After a compact camera to compliment my DSLR

SimonTALM

SimonTALM

Linford Christie
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Simon
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I keep missing great photo ops and as I don't want to always carry my DSLR about I'm after a compact camera to put in my pocket I'm wondering if you wonderful people can point me in the right direction - I tried Jessops but they were about as helpful as a hair stylist is to a bald man.

My wants in order of importance
  • Small & light so I can keep it on me at all times even in a Suit (no bigger than a packet of 20 Fags)
  • Well Built (so it can cope with living in my pockets)
  • Optical Zoom Lens (in 35mm speak 28mm - 90+mm would be ideal)
  • Some form of exposure compensation control
  • Ability set shutter speed & aperture I want - preferably AV & TV mode but P mode will do.
  • Image Stabilisation (Lens or Sensor Shift only though)
  • Uses normal SD cards, so I don't have go buy yet another type of card.
  • AA batteries rather than custom Li-ion

Not too worried about price, but obviously the lower the better :D
 
The Canon "A" series compacts with "IS" come to mind. I believe they meet about all of your specifications - although most start at (35mm equivalent) 35mm wide instead of 28mm wide. Adapters, of course, are available.

Seeking to save some money, I purchased a refurbished Kodak C663 and am quite happy with it, but the Canons get very high marks. I would not mind at all having an A570 IS.
 
Cheers for both suggestions - they both look like great cameras but I think these are a bit large for what I'm after.

I'm ideally looking for something about the size of a fag packet.

I was looking at the IXUS 860IS but that doesn't meet the AV / TV or P shift requirement, which at the moment non-negotiable.
 
Canon Ixus definately. That is what I had before buying my dSLR. Fantastic little camera, great pictures, great battery life, solid build quality. Mine was an IXUS 500 which my daughter now uses but there are some even smaller and better quality ones available now.
 
Canon IXUSs are very good, I have two of them.

The G9 is amasing though, i'd go for that instead of an IXUS tho, it's basically a comapct SLR - has loads of similar features.
 
I have a D200 as my "serious" camera and recently sold a Canon S3 IS in favour of a Canon Ixus 75, to act as my "blog" camera, as I call it. I wanted something truely ultra-portable - so that I would never miss an opportunity. I wanted something for less planned shots - i.e. reportage style "snaps". My criteria was based on only two things - firstly size and secondly it must have a 3" screen. The Canon Ixus 75 is superb, and coupled with the Lowepro Napoli 5 fits discreetly on my belt.

But the S3 IS I sold would be more in line with your requirements. It had a great optical zoom and IS to boot. So I would highly recommend that, or it's more recent replacement - the S5 IS.
 
Cheers again for the suggestions but I can't find a Ixus that has AV / TV or P Shift modes - for me these are mandatory. The Canon S series are all too large - it must be able to fit in my shirt pocket.

Infact the only camera I can find that has comes close to meeting all my needs (infact all but the AA battery one - which is not that important) is the Fuji F50fd. I cannot believe that this is the only pocket sized compact with AV & TV modes.

The only reason I'm holding back is it has 12MP :eek: and I'm concerned that this is too many pixels for such a small sensor.

Incidentally I have found its predecessor the F31fd (8MP IIRC) but that's generally unavailble and where I can find it it costs a fortune and doesn't contain the Sensor Stabilisation I'd like (only some Auto ISO thing masquarading as Anti Blur :rolleyes: )
 
I have a panasonic LX2 and recently thought I'd got the wrong camera when I had a play a mates new ixus. So we did some back to back tests and the LX2 kicked ass in a big way. The image quality was far better and the noise considerably less.

It's probably a bit big for what you want, sort of like a fag packet but with a 20mm lens barrel on the front.

What ever the next smallest panasonic is though, might be worth checking if it has a similar spec.
 
I was looking for something similar recently and I came down to either the Ricoh R6/R7 or the Canon IXUS 860 IS.
Both have 28mm wide angle lenses, the Ricoh have a better zoom reach though and theyre both very compact.
Downsides are neither are that manual ie you cant have shutter or aperature priority and they dont use AA batteries.

J
 
dazzajl said:
What ever the next smallest panasonic is though, might be worth checking if it has a similar spec.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I did look at the Panasonics but unfortunately the smaller cameras don't have the AP / SP that I'm after.

jgreen68 said:
Downsides are neither are that manual ie you cant have shutter or aperature priority and they dont use AA batteries.
Click to expand...

Cheers, if only I wasn't so picky :bang: Unfortunately there are 2 things that are non-negotiable for me

1) The Size - must be small enough to fit in my shirt / inside suit / trouser pocket

2) Some form of control over the Aperture to master DoF.

I have just gone to a different Jessops branch and had another look - this time with a more knowlegable guy - and I have now identified that the Nikon P5000 also just about meets my requirements (if I don't mind the bulge of the hand grip).

So I actually now have a choice

Fuji f50fd
Pros
+ Perfect Size
+ Low Price - £167 (on Amazon)
Cons
-12MP on such a small sensor
-Reviews seem disapointed (but may be because f31fd was so good)

Fuji f31fd
Pros
+ Perfect Size
+ Well recognised as the best Low Noise compact out there - even at 800ISO
+ Battery lasts forever
Cons
- No image stabilisation
- Generally unavailable - and then costs a fortune

Nikon P5000
Pros
+ Ability to use external Flash - with TTL metering if i use my SB-600
+ Optical Sabilisation
Cons
- Bulge handgrip adds size
- Reported to be slow both on R/W speeds and on shutter lag

I'm also a bit sad that none of these have a lens that goes wider than 35mm (equiv.) and that the Nikon doesn't have the option of RAW recording (if it did I would have one on its way right now)
 
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