Compact digital camera

[junglie]

Good afternoon,

My wife is after a compact digital camera for her birthday.

Budget up to £450.

I know very little about them albeit the Canon PowerShot SX740 HS Lite seems to get good reviews.

Will be used for ‘everyday’ photos and some video.

I have mentioned ‘Use your phone’ but this is not the answer apparently!

Thank you.

[isaldiri]

what's the use for? if you're looking for a camera that's going to take 'better' pictures than a recent mobile then you're going to be looking at something with 1" sensor imo but if you're looking for something that can zoom up quite a bit over a mobile camera, then the one that you mentioned would be useful.

[junglie]

I think she wants something with more performance and zoom so more camera orientated.

[lancslad58]

I think the camera of choice on here is the Sony RX100......see thread here.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[junglie]

It looks like they are around £1000 so a little out of budget!

Does look great though.

[ExBoringVolvoDriver]

I have a LUMIX Tz100 that is pretty good - 1 inch sensor and fits in pockets easily


https://www.parkcameras.com/shop/panasonic-lumix-t...

[Phil.]

lancslad58 said:

I think the camera of choice on here is the Sony RX100......see thread here.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Not really. I have the RX100 iii and it s very good:

https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/cyber-shot-comp...

Cheaper elsewhere probably and less second hand.

[craig1912]

You can get a iv for £450-500

[9.3]

If you can find a used Sony HX99 for around 400/450 it’s a cracking camera. Really compact, brilliant long zoom and excellent images. Shoots Raw too but JPEGs out of the camera are fine.
It’s my constant travel companion, fits inside a shirt pocket too!

[Derek Smith]

ExBoringVolvoDriver said:

I have a LUMIX Tz100 that is pretty good - 1 inch sensor and fits in pockets easily

https://www.parkcameras.com/shop/panasonic-lumix-t...

I've got a TZ. Mine is a dozen years old or so and still going strong. It has a 12mp image and at 7x5 there's little difference between the images it produces and those from my Lumix G9ii at 25mp. On a phone or website, they are all but identical. But most compacts from the main manufacturers are great. I'd go to a camera shop (Parks is my favourite) and play with a few. Forget technical detail, one having a slightly longer zoom, or better wide angle, even sensor size, and find one that fits in your wife's hand. She might also discover a feature that irritates her. Such things get worse over time.

The online reviews can be misleading. They are from pro photographers, with different needs, requirements and points of view to most people.

[isaldiri]

junglie said:

I think she wants something with more performance and zoom so more camera orientated.

It's probably worth deciding if your wife will want lots of zoom capability or better image quality - as I noted above, imo you really need a 1 inch sensor to get meaningful improvement over a good mobile phone camera but that then limits the available (optical) zoom. Without going larger than a compact, you can't really get both so 'more performance and zoom' isn't really an option.....

[junglie]

isaldiri said:

junglie said:

I think she wants something with more performance and zoom so more camera orientated.

It's probably worth deciding if your wife will want lots of zoom capability or better image quality - as I noted above, imo you really need a 1 inch sensor to get meaningful improvement over a good mobile phone camera but that then limits the available (optical) zoom. Without going larger than a compact, you can't really get both so 'more performance and zoom' isn't really an option.....

The Sony RX100 III looks like a good compromise?

Has the 1 sensor by the looks of it.

The Panasonic LUMIX TZ99 also seems a strong contender.

Edited by junglie on Friday 19th September 10:09

[Phil.]

junglie said:

The Sony RX100 III looks like a good compromise?

Has the 1 sensor by the looks of it.

The Panasonic LUMIX TZ99 also seems a strong contender.

Edited by junglie on Friday 19th September 10:09

If you go with the RX100 then get a grip too as it makes handling so much better:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Newmowa-DSC-RX100M2-DSC-R...

[lancslad58]

Phil. said:

junglie said:

The Sony RX100 III looks like a good compromise?

Has the 1 sensor by the looks of it.

The Panasonic LUMIX TZ99 also seems a strong contender.

Edited by junglie on Friday 19th September 10:09

If you go with the RX100 then get a grip too as it makes handling so much better:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Newmowa-DSC-RX100M2-DSC-R...

That looks useful but I have one of the leather camera case protectors so i don't think it will fit in as it's rather snug.
.
https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/cyber-shot-comp...

Do you know of anything similar that would accommodate the camera and the grip ?

[bcr5784]

lancslad58 said:

That looks useful but I have one of the leather camera case protectors so i don't think it will fit in as it's rather snug.
.
https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/cyber-shot-comp...

Do you know of anything similar that would accommodate the camera and the grip ?

I have a never ready case for my RX100 and if you just use the camera with the bottom half, you don't need the grip (though otherwise a grip is desirable). The one snag is that you will need to remove the case to change the battery or card - and because the battery is small you will need to change it often if you do a lot of shooting.

[Riley Blue]

junglie said:

The Sony RX100 III looks like a good compromise?

Has the 1 sensor by the looks of it.

The Panasonic LUMIX TZ99 also seems a strong contender.

Edited by junglie on Friday 19th September 10:09

Also have a look at the TZ99's predecessor, the TZ95D which has a viewfinder but no USB-C..

[junglie]

Off to Park Cameras to look at the Panasonic LUMIX TZ99 today.

[GravelBen]

I have a relatively ancient RX100 (Mk1) that I barely use, bought cheap second-hand but it does quite well for a compact - here's an example photo (from 5 years ago apparently):

Southland dusk by Ben, on Flickr

Despite the age it still beats the image quality of any phone camera I've seen, I expect newer cameras with the same 1" (so-called, even if the name is a bit misleading) sensor size will be better again.

Edited by GravelBen on Wednesday 24th September 00:47

[bcr5784]

GravelBen said:

I have a relatively ancient RX100 (Mk1) that I barely use, bought cheap second-hand but it does quite well for a compact - here's an example photo (from 5 years ago apparently):

Despite the age it still beats the image quality of any phone camera I've seen, I expect newer cameras with the same 1" (so-called, even if the name is a bit misleading) sensor size will be better again.

Edited by GravelBen on Wednesday 24th September 00:47

I'd certainly agree with that. My rx100vii is, based on some fairly primitive tests around 3 times as sharp as either of my phones at the same magnification. To explain that if I take a picture at 72mm (equiv) on my phone and 24mm on the camera and then crop the camera image to the same size, it's just as sharp as the phone. And that's with a camera with an 8x zoom lens - the difference would doubtless be greater with a prime lens on a camera with a larger sensor.

That said phone displays are generally far superior to those on back of cameras, so it's hardly surprizing that phone users might think they can produce just as good images as cameras can - if that is how the comparison is made.