Looking for a fairly decent compact camera

[Guest]

Hi folks,

 

I'm not much of a fan of lugging my DSLR around on holiday anymore and have come to the conclusion that I'm better off purchasing a compact camera for travel that takes fairly decent photos and is small enough to keep in my pocket. My price range is £200 - £300 and so far I have my eye on the Canon SX700 and Canon G16 but looking for opinions on other/better options. It would be nice to have reach similar to the Canon G16 (6.1 – 30.5 mm (35 mm equivalent: 28 – 140 mm)) as I'm likely to take a variety of landscape, texture and close-up shots. I don't mind looking at other brands but definitely don't want something too bulky as it needs to fit in my pocket.

 

Any suggestions?

[ChrisLumix]

Canon may well be one of the traditional 'big 2' when it comes to SLRs, but I don't believe they're top of the tree for compacts. Panasonic, Olympus, Fuji and Sony make excellent compacts, but in your price range and desired reach I would look at Panasonic, as their TZ series  would give you what you're looking for. 

 

Do bear in mind that no compact camera will deliver close-ups with shallow DOF as their equivalent apertures tend to be quite high even when at full aperture - f8-f11 typically. There are 'enthusiast compacts' with larger sensors, but they of necessity have a short reach, and are quite pricey.

[Leon]

I have a SH280sx by Canon, very very good except the shocking battery life.... 

 

 

did that help?

[Guest]

Thanks for the posts.

 

I have a SH280sx by Canon, very very good except the shocking battery life.... 

 

 

did that help?

 

Good to hear you like the SX280. I see that has the newer DIGIC 6 processor too. Shame about the battery life, although I read a review for the SX700 that suggested the battery life is quite good.

 

Canon may well be one of the traditional 'big 2' when it comes to SLRs, but I don't believe they're top of the tree for compacts. Panasonic, Olympus, Fuji and Sony make excellent compacts, but in your price range and desired reach I would look at Panasonic, as their TZ series  would give you what you're looking for. 

 

Do bear in mind that no compact camera will deliver close-ups with shallow DOF as their equivalent apertures tend to be quite high even when at full aperture - f8-f11 typically. There are 'enthusiast compacts' with larger sensors, but they of necessity have a short reach, and are quite pricey.

 

I like the look of the Panasonic TZ60 and it's nice to see it has a viewfinder, although given that it's £50 more than the Canon SX700 I'm not sure whether the extra features make it worth it. I'll have to compare sample shots to check image quality, although noise seems to be an issue at higher ISOs.

 

I'm aware shallow DoF won't be as good as with a DSLR but it shouldn't be a big issue for me. The Canon G16 looks to be the best for close-ups of the three by the looks of it (f/1.8-f/2.8).

[ChrisLumix]

I'm aware shallow DoF won't be as good as with a DSLR but it shouldn't be a big issue for me. The Canon G16 looks to be the best for close-ups of the three by the looks of it (f/1.8-f/2.8).

 

Do investigate the "equivalent" aperture, dictated by sensor size. My LX100 has a m4/3 sensor and an f1.7 lens, which translates to around f2.8 wide open. The Canon G16 is a 1/1.7" sensor, which would set the lens to an equivalent of f4 - f5.6 wide open (like the LX7). So yes, it's fast, but you wouldn't get a shallow DOF. But if that's not such a big deal for you, it's undoubtedly a good camera.