Recommend compact digital camera with the following features


wolvie77

Member
Nov 15, 2009
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Hi! all. i'm looking for a compact digital camera with hopefully with all or most of the features listed below. using it for shooting faraway items,low light situations. don't wana lug my dslr around for some trips so hope to find a backup compact camera.

1) Manual, Aperture, Shutter, Program modes
2) Can handle low light situation
3) Optical zoom of at least above 10x. 12 to 15 would be good
4) Can adjust focus point manually. i know some nikon coolpix S2500 can use the circular dial to place the focus point. really need this function so that i can
assign the focus point i want.
5) good battery life though not essential
6) looking at the following brands: Olympus, Nikon, Canon, Casio, Fuji film.
 

I recommend olympus XZ1... bought it and love it.. comes with F1.8 lens. there's quite a few reviews on CS for XZ1.... impressive performance by this small cam... Indoor low light(not too low) so far no problem.... and comes with 6 art filters for creativity photography - I love them!
 

Hi! all. i'm looking for a compact digital camera with hopefully with all or most of the features listed below. using it for shooting faraway items,low light situations. don't wana lug my dslr around for some trips so hope to find a backup compact camera.

1) Manual, Aperture, Shutter, Program modes
2) Can handle low light situation
3) Optical zoom of at least above 10x. 12 to 15 would be good
4) Can adjust focus point manually. i know some nikon coolpix S2500 can use the circular dial to place the focus point. really need this function so that i can
assign the focus point i want.
5) good battery life though not essential
6) looking at the following brands: Olympus, Nikon, Canon, Casio, Fuji film.

If you are flexible on point #3, the recommendations above will fit the bill.
 

thx for the recommendations. point 3 is quite crucial for me too. at least 10x would be good
 

Coming from a DSLR user point of view, I think it would be wiser if TS can try to understand what does 10x and 15x means. Although, generally speaking, more x zoom equals can reach further, TS, the true meaning has got to do with the minimum focal length of the lens in the compact camera. I'll give an obscure example:

A 5x zoom of a minimum 20mm lens is equal to a 10x zoom with a minimum 10mm lens. The reason is becos 10x10mm = 100mm, which is equal to 5 x 20mm. But does this makes these two lens the same? No. The difference between this two lens is not the zoom but rather the wider angle. I'm not sure if you already know all these but I wish to state it here so that u dun get misinformed.

Have a great day.
 

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Hi! all. i'm looking for a compact digital camera with hopefully with all or most of the features listed below. using it for shooting faraway items,low light situations. don't wana lug my dslr around for some trips so hope to find a backup compact camera.

1) Manual, Aperture, Shutter, Program modes
2) Can handle low light situation
3) Optical zoom of at least above 10x. 12 to 15 would be good
4) Can adjust focus point manually. i know some nikon coolpix S2500 can use the circular dial to place the focus point. really need this function so that i can
assign the focus point i want.
5) good battery life though not essential
6) looking at the following brands: Olympus, Nikon, Canon, Casio, Fuji film.

Still does not fit his bill....

From sony site...
Photo Modes:Superior Auto, Program Auto, iSweep Panorama, 3D Sweep Panorama, 3D Still Image, Sweep Multi Angle, Handheld Twilight, Backlight Correction HDR, Background Defocus, Anti Motion Blur, Manual Exposure.

Only thing that fits will be mirroless format like Oly Pen series, or GF1 or GF2.
 

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if that's the main consideration... M4/3 or Mirrorless will be on the list as well
 

the GF2 is pretty small. isn't Olympus coming up with some super tiny M 4/3 camera?
 

I'm not really in the loop for these megazoom cameras, but AFAIK, Panasonic does make megazooms in more compact form with manual controls: http://www.dpreview.com/products/panasonic/compacts/panasonic_dmczs10

Brand is not in the list though, and not sure about the focusing part, but should be there.

If you are looking at megazooms, then got a lot more options from all your brands.
 

I'm narrowing down to Nikon P500 & Canon Powershot SX230 HS. How do these 2 perform? i tried Canon's Powershot & was impressed by its features but only thing that bothers me is i can't manually select a focus point on the screen like some of the Nikon coolpix model. I think Nikon P500 can do that & its got most of the features i want only thing is the size of the camera that holding me back & picture quality.
 

I'm narrowing down to Nikon P500 & Canon Powershot SX230 HS. How do these 2 perform? i tried Canon's Powershot & was impressed by its features but only thing that bothers me is i can't manually select a focus point on the screen like some of the Nikon coolpix model. I think Nikon P500 can do that & its got most of the features i want only thing is the size of the camera that holding me back & picture quality.

make your choice. it's up to you to decide now. if you want the perfect camera you can go and design it all you want. make it the way you want it.

but you can't right? so you need to give up something for another.
 

how about canon s95?
 


Yup I just hoot this today for my China trip this week.
Solely based on internet reviews and a friend's recommendation.
Have not taken my first shot yet as doing first charge for the battery.
Hope it will not disappoint me.

First disadvantage I noticed is that you have to put the battery into the camera body to charge it.
Other compact cameras I owned comes with separate battery charger, advantage is that you can still use the camera while your spare battery is charging.