kristian said:
Hi all,
I'm looking for a slim and highly portable digital camera (think small handbag portable), preferably around the SGD$600-700 range. The pictures should be of good enough resolution for developing into 4R. Any recommendations?
At 4R, practically any 2MP and above camera will do. At that size, any softness in images ( which is a major flaw in all tiny cameras ) will not show up. It's when you print A4 / 8R or bigger that these will manifest themselves.
I can recommend a few, in ascending order of size/weight :
1. Pentax Option S (3.2MP) and the new upcoming Optio S4 (4MP). Not as sharp as others, but ultra tiny. Around 100g in weight, with 3 x zoom ! Smallest zoom digicam ever. Amazingly portable. If 4R, sharpness is not an issue. It might be an issue if you print 8R.
2. Casio Exilim with zoom ( 3.2MP) and the upcoming 4MP version. Sharper than the Optio though it uses the same lens. Slightly bigger. Might be a good compromise between size and quality.
3. Minolta Xt. 3.2 MP. Older version ( X, Xi ) had problems with softness in image due to the way the lens is constructed ( it uses a prism ). Not sure if this was resolved in the Xt. But again, at 4R, it doesn't matter.
4. Canon IXUS 400. 4MP in resolution. Sharpest and best image quality of the bunch. Also the biggest ( although still very small ), weighing in at 220g or so. Only one to use CF card, which is cheapest media now. Great if you need high capacity cards. Since it is very sharp, even 8R photos should be as good as other much higher end cameras.
