New Back-up camera

woody12

woody12

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paul
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Hi, would really like a second camera as mainly a small pocket or such like instead of carrying my prized nikon everywhere. What is there worth looking at? Wife really wants one to take snaps of the nephews and nieces so want something simple to go but effective to contemplate my nikon in shooting. Any ideas would be thankful.
 
I recently went through the same decision making process and these were my shortlist (assuming what you want is a compact digital camera with some manual control and depanding on budget).


I'd recommend going to a local camera shop and playing with them all if possible before making any decision - see which seems most natural to use.

In the end I picked the S95 as the best option for me. One of the most compact, it also has a short zoom, manual aperture, shutter speed and easy iISO changing on the fly and with the S100 having just came out the price had dropped a lot.

The X10 did have me very tempted, but was just a little larger than I was really looking for (I wanted something small enough to fit in nearly any pocket whether out for the day or at a club in the evening).

The XZ-1 was another nice camera to use and came close to winning, very similar in size and specs to the S95/100 imho. Also the accessories port allows for an electronic viewfinder, which could be handy.
 
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If you are a Nikon fan have a look at the Coolpix P7100. In my opinion it is an ideal companion to a Nikon DSLR offering similar menu driven features, a separate viewfinder, and extensive controls if you want them. Can also be used in auto for point and shoot. I find myself using it more and more - in my view a good investment.
 
Another vote here for the Canon S95. Not had mine long but have been really pleased with the results so far.

It was a toss up for me between this and the G11. Having owned a G5 in the past, I liked the idea of the swivel LCD on the G11 but on this ocassion size was important:lol:
 
I was always after a Canon G series as my compact of choice, but when it came to actually buy one size was the issue I had with it. I wanted something to slip in my pocket, and the G series is not it. :nono: Unless you wear Cargo Pants all the time. ;) :lol:

After a lot of searching, I opted for the S95. I wanted the size, RAW, and lots of control options and the S95 fitted the bill better than all the cameras I'd looked at. Zoom wasn't a big factor for me as it was replacing a Fuji F31fd which was only 3x zoom.

The Panasonic LX5 was high on my list, but the S95 was just that bit smaller. :)
 
I narrowed it down to Olympus XZ1 or Panasonic LX5 for my digital backup, I ended up with the LX5 because I already had the RAW software down to a fine art, although I would have preferred the XZ1 I think.

I'm not at all disappointed with the LX5, it's a very capapble little camera, and has provided me with plenty of worthy pics.
 
I tried the S95, XZ-1 and Sony HX9V (purchased all three second hand). The HX9V is really a travel zoom so not really similar to the other two.

I decided to keep the XZ-1 - was better in lowish light in my opinion than the S95. Great lens on it. However, they are both pretty poor when it comes to performance against even a semi decent 4/3 system. You can see a significant noise on the XZ-1 at ISO 800 and even more on the Canon.

The Canon however is definitely smaller and has a built in lens cover.
 
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