Compact camera - any recommendations?

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Ninety-Eight

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Hi chaps.

I normally use a Canon EOS400D with a small collection of lenses. However there are a number of times and places where its just not convenient / practical or "comfortable" to be carrying a "full size" camera to.

So I am thinking I would like to get a reasonable compact "pocket" camera.

I was thinking of spending up to say £200 for one.

Panasonic Lumix TZ7 seems to be well regarded.

I have no brand loyalty here.

I am not so set on lots of features.

Most important is performance. Pocket to photo time is what is the difference between getting the shot and not getting anything.

Picture quality is obviously important but equally obviously going to be a compromise on a pocket size piece of kit.

I'd also like to be able to shoot HD movies with it. And for them to be OK quality. No HD is a deal breaker I think.

I'd like some manual control. Special "scene modes" for "food" seem redundant but an AV, TV, type modes would be good.

I don't need a huge zoom. I don't need 300 face recognition and smile triggered shutter etc. Image stabiliser and decent picture at "high" ISO (by compact camera standards) would be more important for me.

Any thoughts folks?
 
I got my OH the Canon IXUS 95 IS.... A cracking little thing, not sure if it has HD thou but does do movies.... Daughters got some awesome shots with it as well & she's only 14!!! (:gag: some where better than mine & I've a D300s)

Just a thought as no doubt you will get better recommendations....
 
I bought a TZ7 used a few months ago. Brilliant camera, couldn't fault it :)
 
TZ7 is stunning! TZ6 is cheaper as it has no HD video, just std video. I have a Canon s90 which has full manual settings and can shoot RAW plus it's tiny!
 
I did think about adding RAW to my list of wants but wondered if that was a bit OTT in a compact! I might have to check the s90 as although I said "no brand loyalty" I do love my Canon...

Thanks!

Any other suggestions welcome.
 
Glad you started this thread, I'm doing the same thing right now, looking for something I can keep in a pocket when the SLR is just not practical.

I am certainly considering the TZ range but if you say you don't want a huge zoom, may be worth considering the FS range. I am temped by the FS33.

Although I was comparing the +£80 TZ8, as the TZ7 wasn't listed on the shop web site I'm going to so I'll have to look at that too if they do have one. :)
 
Photek said:
Loving my S90 as a compact - think the GF1 et al are just too big to be considered as compacts.
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They are also considerably more that the OP's budget of £200

Cracking camera though :thumbs:
 
Ill have to keep an eye on this, just been thinking the same myself.
Im considering Raw, I also like the idea of the in camera Panoramic shooting a lot seam to be doing.
I literally scanned a few before going to work and then once back but didnt bookmark anything, Doh.
What i did notice was that so many cameras are half the listed manufacturers prices once they have been out a while.
Will go back and search again.

Right then...I need to point out something with the TZ10 sounds a great camera but its big fault...reviewed in digital camera essentials is battery life..
Even with the camera turned off the GPS is still working a fully charged battery only gave 75 shots..

Now some of these will be over budget and some under and i think most do hd but thats not something im particularly bothered about..
These have come out well as far as i can tell.

The sony dsc wx1 comes out well for low light often no need for flash indoors.
The casio ex s10 is very slim.
the lumix dmc-fp3 is very competent and cheap. But a lot of models that came out at £300 are around the £180 mark now.
Not many have the manual controls
but anyway here are some more cameras,
Ricoh cx3
olympus mju 9010
Ricoh cx1
casio exilim ex-fc100
samsung st500
sony cybershot dsc-w380
The panasonic tz7 as mentioned before.
Plenty to look into anyway.
Oh i discounted the panasonic 3d one at £400
 
I think I'm pretty much sold on the Panasonic t7

pic quality and HD movies + price makes up for lack of manual I think. I don't seem to be able to get "everything" for less than like £350 so I'll draw my compromises for £200.
 
but it's nearly double the price! it should be! £200ish V £380ish unless you know of somewhere cheaper :)
 
S90 is now ~£288 if you include the £30 canon cashback. Picked one up today and am impressed by its size and ease of controls. Am yet to take any decent test shots with it, but will post them when I do.
 
I have older model Panasonic Lumix TZ5, lovely camera but no RAW, i now have a Canon G11 and i just love it, but i wouldn't exactly call it pocket size unless you have big pockets .. :)
 
Ninety-Eight said:
I think I'm pretty much sold on the Panasonic t7

pic quality and HD movies + price makes up for lack of manual I think. I don't seem to be able to get "everything" for less than like £350 so I'll draw my compromises for £200.
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TZ8's are down to £210 now if you shop around a bit, and you get your manual.
 
cheers for that info on the TZ8.

I can't stretch to £288 for the S90. Also it appears not to do HD movies? Is that right? One thing I really want is decent quality movies.

All help and suggestions appreciated guys, you all rock :)
 
I've a Ricoh GRD2. Bought new for £280, but the third edition is the one on sale now. 28mm fixed focal length but the lens is of a very high quality (image quality is the selling point of this camera). Shoots raw, and has all the other options considered essential. I've a few shots posted here......
 
Picked up a TZ8 today, not really had chance to do anything proper with it yet, but I'm happy. I already have an FZ8 (my daughter uses it now) so already used to the menu operating system.

The chap in the shop did try and very nearly succeeded in selling me a Sony DSC-HX5V for £300, an impressive looking bit of kit, but I'd drawn my line at £250 and (for once) stuck to it.
 
No one has suggested the SX200 Powershot? A better camera than the TZ7 with manual control HD video but retro styling puts some off I love mine! Just being replaced by the SX210 so it's easy to pick up under £200!
 
OK, I'm feeling tempted by the S90. I can get a refurbished one for £249. I can live without the HD video if the picture quality is notably better than a TZ7 or TZ8. I hear bad things about low light/indoor performance on the Panasonics, or am I just reading too many reviews in too much detail.

I had heard the 200IS was a bit so-so on picture quality? I like the retro look of it though. Price is good too.
 
Mark Anthony said:
I heard that the flash on the 200is / 210is is very annoying? pops up even when not needed every single shot? I nearly went with the canon as i prefer their menu system but that alone put me off, i didn't want a £200plus compact that annoyed me every time i used it.
Click to expand...

The flash on the SX200 is spring mounted and will stay up but does not fire if you don't want it to. The one on the SX210 can be put down and left down. :clap:
 
Ninety-Eight said:
any comments on image quality on the SX210 compared to the S90?
Click to expand...

The S90 will win on overall sharpness and ease of use. The assignable ring function and general build are far better also but it's only 3.8x zoom compared with the 14x zoom on the SX210. Both have DIGIC 4 processors so the detail loss in only slight in the extra elements needed to accomplish the 14x zoom on the SX210. Noise handling is better on the S90 to!
 
King of Groove said:
I want a compact camera with a good zoom capability and have been thinking of getting this one:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00342UTOI/ref=ord_cart_shr?ie=UTF8&m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE
Click to expand...

I like this and the low light is good but not for cropping, much like the WX1 and its Exmor sensor you have to use the image as a whole to get the most from it. That said with 10x zoom you can compose right first time! :bonk:

A lot of camera for the price, Fuji are trying to stamp their mark by over engineering their cameras right now if they had put the EXR on the new HS10 that would have been a peach!
 
I'd recommend the next one up from my nikon coolpix P5100, the P6000 looks a fantastic compact camera, bit over the budget of the OP's but perhaps on ebay you could pick up a bargain?
 
OK! I'm feeling all S90.

Is there any reason I should be concerned about buying a refurbished one? The seller claims "refurbished to as new condition by Canon UK"

It gets £75 or so off the best "new" price I can come up with.
 
Ninety-Eight said:
OK! I'm feeling all S90.

Is there any reason I should be concerned about buying a refurbished one? The seller claims "refurbished to as new condition by Canon UK"

It gets £75 or so off the best "new" price I can come up with.
Click to expand...

You can't really go wrong with the S90 I got the SX200 because I could not afford the S90 at the time as it was only just out :thumbsdown:

Its build it good and a refurbished unit should really have had not much more than a good clean and a re set, so pay no real attention to that as a selling point. As long as the seller offers a good warranty with the used unit then it's good if there is no grantee don't bother and buy new :thumbs:
 
Hmmm warranty is from the seller and is 90 days rather than 12 months. Hmmmm.... I'll sleep on that one.
 
No-one has mentioned the Lumix LX3 - which is a great compact - but it is about £290... Worth considering, though, as it matches your description (720p HD video, high-quality wide-angle Leica lens :love:, not too much zoom and it has an amazing display - though no viewfinder...)

Good luck choosing the right one!
 
Ninety-Eight said:
Hmmm warranty is from the seller and is 90 days rather than 12 months. Hmmmm.... I'll sleep on that one.
Click to expand...

That's odd because all refurbished cameras I get back from Cannon come back with a 12 month warranty because they claim "good as new". I may be wrong that might be our deal with them, but I'm sure they stand by that for all refurbs. Repairs come back with a 3 month warranty.
 
Hmmm.... I'll just have to query them on that.

You don't buy kit expecting it to go wrong, but I don't have the wherewithall to be paying for repairs... I had to have my 400D repaired out of warranty and it wasn't a cheap experiance (the built in flash stopped popping up, and in low light the camera would error)

The thing putting me off the SX200 is that pop up flash, its mechanism is described as being "plastic" by a couple of reviews and I am concerned about longevity. And having had to pay for one Canon repair on a flash where the mechanism jammed...

I see the LX3 and love the retro look of it, but I am right at the top of my budget with the S90 at £249 (slightly over in fact)

I looked at that Nikon P6000 but I can't see one in my price range and there seems to be some drawbacks with its RAW mode etc. and it is also only VGA video so unless I can get a new one for the price of the Canon refurb....

Once again thanks for all your feedback guys.
 
Ok, early morning eBay sweep locates a newly listed S90 - brand new with EU warranty for £258. I have hit the Buy-It-Now and am hopefully recieving the camera by about Tuesday.

Thanks again for all the help as I considered half the cameras on the market this time out!
 
I'm also trying to choose a suitable compact, and I came across this website.

I know there are lots of review websites out there, but this one seems to come complete with sample images under standard conditions. I am particularly interested in this low light comparision between the Canon s90 and sx210is, and the Panasonic Lumix TZ10 (all at 1600iso).

Canon s90
Canon sx210is
Panasonic Lumix LZ10

You can download the images and do side by side comparisons.
 
OK, I have had time to play with the S90 a bit. I am impressed with it for a compact camera for sure. Somehow I am disappointed its not as good (in all cases) as my DSLR. But then, it can't be.

A few thoughts...

I am glad I bought a camera with a manual and programme mode. OK, I keep it in my pocket in "auto" and I can grab it, switch it on, point, press and I have a nice shot every time. But I have found stuff where I have more than like 5 seconds to compose and shoot I am already tending to use AV and TV modes more than auto or a "scene" mode... Plus AV/TV/M are the only modes you can shoot to a RAW file.

I find the menus are nice and familiar as they are similar to my 400D.

I'm most impressed by its low light/indoor performance. I won't share the photos I have with this as I don't have the subject's permission but they really came out better than any compact I have used or borrowed and really nice enough to be happy with.

Here's a few random shots I have grabbed with it. Bear in mind I am still getting used to it and also these are all "as shot", no post processing, albeit a couple are cropped a little as I'm more used to framing up with a viewfinder in an SLR so the screen does catch me off guard a little.

s90-07.jpg


s90-05.jpg


s90-04.jpg


s90-03.jpg


s90-02.jpg


s90-01.jpg


Happy with my purchase.
 
Interesting thread. I looked at compacts and went up and up in price trying to get decent IQ etc, befire realising the small sensor prevented the quality I am used to from a DSLR. I just keep my D60 in the boot of my car for when it is needed.

This wont suit everyone, but it works well for me, I just didnt see the point of spending £300 to get an inferior picture....
 
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