Compact for travelling - questions and recommendations?

Hacker

Hacker

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Colin
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I'm thinking of adding a compact for everyday pocket use or when it is not always suitable to carry one of the bigger toys and would like your thoughts, views and suggestions. I've read some of the threads but am still none the wiser. Do the sensor sizes vary on compacts and what are they like for noise handling? Is it possible to have manual control or shutter/aperture priority?

Ideally I'd like the ability to shoot in RAW format so I presume that will restrict my choices but there seem to be so many on the market that it is difficult to know where to begin. I've had a look at the G10 but have heard very mixed reviews, the Leica D-Lux 4 is calling to me for some reason ;) but it is a tad expensive and having to buy yet another flash cheeses me off.
As you can tell it is an area I know nothing about.
 
Thanks Voyager but I'm not sure I want to go down that route.
 
im the same boat hacker.

im used to using a 30D with grip, so i really want a compact that isnt so small, i want it a little chunky.

mine is coming round the world with me for a year or more, so i need to choose very carefuly, id like raw and a fair bit of zoom, and good iso handeling.

ive found that unless its the dp1 then noise will always be an issue on compacts, so after reading a ton of reviews im going for the g10, it has most of the points i want, jsut not great iso, but the lx3 has better iso handeling, its so marginal that the benefits of the g10 make it the choice for me. jsut wish it had more zoom for such a big camera.

im 99% sure anyway that ill get a g10
 
I really don't want to start messing with firmware and if you knew me you'd know why - it would probably end up as an expensive ornament. :D It also restricts me to just a Canon camera (and I would still have to decide which one) and then faff about with the downloading/uploading and to be honest I cannot be arsed with all that, I just want something that works out of the box.

Again, I appreciate you taking the time to reply, thank you. :thumbs:
 
You could try something in the Panasonic FZ range, not totally compact but a hell of a lot smaller than the D3 :D, i recently bought a second hand FZ20 for my sister for 90 quid, a cracking little camera which has a 12x zoom i actually used to own one myself, and got some great shots with it, or there's the FZ8 which you could probably pick up for about £130, or the more up to date FZ28, the great thing is they all have decent leica lenses on :)
 
I just love my pany LX2. It's not got modern usable ISO range that the LX3 has, or the f2/2.8 lens, or 24mm on the wide end, the 1cm macro, or a hotshoe, or HD video, or the upgraded sensor, or the new processor........ etc. :lol:


...but at 100ISO the IQ is amazing for such a small thing. It's a great creative tool, full auto everything right through to full manual in any configuration that you like and really is small enough to go with you pretty much anywhere. So you'll actually use it.

If I was buying now, it would be the LX3 without a doubt.
 
Thanks dazza, I'm just having a look at the LX3 at the moment. :thumbs:
 
Hacker said:
I really don't want to start messing with firmware and if you knew me you'd know why - it would probably end up as an expensive ornament. :D
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CHDK does not 'mess with' any 'firmware'.
Hacker said:
It also restricts me to just a Canon camera (and I would still have to decide which one) and then faff about with the downloading/uploading and to be honest I cannot be arsed with all that,
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It gives you 'RAW' and lots of other exposure options on a lot more cameras than you will otherwise be looking at.
Hacker said:
I just want something that works out of the box.
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You want to work your way through the posts on the Serious Compacts blog.
 
Hacker said:
Thanks dazza, I'm just having a look at the LX3 at the moment. :thumbs:
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i have one and its great, not much zoom mind but great for a holiday camera
 
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