Small pocket camera for travel

tomkbucks

tomkbucks

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thomas
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I'm off to Greece with some friends for a 2 week holiday, I really don't want to lug my expensive equipment around so was thinking of taking a small camera ideally with a good zoom in not expecting results close to my Dslr but for evenings out, day trips etc any suggestions?
 
Budget?

I've heard very good reviews of the canon s95 which I'm looking to buy for my holidays etc.
It's about £300 but rammed full of features, is small, light, and would produce good results.

I've had a few sub £200 cameras including a cheap samsung nv4 which all produce ok holiday pictures but I've always ended up having issues or they break.

My friend has had his s90 for ages now and never had an issue and the pictures are great. Can only assume the s95 would be just as good to have but better :)

Another not so compact option is an Olympus pen with a lens. Currently under £300 from jessops.
 
Panasonic do the TZ range - Travel Zoom.
You could pick up the TZ10 for £200.
 
Yes the panasonic is what I was looking at there is A new one with gps data, can I expect good results though? Or am I just going to be disappointed?
 
PC World have the S95 for £199 in store - great camera!!
 
mastertrinity said:
You could even opt for an Olympus EP-1 for £250.

Great image quality on par with DSLR however still retaining the travel size :)
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Yeah, but hardly a SMALL POCKET travel camera...
 
With a pancake lens and combat style trousers it would be. I just bought a epl1 for that reason
 
amtaylor said:
With a pancake lens and combat style trousers it would be. I just bought a epl1 for that reason
Click to expand...

It's still bigger than most people's idea of pocketable.

And a pancake lens is not an ideal travel lens, unless you just want to take wide scenery shots.

Still, each to their own, I guess.
 
Id go with the Canon S95 myself it has slightly larger sensor, f/2-4.9 lens range compared too TZ10 f/3.3-4.9 ...admittedly S95 has less zoom though and the S95 handles higher iso better.

The TZ10 is a very good choice though better battery more zoom i like GPS idea too so doubt go wrong with either tbh, or maybe a LX5 .
 
thanks , im going to go have a look at them at jessops , it really needs to be the other end of my canon 60d.. something light and small , with gagets! lol the Lumix DMC-TZ20 has gps...that would be perfect for travel ! but no raw :( im just trying to find some good reviews of it... i just cant decide what to looze - zoom or raw ?
 
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I have an S95, and it's fantastic - both for stills and 720p video.

I take it when the X100 is a little bit too large, or when I need video backup for the D700.
 
Humm the canon is only a 3x zoom the picture quality of the s95 does indeed look good and its got raw... i just cant help thinking that for a travel camera large zoon (even GPS if they work well ?? ! ) would be ideal ! the Panasonic TZ images seem poor in comparison with the s95 - anyone able to comment or got any test images ? budget is up to £300! cheaper thebetter though as it wont get used to often !
 
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Another thumbs up for the S95, begining to leave my 40D at home more often than I would like in favour of the S95.

Has more settings to fiddle with than I can remember, has IS, shoots RAW and the f2.0 lens at the wide end is super sharp.

Only downside is poor battery life so get a couple of cheap generic back up batteries - job done.

I will post couple of recent shots when I get home.

David
 
Problem is the 3 Zoom is just not good enough :( I know it's about trade offs but really need features and not just a small zoom :(
 
so is the s95 the only one people can recommend ? someone must have another point and shoot pocket camera ?
 
I had an LX5 briefly before my wife left a bag on the station platform and it was in that bag :( I loved that camera.. you should try that one out.
 
I have a S90 and a TZ-65. The only thing the Panny wins on is the zoom which is great only if there's plenty of light. The S90 (the S95 is an improvement over the S90) is far better in every other respect. I've seen plenty of great shots S90/95 owners have taken on their travels (have a look yourself on the net).

Having RAW on a camera this small is something else! ;)
 
I went for the Canon Ixus 220 HS, 24-120mm zoom, good high ISO performance, full HD video with some great digital effects and pretty cheap for what it does and its very small.
 
tomkbucks said:
so is the s95 the only one people can recommend ? someone must have another point and shoot pocket camera ?
Click to expand...

The S95 will get lots of recommendations, because is really is a cracking camera and genuinely pocketable.
 
Here you go



Straight out of the camera with a resize.

I stood in the same spot and matched the image with my 40D and 70-200, I prefered this one on first inspection and had to modify the 40D image quite a lot to match the S95 one. I know which was a more realistic capture (40D) and which I prefered to look at.

Also the S95 has pulled a lot more useful shadow detail out of the scene, guess thats sensor improvements for you.

David
 
thanks david - i know you cant have everything, the more i read around i think raw is more important than 'zoom' perhaps 3x is not that bad ? the Nikon S9100 is another option good value to...but 50% smaller sensor.. hum...
 
oh and thanks for the IXUS 220 HS that seems cracking value.... but again just not up to the quality of the s95, hum... can someone buy me both ! lol
 
s95 draw back for me is lower fps compared to the sx220
 
Crop from the above image

s95_crop.JPG


I am constantly amazed by this camera considering how small it and it's sensor are.

David
 
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