) since 2002. While I don't love everything about it, lack of pixels is no problem. And the 10x optical zoom is fabulous. I have some fine 8x10 prints from it. If you are mostly posting pics on the web you have to throw away most of the pixels anyway.

Nikon, Canon, or Olympus. All three very solid, hard to kill, not too many 'losers' in any of the three brand names, all three with a pretty decent range of cameras. Canon tends to be cheapest, but weakest on options. Olympus tends to be slightly more expensive, and in my opinion a slightly more robust / durable option. Nikon it depends on the model.

Beyond that, yes, 10+ megapixels is kind of 'industry standard entry level these days'.

Does it take regular batteries or a power cell?
Is the power cell replaceable? How much? How much 'on time' do you get out of a typical charge, or how long do the batteries last?

How big is it?

Do you prefer a viewscreen you look through, or an lcd viewscreen on the back? what other options are important to you?

Is speed important to you? Will you need to take more than one picture in a reasonably short time?

What price range are you looking at?

All of these questions will help you narrow it down to '3 or 4 possibilities' at any decent camera store. Beyond that, it's really personal preference on chape, comfort, ease of use, etc.

If you dare make such a relatively big purchase on ebay, there is, for example, this Canon ELPH ending tomorrow afternoon for $60. I have done no further research to see if better deals are available. http://cgi.ebay.com/Canon-PowerShot-SD700-IS-Digital-ELPH-6-0-Megapixel_W0QQitemZ150395484433QQcmdZViewItemQQptZDigital_Cameras?hash=item230444f911

I have a big Lumix DMC FZ20, which I love for the zeiss lens, and 12x optical zoom. What I wish I also had, a better camera in my cell phone. I'm choosing my next cell phone by the best camera I can get in one, because that is the pocket camera I have with me all the time.

Last year we got my sister a cheap (<$100) Nikon Coolpix (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Nikon+-+Coolpix+10.0-Megapixel+Digital+Camera+-+Red/9220167.p?id=1218061794553&skuId=9220167), to take on geology field trips, because I was sure she would either lose it or break it. (Surprisingly she has only lost the transfer cord for it, but not the camera, and it didn't get wet when she fell in the river, either time.) She loves it, and even though it's a 10 megapixel camera she uses the 6 megapixel setting to save on file size. The photos in her presentations are always great. The only thing she doesn't like about it is that it uses regular AA batteries, instead of a rechargeable Li-ion type.

Good Places to research different camera models and see sample photos for comparisons:
Steve's Digicams (http://www.steves-digicams.com): http://www.steves-digicams.com
and
Digital Camera Resource Page (http://www.dcresource.com): http://www.dcresource.com

Yeah, the L series uses AAs...apparently there is a population that prefers that to rechargeables and particularly non-standard rechargeables. My "disposable" coolpix (and old 3100 (circa 2003)) happily takes AA NiMH batteries...disposable in that I can replace it (and have) for about $50 including shipping after I destroy it...this is the take everywhere work and work trip camera that gets banged around and dirty.

And...errr...after participating in this thread, I went out and snaffled a Coolpix S9 (circa 2006) as a candidate for upgrading one of the little cameras with something smaller, lighter and more capable.

*drools a little bit, looking at the touchscreen S70*

i think the Droid is about the most capable "phone camera" on the market ... it's certainly the most capable one i've seen ... 5mp + flash

The Canon A series has been a consistent "Best Buy" in Consumer Reports, and all of my friends that have one love theirs, so that's what I would recommend.

I've got a canon ixus 950 IS; it's a great size, pretty light & has some nice features. I completely agree about the megapixes, you don't need huge numbers unless you intend to print A4 or A2 pictures - the only reason I upgraded from my previous canon was because the 950 IS had a bigger screen. I've got a 2 Gb card in it & can get over 10,000 640 X 480 shots on it - great for conventions!

I have a now fairly old Panasonic DMC-LZ1, which has done everything asked of it, and is not too big.

It has been to exciting places like http://www.flickr.com/photos/battleton/sets/72157600163587441/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/battleton/sets/72157600163468664/

I expect the newer ones are even better.

The key things that made choose it a few years ago where a decent optical zoom, and image stabilization. If you look at the photos, you can see some wildlife ones zoomed right in while handheld.

Of course, only the best ones are there, and stabilisation is not magic - I threw away many blurry rejects.

The low light behaviour is pretty good, considering the small lense, and I have some more or less adequate shots of wombats and quolls in torchlight.

My small camera for when I don't want to carry the DSLR for many years has been a sony W5 but if your replacing a Dimage Z1 the W series will still probably be two big for you.

As previously suggested take a look at the image galleries on dpreview.

On a small camera a high mega-pixel count can be a bad thing. The high pixel density tends to mean a noisier image. The effect of a high level of noise-reduction is usually soft edges.

Richard

We will not do another Nikon CoolPix. When it worked, it was wonderful. But then the lens got stuck halfway between folded and unfolded. Don't do that with a subcompact just out of warranty. Most vexing.

We learned that we were not the only folks for whom the whole iris/lens folding thing was not unique to us with a CoolPix.
Have no troubles with our Canon, or with the noname camera we got from Aldi

I have to say I've really enjoyed my Olympus Stylus 1010. It uses XD cards, but comes with an adapter that lets it use a MicroSD card instead. It has a great battery life and comes with a portable charger that is almost as small as the camera is. And it boots up really quick. Pull it out of your pocket, power on, and start taking pictures. I believe it is 12 Megapixels. It has done a great job for me.

Doc

Sorry for the late post ... I just got back from Mexico ... hopefully you are still looking ...

I have a Minolta Dimage Z1 myself that I use when traveling and a compact "pocket" camera for more casual outings
(for more serious photography I still use 35mm film - I know I'm a dinosaur; I am thinking about getting a DSLR soon tho)

The point here is that I'm familiar with what you are used to and while most of the rcommendations here aren't too far off the mark I think i can offer some additional thoughts on a pocket camera ... I just gave away a Samsung S630 (6mp) because I was consistently unhappy with the inferior shots it produced compared to the Z1 (3.2mp) so don't let anyone tell you that resolution is king...
Ultra high resolution (>6mp) is only really important if you are going to print your shots larger than 8x10 ...

The critical thing is lens size ... the more light you get into the camera the better the image will be.
What you really want is the pocket camera with the biggest lens and highest optical zoom that you can find.
This will provide the best pictures with the most versatility ... and get one that uses standard baterries AA/AAA.
This way you can always get fresh batteries when you need them ...

I've been looking at the GE A950 to replace the S630... Tiger direct is selling it for about 70$
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4595241&Sku=G48-1100

hope that helps :)

this one is pricier but it's an OLympus ... http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4425280&Sku=O83-1240

hope that helps :)

Helps a lot, thanks! And, yeah, I'm still looking. My goal is to have something in hand before we leave to do the Guest of Honor gig in Orlando, in May.

I'd looked at the Olympus Stylus, independently; nice camera, but -- yike$!

I just pulled the trigger on the A950 ... should have it shortly after X-mas ... I'll let you know what i think of it ...

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Subcompact cameras, anyone?

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small camera

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Olympus Stylus

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Nikon Coolpix

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Nikon & Panasonic

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Canon

Another vote for Panasonic (Lumix)

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We've gone through three...

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Lot's of camera experience (digital and not)

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