Beginner Hello, point and shoot to replace Fuji F70 EXR

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budget, £400 (£450 is pushing it...but maybe)

my so far shortlist is

-Sony RX100 £295 - I can spend more than that
-Sony RX100 III (favourite? bsi sensor better at low light? quite short zoom range?) sites say the RX100 VII is the best camera, but I'm also assuming the Mk III isn't the MK VII?) £459 - probably upper limit
-Panasonic DC-TZ90EB-S (but I dont need 4k video, viewfinder or tilting screen?) £279, again can spend more than that
-Canon Powershot G9X Mark II (more compact than g7x, but less image captured?) £339 - not a bad price
-Canon PowerShot G7X Mark II £450
-Canon SX530 HS (better zoom than the Sony & same bsi low light sensor, but not as good anywhere else). not as high continuous fps shooting. probably cheapest so far. £280 - could spend a bit more
-Panasonic Lumix DMX-ZS100 also considering. better zoom than RX100 above but non-bsi sensor? £400 within budget

I found a website called cameradecision.com which has easy to read stats

I believe I used about 6 megapixels on the F70 EXR, so probably wouldn't use anything over 10. one of the most important things to be honest is the size - it will most likely be a pocket job

or...any other suggestions welcomed. I'm happy to buy from Amazon as retailer at the moment.

one of the things I *don't* need is a touchscreen, would much prefer buttons. but I don't know if touchscreens are "in"

thnx again.
 
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Hi,

ok, I've gone for the Sony RX100 mk 3

I drew up a chart of about 7 or 8, I'm not familiar with the details of all the specs, but camera's with large zooms (over 15x) seemed to have smaller sensors (1 2/3"?), camera's with less of a zoom (under 5x) seemed to have the larger 1" sensor. I don't know the exact diff between the sensor sizes, but bigger is. probably. better. right? :p

The RX100 series seemed to appear regularly in the recommended models search results.

the camera was just under £400 from Amazon. the RRP was £800, under £400 suited my budget. I figure if I want to take lots of photo's of the moon, I can get a Canon SX530 or something like that. no camera does everything, right?

I haven't yet used it. but first out-of-the box impressions, are that the battery is slightly bigger than the prev Fuji (that's good). it uses std sd-card (that's good. full size SD-cards just feel more robust. and hey, less easy to lose on the floor). the flash looks neat altho appears very delicate, main first impressions are the huge amount of data presented on the screen. so I think I might need to RTFM (read the photography manual) to see what all those numbers & symbols mean
 
Just seen this. Right choice IMO. Enough resolution, enough pixels and slips into a shirt pocket. My only dislike is that the EVF needs to be physically slid up and out before use but it's a compromise worth making (again, IMO.) Reading the fotografy manual is always a good idea!
 
edit - ah, EVF = view finder. the Fuji actually didn't have this at all. I'm not sure at the moment of the advantage of it. I may find out. lol

(thought EVF meant flash) yeah that's true, the Fuji would have just enabled the flash if needed. I guess I just pop the flash up if it "looks dark". I figure having the flash not integrated means that there might be more room inside the camera for "stuff"? or it's possible that Sony just thought "hey this'll look cool". tbh I didn't fully realise the flash was pop-up from the pictures. you don't know to check these things until you know they are something to check[!]. I have to say I never really liked the position of the flash in the Fuji. I read somewhere that the flash should be above the sensor? so when the camera was in portrait mode, I always had to hold the Fuji one handed from the top, I couldn't hold it one-handed from the bottom
 
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2 main reasons for ME wanting/needing an EVF rather than using the rear screen are a) my arms aren't long enough to be able to see the rear screen properly when I'm wearing my contact lenses and b) a lot of my photography is done in Crete where the bright sunlight renders the rear screen all but invisible! Rarely use the flash.
 
Hi

ok, on a very little more investigation

I have to say, the two things I don't like with the RX100 v3, are the flash and the video mode. the video can't shoot 720p video - this means I'll be using up a lot of sd card? yes 32gigs is cheapski, but I'd like the option. it's got 480, which is the same as the Fuji had, but 480 even by my standards is a bit low.

(also I'm not keen on the EVF, when you pop it up and press it down, it switches the camera off. I don't want it to switch the camera off)

ok the flash....I don't like the pop-up system. I'd much prefer an auto flash where the filament/lens is always visible, which will just work if I have it set to auto. so every time I'm in low light, I'll have to pop it up. the pop-up definitely seems like a gimmick or gadget, I'd much prefer it to be always there, and have a little LED like on the Fuji, which lit up orange if the flash wasn't ready yet, and green when ready.

I've got till the 15th to have the option to return it to Amazon, and presumably buy a different model.

yeah the RX1003...isn't a "beginners" camera. I'd say it has a lot of features that I might use once I become more enthusiast. it was about £400 from amazon (RRP £800 - however accurate that is). so I reckon £300 budget will get me something sufficient

My F70 EXR apparently had a 1/2" sensor. most of the current ones seem to have a 1/2.3" sensor, which is smaller than 1/2"? but the Fuji sensor type was CCD, so presumably BSI-CMOS is better...

hmm. yes. well. I'm a bit more educated about what I don't want :) the RX100's specs did say 1080p, I did sort of assume 720 would be an option. if the RX1003 had 720 option and a permanent flash, I'd prodably keep it
 
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Pop up flashes are better less bad than fixed ones - the more separation between the flash and the lens the better. Less red-eye, more pleasing light fall etc..
 
that's cool I guess, but couldn't the flash be just permanently on a slightly raised section of plastic (permanently ready to use)? I'm just possibly a little bit skeptical of Sony, I've seen some of the features on their laptops, which were "different" for the sake of it, Sony has come across as having "features", that they have mainly because they have to think of an idea that will set them apart as being a "world brand". do most popup flashes just extend vertically from the body of the camera? the RX100's is on a sort of angled platform
 
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a bit more

ok I've tried pictures out under low light (basically sunset in the UK). I guess the bsi sensor (?) definitely gives good performance under low light - impressed. so having the flash have "2" levels of auto/off is good. "definitely off" (pressed down), "auto" (up but with camera on auto setting). it's cool because if the flash was in a permanent housing, you'd have to go thro options to make sure it was"off".

the Fuji low light always needed the flash, so the bsi sensor seems to be good tech? previously I didn't actually know that low-light with no flash was something worth checking :police:

still not convinced about the lack of 720p support?
 
so looking at some other models,

with a 1 inch bsi-sensor and a popup flash, 720p capable and controls that look decent, and a budget of £400, the only other model is the Panasonic Lumix LX10

is a 1" sensor very important - better than a 1/2.3" bsi-cmos sensor? I doubt I'll be using more than 10MP in images

The Nikon A900 also has those things with a 1/2.3", and the Canon powershot SX730, with the advantage that if 1/2.3" will do it....I won't need to buy a seperate high-zoom camera

so so far I've been doing searches based on "all spec" with a 10-shortlist. if I narrow down to the above specs, it might give more results for that spec

to make things even more uh fun, I've seen some websites that can convert 1080p to 720p. [eg hdconvert.com]. I'm guessing they'll lose some quality ?
 
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