Point and Shoot Cameras

[Kyle72]

Hi All

Going over to scotland, england, france, bangkok next year for 6 weeks. I plan on taking my dslr kit over to try an capture some amazing shots, But what i would like to know is what would you guys recommend for a point and shoot camera, that is slimline and packs some punch and can produce good quality photos. This is a camera i would like to carry around with me at all times. Instead of lugging the back pack with all lenes and tripod everywhere with me. I would also like to know why you prefer this camera as well

Thanks in advance

Cheers
Kyle

[Old Skool]

Depends if you want a truly pocket camera or not. Something like the Canon S95 / S100 are meant to be pretty good and is pocket sized. A bit bigger try the Powershot G12 type series. Otherwise Samsung EX1/ TL500 and similar offerings from Lumix / Olypmus / Fuji. I'd be looking for a bigger sensor than "normal" for a P&S and a good lens. Samsung is a 24-70 F1.8 - others are similar. With this type P&S you should be getting reasonable quality pics.

[98kellrs]

I've always been a fan of the Panasonic TZ series, I had the Panasonic Lumix TZ-20 which has 16x Optical zoom, and 24mm wide angle lens (which is epeically useful in museums etc when most people are backed up against a wall trying to fit the whole subject in), I believe it also does full HD movies too if you're into that. It can also shoot 10fps, which is significantly faster than my current DSRL! :eek:

I think they're around $400-$500?

[ausguitarman]

I've got a G12 and a S100.

The G12 is not something I'd call pocket friendly but takes nice images during the day. The low light images leave a little to be desired. I predominately use it for underwater photography.

The S100 arrived the day before Christmas and I haven't really had a good chance to learn the inner working so to speak. I bought it due to it's size (smaller than most phones) and the ability to shot in RAW. I'm heading to Perth for a couple of weeks and wanted something to throw in the pocket whilst walking around town.

I'll let you know how the S100 pans out when I get back.

[Kyle72]

Thanks for the replies guys, would be interested in seeing what the s100 photo qualities are like during day, night and with flash. have always like the canon cameras

cheers
kyle

[agb]

Look here for S100 photos.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/minami/tags/s100/

[Karl]

I have the Canon G12 which I use for all my underwater photography and I think it is a great camera. I also use as a back up camera for those times when I don't want to carry my DSLR around. Whilst it is a little big to fit in my pocket I carry it in a small camera case over my shoulder.

The one thing I like about the G12 over the S90/95/100 is because it is a little bigger in size it fits my hands very well - I have big hands and fingers and found the smaller cameras a little bit fiddly for me.

Karl

[Kyle72]

Agb thanks for the link the photos look amazing, looks like they produce some great photos.

Karl, would like to see some underwater shots with the g12 and what do you need to get good images underwater.

Cheers

[Karl]

Agb thanks for the link the photos look amazing, looks like they produce some great photos.

Karl, would like to see some underwater shots with the g12 and what do you need to get good images underwater.

Cheers

No probs - check out these threads:

http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/showthread.php?95378-Underwater-Photos-Ex-HMAS-Perth
http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/showthread.php?97127-Crab
http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/showthread.php?96262-Nudis

They will show what you can achieve with the G12 and gives you a good spread of wide angle shots to macro and one super macro (crab). I like it and it is a very capable camera and in the right hands can produce excellent results - but it is a P&S and you shouldn't compare it with a DSLR so it does have some limitations (as do DSLRs in some circumstances).

In regards to using it under water well you need a housing (mine is a Resea housing - an aliminium housing), stobe/s (I have two - Sea & Sea YS 110 Alphas), fibre optic cables to fire the strobes and a tray / arms to mount the camera on and hold the stobes. My setup costs about $3000 - not including the camera - so about a 1/3 of the price for a full DSLR set up :eek:

I only use P&S for all my underwater stuff - the G12 is my second camera - and to date I have been published 8 times in a local (Aust) Scuba diving magazine and once in an international magazine and all the photos in my articles are done with P&S. I only mention this (not trying to big note myself) but to show that you can achieve very good results with any sort of camera as long as you know what you are doing and you use the cameras potential.

Hope this helps.

Karl

[filpee]

have you looked at the mirrorless cameras available? they are as small as a point and shoot but some like the sony and samsung pack a APS-C sized sensor. Might be a bit overkill for what your looking at though.

[Kyle72]

No probs - check out these threads:

http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/showthread.php?95378-Underwater-Photos-Ex-HMAS-Perth
http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/showthread.php?97127-Crab
http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/showthread.php?96262-Nudis

They will show what you can achieve with the G12 and gives you a good spread of wide angle shots to macro and one super macro (crab). I like it and it is a very capable camera and in the right hands can produce excellent results - but it is a P&S and you shouldn't compare it with a DSLR so it does have some limitations (as do DSLRs in some circumstances).

In regards to using it under water well you need a housing (mine is a Resea housing - an aliminium housing), stobe/s (I have two - Sea & Sea YS 110 Alphas), fibre optic cables to fire the strobes and a tray / arms to mount the camera on and hold the stobes. My setup costs about $3000 - not including the camera - so about a 1/3 of the price for a full DSLR set up :eek:

I only use P&S for all my underwater stuff - the G12 is my second camera - and to date I have been published 8 times in a local (Aust) Scuba diving magazine and once in an international magazine and all the photos in my articles are done with P&S. I only mention this (not trying to big note myself) but to show that you can achieve very good results with any sort of camera as long as you know what you are doing and you use the cameras potential.

Hope this helps.

Karl

Karl your shots are amazing, i guess a photographer who knows what their doing can make any camera take a half decent photo, And there is nothing wrong with mentioning what you have acheived, and i understand why when i looked at the threads above. Well done . Do you use the live view mode when shooting underwater or do you use the viewfinder? I use to do alot of spear fishing when i was younger and underwater is just another world, and sometimes i just wish i could have captured some of those moments.

Thank you for your comments in regards to this camera, when i read reviews its almost sometimes reading a sales marketing promo. You just cant beat the comments and pointers from users of that particular product.

Thanks again kyle

[Karl]

Do you use the live view mode when shooting underwater or do you use the viewfinder? I use to do alot of spear fishing when i was younger and underwater is just another world, and sometimes i just wish i could have captured some of those moments.

Thanks for your comments and I am always happy to help. In regards to your question I only use the live view - the view finder is rather useless and doesn't add anything to the camera.

The one thing with the G12 (and I suppose it is true with any camera) once you have mastered it it works really well. I found the manuals to be next to useless and just had to practice a lot to achieve the results I wanted.

Karl