HELP: Looking for a lightweight compact for landscapes only

CraigDouglas

CraigDouglas

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I'm getting more and more into hill/mountain walking and now i'm starting to carry tent and sleeping bag etc too I really need to reduce volume and weight in my pack. I'm now at the point where the bulkiest and heaviest item is my 5D/40D with 17-40 F4L.

Hence, I'm looking for a small, lightweight compact camera that has a good wide angle lens with minimum distortions/vignetting.

MUSTS
Manual Exposure Mode
Shoot RAW
< 400g
< £300
Good Wide Angle IQ
> 8M Pixel

LIKES
Work in temperatures as low as -5C
Slim Body
Could take a knock or two

DONT CARE FOR
Flash
Auto Exp Modes
Style
Bells & Whistles
Zoom
Brand Loyalty

You get the idea - a quality landscape camera thats as small and light as possible with as good detail as possible.

Anything come to mind? I know nothing about compacts, I'm DSLR all the way until now :shrug:
 
I just bought a Lumix TZ6, it is wide angel and 10mp the quality of the images are great for a compact in my opinion but other people might suggest others.
 
DuncanDisorderly said:
Have a think about how wide you need to go.
There are precious few offering a genuine 24mm.

Here's my thread and photos a recent wet Snowdonia trip - the LX3 did very well.
Click to expand...

Well I do enjoy my 24-105 wide open on my 5D and while it would be great to have true 24mm, I wouldn't lose too much sleep over 1 or 2 mm.

The LX3 looks like a great camera - the 16:9 aspect ration option particularly caught my eye! What's the battery life like on it?

kardo said:
I just bought a Lumix TZ6, it is wide angel and 10mp the quality of the images are great for a compact in my opinion but other people might suggest others.
Click to expand...

From what I've just quickly found out, neither the TZ6 or TZ7 has a manual exposure mode which is something I simply can't live without I'm afraid. I never use auto for landscapes - I need the control!


Thanks for your suggestions - any more?
 
LX3 or it's Leica counterpart the DLux-4 (second hand it's £500 new)

It does do genuine wide angle, you can choose the aspect ratio, has fully manual as well as AP/Tv modes and also has a hotshoe which is quite neat actually because you can even stick a radio trigger on it :)

One lives in my handbag and I charge it about once a month :) And I would not carry it about if it weighed a ton.

It handles some awkward lighting situations very very well. I know Hacker took hit to Italy instead of the D3.
 
I bout the TZ6 but not for me it was for my girlfriend so didnt check for Manual Expo. Sorry for the misleading advise.
 
LX3 Battery life is excellent - I've never needed to use my spare battery, only carry it for peace of mind. That link I posted - it was a long weekend and I didn't bother taking the charger; I would never need it whatever the weather was like or what I did!

If the LX3 appeals to you then also have a look at the Canon G10 - they are both superb compact cameras capable of near-SLR image quality. In good light the G10 has a slight edge but I went with the LX3 because of it's extra versatility when the conditions get more challenging. The LX3 copes well in poorly lit social situations like a restaurant without resorting to flash.

It is worth noting my phrase 'near-SLR'.......
The LX3 and G10 are top of the league for compact cameras but the same shot taken on an SLR will be better. For example, when you start pixel peeping you should expect to find a small amount of noise in blank parts of a blue sky. It'll never be a problem unless you use heavy handed post-processing but you should be aware that some compromise is involved.

The G11 is out now, so the G10 may be a bit of a bargain!
 
A few to consider:

Canon G9/G10 - You can easily get a G9 for <£300, not so sure about the G10. The wide angle on these is only 35mm on the G9 but they certainly tick all the other boxes.

Ricoh GX100/200

Ricoh GR Digital I/II

Sigma DP1 - Can be had for well under budget second hand and has a DSLR size sensor, the downside being that it's only 4mp as it uses Sigma's Foveon sensor structure. It does have a nice 28mm f4 fixed lens though.

Panasonic lumix LX3

HTH
 
Wide angle on the g10 is equivalent to 28mm IIRC.

If you decide to go in that direction, you will need a polariser - right?

To use a filter on a g10 you'll need an adaptor, to allow the filter to fit over the lens at full zoom. Canon do them (at cost) but they are plastic. A better bet would be the metal one made by Lensmate (google for them) in the USA. It comes in two parts, and costs about £40 (depending on exchange rate).

As the lens on the g11 is the same it may well be that the adpator is the same. The one on the g9 is different.

There IS more noise on a g10 than a SLR, even at low ISO's . At 400ASA and up I believe the noise is unbearable.
 
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