Need a new Compact - will I notice the difference ?

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mattlewis

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Matt
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Hi - Looking to buy a new Point&Shoot compact camera. Going on Honeymoon hopefully in September and would like something decent which will take pictures to be proud of. Money is not really the deal breaker.

  • What I'd like is something that works well for cities, wildlife & sunsets - but also for indoor shooting. So good low light would be nice.
  • Not interested in RAW - I will only use the "out of the box" JPEG of the camera and shoot 90% of the time in iAF mode.
  • Better than 4x zoom.
  • Fits in pocket.
  • Most photo's for digital photoframe in lounge or printed 7"x5" photos on the wall - also of course internet (FB, etc). I'm not a professional and I won't be editing wildly and printing 100cm prints.

I have recently used a Sony NEX-5. Fantastic camera and JPEG images in my opinion. Stunning colours and brightness. Lovely detail and also some Bokeh facility. But its not a true in your pocket compact :(
Therefore.......

  • Is there a P&S that can compete with NEX-5 I just used that "I would notice" ? OR do I have zero chance of getting something like that from a P&S?
  • Will something like the Panasonic TZ40 be as good "out the box" to a numpty like me ???
  • Would I be able to notice the difference really and truly between a TZ40 and a LX7 or a Canon S110 ?

Any help appreciated :)
 
Unless I am wrong the only difference between the HX20 and HX30 is that the HX30 has wireless file transfer, so if you don't need that option then is go with the HX20 and save some money. I personally have a HX9V which recently went to Mexico with me. I wouldn't swap that for any other compact in the market at the moment.
 
c22w1 said:
Unless I am wrong the only difference between the HX20 and HX30 is that the HX30 has wireless file transfer, so if you don't need that option then is go with the HX20 and save some money. I personally have a HX9V which recently went to Mexico with me. I wouldn't swap that for any other compact in the market at the moment.
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Sorry, I got confused.

The new one is the hx50v
 
Fuji x100 would probably be the best bet (or X100s) as the larger APS-C sensor helps with bokeh and low light, especially the 100s which uses the x trans mk 11 sensor, if not the X20 which again has an x trans sensor.... but.. you wont fit them in a jeans or shirt pocket, they would fit a jacket or cargo pocket without a case though.
 
I doubt a Fuji X100 and it's 20-odd mm lens whould be a good choice for wildlife which is one of the required uses and it'll have to be a rather big pocket it goes into.

Personally I think the list of requirements is a tuff ask for a pocketable camera and I think I'd just concentrate on the pocketable requirement and head off to Curry's and buy a top end Sony or Panasonic with a decent zoom range and a reasonably wide aperture and be happy :D
 
Canon and Sony pocket cameras are ok. I've used both at some point in time.
The Sony went along with me for more than two years (until it gave up, that is) and it made pretty pictures. I had to use pp to give them some soul and depth.
The Canon lasted two days. I could live with its pocketability but couldn't live with it's sluggishness.
I stayed with my 5DMkII and brought it along when absolutely necessary, other times my Samsung Galaxy Note II worked well enough.

Then I found Fujifilm X20. Took one as mine. And never looked back.

The colours are beautiful! It's focuses real quick. And it looks pretty, too!

Here's a link to its mini website:
http://www.fujifilm.com/products/digital_cameras/x/fujifilm_x20/

Enjoy your honeymoon!
 
For pocketability, I would (and did) go for the Fuji XF-1. It slips neatly into a shirt pocket and delivers very good results. Plenty of "scene" modes for (to use the OP's own term!) a numpty like the OP as well as plenty of control options if/when he wants them. There are other options from other manufacturers but I have no personal experience of them so can't offer sensible advice on them. TBH, I don't think any of the manufacturers make lemons, although my past experience of Olympus's customer service has soured me on them for life!

For the end use specified, 4 MP should be plenty and that's at 300dpi print resolution.
 
Agree with XF1 having got one recently. IQ same as X10 which I have owned before and loved but it actually fits in the pocket which the X10 didn't.

The problem for you with Fujis or RX100 are the zoom. When you say better than 4x zoom what do you mean. How wide do you want it at the start and how much higher than 4x zoom do you want?
 
You've set yourself a difficult target, covering cities/landscapes & wildlife using a compact is a big ask..the problem being you need a "superzoom" which by its nature means that IQ isn't going to be the best or at least not up there with the Sony RX100, Fuji etc already mentioned.

Having said this if you only intend displaying on a screen and printing small then you'll see little benefit of the IQ advantage that the higher end compacts offer so to capture the range of shots you want, a superzoom is probably the best compromise..personally I'd be looking at something from Panasonic if this was my main criteria

Simon
 
Thanks everyone :)
Lots to think about.

My concern is two-fold.
1. I have felt that my current old Panasonic with a x3.8 zoom has left me wanting "more zoom" in the past especially when travelling and with wildlife etc.
2. That the shots will look "cheap & dull" from some cameras when only using their out the box JPEG and not doing any (much) enhancement on a PC. Surely one manufacturer is known to be better or worse than some of the others - as in "stay away from Nikon for JPEG but Sony/Panasonic are great" etc etc etc

And as mentioned - will I really notice the difference ?
When I get the pictures printed in 7*5 will I really notice that softness & graining around the edges at full telephoto or do you need to be blowing up to A3 size and using a magnifying glass ?
Will I personally go "wow" to the RX100 and spot major difference to an award winning or highly rated x20 zoom camera ?

Oh and finally I'd rather have "a shot" than miss the shot due to sluggishness or setup time etc

thanks again all !
 
mattlewis said:
Oh and finally I'd rather have "a shot" than miss the shot due to sluggishness or setup time etc

thanks again all !
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I'm sure (I hope...) that small digital cameras are getting quicker to meter and focus but there is a way around this if you are willing and able...

I have an LX5 which although quite small isn't a shirt pocket camera but perhaps other even smaller cameras may be operated the same way... When I want an instant reaction from the camera I take it out of Auto mode and put it in manual mode and pre focus and then because it doesn't have to meter and focus it'll shoot as fast as I can press the button. With my old LX2 I shot the same way and had no trouble capturing shots of motorcycles in mid air.

There must be shirt pocket cameras you can set up and shoot manually with.
 
Most shirt pocket cameras have extending lenses so are hard to keep in the pocket pre focussed. Metering tends to be faster than focussing these days (at least it is on my XF-1 and X-10).
 
Nod said:
Most shirt pocket cameras have extending lenses so are hard to keep in the pocket pre focussed. Metering tends to be faster than focussing these days (at least it is on my XF-1 and X-10).
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er... no. I didn't expect anyone to think I wanted them to keep the camera in their pocket with the lens extended :lol:

What I had in mind was to set the camera pretty much for front to back focus and DoF. Used like that there's no delay while the camera meters and sets focus and even my sluggish LX2 would take pictures as fast as I could frame and press the button.

Turned on, even my Canon Ixus would be a very tight fit in a pocket.

Personally I've never used a true compact that could cope with a moving target but these days there may be some out there.
 
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I'd just hit the button when I realised that you probably meant you had it all ready to go and pre set and still switched on! However, I think my Fujis will automatically go to sleep after a set period of no use, although they may well wake up and keep all the pre set parameters including focus - I'll have to find the manuals and play!

Is that an Ixus in your pocket or have you just seen Rachel Riley in a jersey mini dress? :)
 
To do cityscapes you will find the need for something fairly wide (around 24mm equivalent) for wildlife you will need something at least 200mm equivalent, so you are after an 8x zoom. Not going to happen, even as it stands with their 4x zooms from compacts there is a fair amount of compromises to be made.

Having said that there are some excellent options out there from the X20, RX100, LX7, XZ2 that will be 80% of the IQ 90% of the times. Will you notice the rest? Only if you are pixel peeping I think. As long as you stick to screens and normal sized prints you will be fine.
 
Nod said:
Is that an Ixus in your pocket or have you just seen Rachel Riley in a jersey mini dress? :)
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:D

I have a Jessops special Ixus 82IS and it's one of four in the family. I don't use mine but one of my sisters has taken hers all over the world and has used it for still images and vid clips. It's fine for small prints (although I don't think she's ever actually printed a picture) and screen images.
 
Couldn't recommend the RX100 enough. Just back from the Philippines and was entertaining seeing the m4/3s users cursing at their blurry night shots while the RX100 snapped away no flash on the beach at night :)
 
mattlewis said:
Thanks everyone :)

Will I personally go "wow" to the RX100 and spot major difference to an award winning or highly rated x20 zoom camera ?
Click to expand...

No, I don't think you would go "wow" as the RX100 is not that much better than an X20. You would go wow if comparing it to any tiny censored compact, especially as the ISO gets higher.

The consensus seems to be that you won't get the best IQ a compact can give you and have a 25 - 200+ eqv lens as to get the better IQ needs a bigger sensor and if you have a bigger sensor you have a bigger lens which no longer fits in a pocket.

Have a look at the images from you preferred camera choices on Flickr and see if you notice the difference as they will be representative of what the cameras can do at the sizes you will be viewing them.
 
Alan, do you have |RR in the pocket too? If so, do you do time shares?
 
Thx again all

I think I am torn now between these two types:

Panasonic TZ40 - for its zoom and top of travel compact awards
Sony RX100 (or maybe Panasonic LX7) - for what seems to be a very widely held view that the quality of shots is another level up compared to most
 
mattlewis said:
Thx again all

I think I am torn now between these two types:

Panasonic TZ40 - for its zoom and top of travel compact awards
Sony RX100 (or maybe Panasonic LX7) - for what seems to be a very widely held view that the quality of shots is another level up compared to most
Click to expand...

Go for the RX100 then.

Small enough to fit in your pocket, will take great images and assuming a low enough ISO, you can crop for a bit of "digital zoom" as well without losing too much IQ.

Out of the 3 mentioned above, this one most fits your original requirements.
 
mattlewis said:
Panasonic TZ40 - for its zoom and top of travel compact awards
Sony RX100 (or maybe Panasonic LX7) - for what seems to be a very widely held view that the quality of shots is another level up compared to most
Click to expand...

My wife has the TZ30 which IMO takes worse IQ shots than my older TZ8 which has conked out now. Low light is especially poor. So I wouldn't be looking at the TZ series unless the TZ40 genuinely has improved but somehow I doubt it.

If I could afford it I would buy the RX100 because of all the glowing comments on TP but it is still £400 with a limited zoom range.

I currently own the Nikon P7700 which has optical zoom to 7.1x (never zoom if I can help it even though it is there) but am finding it a bit of a lump for me as my manual dexterity is rather poor.
 
Does anyone really carry their camera in their shirt pocket? Lean forward and splat it's on the ground broken.
 
Engineer73 said:
Does anyone really carry their camera in their shirt pocket? Lean forward and splat it's on the ground broken.
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Not if it's on a neck lanyard :nono:
 
Indeed - and I'm a bit younger than John! :p
 
I'm still well under 50 (OK, I'm 50 in a couple of months but these days I'm very well!!!)
 
Phil & Nod you are both letting this thread go off topic :naughty: (and anyway I don't get a free TV licence yet :razz:) (Just my OAP from a couple of months ago :clap:).

Seriously Matt (OP) have you narrowed your choice down yet or, like me, just get more & more confused then buy something and still keep looking thinking you are not 100% sure if you have made the right choice :lol:
 
DayDreamer said:
Seriously Matt (OP) have you narrowed your choice down yet or, like me, just get more & more confused then buy something and still keep looking thinking you are not 100% sure if you have made the right choice :lol:
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100% accurate.

I will prob buy something next paycheque and from then on in look longingly at other camera's in a "what if" fashion :shrug:
 
mattlewis said:
100% accurate.

I will prob buy something next paycheque and from then on in look longingly at other camera's in a "what if" fashion :shrug:
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I bought a fuji X10 but sold after 4 months then bought a Nikon P7700 which I still have but can't keep away from the reviews thinking would a different camera have suited me better :bonk:
 
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