Need compact digital camera

Romulan · Oct 2, 2004

Hello all,

I'm hoping you guys can help me find a digital camera to fit my needs. Im looking for a compact camera that I can fit in my pocket. I'll be doing the normal family pictures, lots o goof pics with my friends, and some amateur photography. I'm not a control freak, so I'm alright with the camera doing most of the things for me. I looked at the Canon SD10. It was nice, but the fact that it doesn't have a viewfinder bugs me a bit. I'm not sure if that would work so well. Does anyone have any experience with this camera? Any suggestions would be great. Thanks!

Romulan

Chaszmyr · Oct 2, 2004

For little cameras, viewfinders don't do anything. SLR cameras and things like that have a viewfinder that looks through the lens, but it doesn't in smaller, lower-end cameras. Therefore, if you have a camera comparable to an SD10 it is disadvantageous to use the viewfinder anyway. The only real drawback of the SD10 is that it lacks optical zoom, otherwise it is a very nice tiny little camera.

One of my friends here at MacRumors, edesignuk, got an SD10 recently and was very pleased with it.

edesignuk · Oct 2, 2004

The SD10 (also called the "IXUS i") is a great little camera - take a look at thread. The only thing it lacks is an optical zoom, but as I said (over and over in that thread!) it wasn't important to me.

edesignuk · Oct 2, 2004

Some test shots for you...(hope you're not 56k!)

These were taken with my IXUS i/SD10 within the last couple of weeks...

Not bad for a camera that is this big

Joeytpg · Oct 2, 2004

i got the Minolta Dimage x20, great cam.......it works perfectly!

plus a great quality

BeoVir · Oct 2, 2004

The Canon SD110 is also a great camera. It is small and light. I have found it easy to use and very reliable.

QCassidy352 · Oct 2, 2004

pics look great... but I could never live without an optical zoom! How about another of the small canon cameras?

advocate · Oct 2, 2004

I just picked up a Pentax Optio S30 last week. I love it. It's tiny. I stick it in my jacket pocket and hardly know it's there. And it was an absolute steal for $279 Canadian from a reputable brick-and-mortar store in the neighbourhood.

I still have my PowerShot G3 for when I need to take "real" photographs so the fact that this one isn't as full-featured doesn't bother me. (Of course, it's no less of a camera than any other in its price/size class. I'm just used to something better. But the thing is, if I suddenly feel like taking a picture, I'll actually have this one on me.) It doesn't have too many controls (it's a point-and-shoot) and it doesn't come with a remote control, for example. Otherwise, there are only two things I don't like about it. First, the flash takes about seven seconds to recharge between shots. That's not great, but I rarely use the flash anyway. Second, depressing the shutter fully (without waiting for autofocus at the first stop point) causes nothing to happen. Other cameras I've owned interpret that to mean "just take a shot as soon as you can" but this one takes it to mean the operator pressed the button by mistake.

One big advantage of this camera is that it uses AA batteries. That means in a pinch I can find AAs from just about anywhere and keep taking pictures; if my G3 runs out of juice in its proprietary LiIon pack, I'm screwed.

When I was researching this camera, I rejected the cameras without optical viewfinders. The viewfinder absolutely is not useless. No, it's not going to show you a TTL view, obviously, but after using a camera for a while you get a pretty good sense of how what you see relates to what you shoot. And how else are you going to see what you're shooting when the camera is braced against your face? Without a viewfinder, the only way to see what you're shooting is to hold the camera in front of you, leading to a shaky shot. Well, I suppose you could brace the camera against your nose, or mouth, or forehead, instead..

advocate · Oct 3, 2004

virividox · Oct 3, 2004

wow those pics look great

yinyang · Oct 3, 2004

i got a sony w1 a few weeks ago and i'm really pleased with it, though i'm still learning how to use it better...! i tend to use both viewfinder and lcd screen, depending on the circumstances, though the 2.5" lcd is very useful!

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/W1/W1A.HTM

even though it's supposed to be AUS$799 i got it off ebay for AUS$550, so i'm very pleased

brap · Oct 3, 2004

Westminster Catherdral RULES.
Wish I could spend a little more time in London, the classical architecture there is amazing. Didn't have you down as a fan, mr. edesign... I may take a visit to Canterbury Catherdral today.

...PS, I still prefer my S400

edesignuk · Oct 3, 2004

brap said:
Westminster Catherdral RULES.
Wish I could spend a little more time in London, the classical architecture there is amazing. Didn't have you down as a fan, mr. edesign... I may take a visit to Canterbury Catherdral today.

...PS, I still prefer my S400

heh, I'm not really, just went up there a couple of weeks back because the houses of parliament were open to the public, a chance to see inside where all the big stuff goes down!

ThomasJefferson · Oct 3, 2004

Love my canon powershot A80. You can find reviews and samples of that, and others - here ...

http://www.dcresource.com/

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/

Chip NoVaMac · Oct 3, 2004

QCassidy352 said:
pics look great... but I could never live without an optical zoom! How about another of the small canon cameras?

Take a look at the Pentax Optio S series or the Minolta X series. I have played with the S40 for some time now, and it is a very capable camera. I like the fact that it will take AA batteries. In the finest resolution the S40 can take 99 shots with a 256mb card.

Chip NoVaMac · Oct 3, 2004

advocate said:
I just picked up a Pentax Optio S30 last week. I love it. It's tiny. I stick it in my jacket pocket and hardly know it's there. And it was an absolute steal for $279 Canadian from a reputable brick-and-mortar store in the neighbourhood.

I still have my PowerShot G3 for when I need to take "real" photographs so the fact that this one isn't as full-featured doesn't bother me. (Of course, it's no less of a camera than any other in its price/size class. I'm just used to something better. But the thing is, if I suddenly feel like taking a picture, I'll actually have this one on me.) It doesn't have too many controls (it's a point-and-shoot) and it doesn't come with a remote control, for example. Otherwise, there are only two things I don't like about it. First, the flash takes about seven seconds to recharge between shots. That's not great, but I rarely use the flash anyway. Second, depressing the shutter fully (without waiting for autofocus at the first stop point) causes nothing to happen. Other cameras I've owned interpret that to mean "just take a shot as soon as you can" but this one takes it to mean the operator pressed the button by mistake.

One big advantage of this camera is that it uses AA batteries. That means in a pinch I can find AAs from just about anywhere and keep taking pictures; if my G3 runs out of juice in its proprietary LiIon pack, I'm screwed.

When I was researching this camera, I rejected the cameras without optical viewfinders. The viewfinder absolutely is not useless. No, it's not going to show you a TTL view, obviously, but after using a camera for a while you get a pretty good sense of how what you see relates to what you shoot. And how else are you going to see what you're shooting when the camera is braced against your face? Without a viewfinder, the only way to see what you're shooting is to hold the camera in front of you, leading to a shaky shot. Well, I suppose you could brace the camera against your nose, or mouth, or forehead, instead..

Should have read further

The Optio's are great cameras for portability for sure.

Chip NoVaMac · Oct 3, 2004

ThomasJefferson said:
Love my canon powershot A80. You can find reviews and samples of that, and others - here ...

http://www.dcresource.com/

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/

The Canon A70, 80, 90 series is another one that I really like. AA battery compatibly, can take accessory lenses.

I also like the S30, 40, 50, 60, and 70 series. Good battery life on the rechargeable battery. About 200 to 300 shots on my S30. A thicker, but still small. And the S60 and 70 have 28m wide-angle zoom lenses. I prefer a wider zoom.

Romulan · Oct 3, 2004

Thanks!

Thanks everyone for the great ideas. I'm going to go to compUSA and some other stores to check out the cameras you all mentioned. Right now I'm leaning towards the SD10. I appreciate all the links and suggestions Wish me luck!

Chip NoVaMac · Oct 3, 2004

Romulan said:
Thanks everyone for the great ideas. I'm going to go to compUSA and some other stores to check out the cameras you all mentioned. Right now I'm leaning towards the SD10. I appreciate all the links and suggestions Wish me luck!

Good luck and remember that the SD10 is being replaced by the 5mp SD20.

Montserrat · Oct 3, 2004

Firewire support

Following this thread with interest - was personally leaning towards an A85/A95. Does anyone know if they have firewire connectivity?

Romulan · Oct 3, 2004

Chip NoVaMac said:
Good luck and remember that the SD10 is being replaced by the 5mp SD20.

Yikes!

When's that gonna happen? I don't wanna spend close to $400 if it's gonna be replaced soon...

. Better do some more research.

edesignuk · Oct 3, 2004

Romulan said:
Yikes! When's that gonna happen? I don't wanna spend close to $400 if it's gonna be replaced soon... . Better do some more research.

$400!?!? The SD10 only cost me £160 ($287), and we pay more for everything anyway, how on earth could it set you back $400

cluthz · Oct 3, 2004

I have a Minolta DiMage Xt, which is great.
It has 3x Optical

(37-117mm) and its 3.2 Mpix.
Its light, small and takes great pictures.
It also has some manual functions and "continous drive mode" (You can take series of pix).
The blitz isn't the best, but I haven't seen small cameras with a great blitz.

The camera is ofcourse 100% compatible wih iPhoto, and it also supports USB- masstorage (you can use it as a usb drive on your computer)

Anyway, take a look at http://www.steves-digicams.com for reviews of almost every digital camera made..

(the dimage xt compared to a cd)

Romulan · Oct 3, 2004

oops...

edesignuk said:
$400!?!? The SD10 only cost me £160 ($287), and we pay more for everything anyway, how on earth could it set you back $400

LOL, the price I read was from the original release date

. It's still $310 at Amazon though. But if I hunt around I'm sure I could get it for around $287. I might wait around for the SD20. Thanks edesignuk for all the good info about the SD10

. It and all the other suggestions helped alot.

Need compact digital camera

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