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New Compact Camera recomendations ~£500

Colonel_Mad

pfm Member
I have my 50th coming up and my parents want to buy me a new camera as a present. I have a DSLR and use my iphone a lot too, but what I really feel I need is a decent compact that I can literally stick in my pocket and shoot quickly for street photoraphy etc.

I've been looing at the reviews of these and most seem to focus on the multitude of video and vlogging features that many of these things have. I am simply not interested and don't want to waste money on video features I will literally never use. Don't think I have ever taken a video on one of my digital cameras in 18 years of ownership!

I need to prioritise picture quality, especially at low light, and also truly small size. Would prefer zoom too rather than fixed lens.

I'll have around £400 to £500 to spend. I have mostly used Canon in the past so am interested in things like the Powershot G7 but am open to other makes too. I'm sure it won't take long to get used to a different set of controls.

Thanks if anyone has any advice or suggestions.

Jonathan
 
Happy Sony RX100 Mk3 user here. The mark 3 has pop up viewfinder and a screen that flips for selfies and is available from John Lewis for £480.
 
I've moved to a Fuji X-Pro2 which is not what you want, but Fuji may do something suitable in your size and budget, I certainly think they have the small format camera design down well. Ricoh is another one to look at, not sure what they have in the GR range now, but they are a very nice compact series of cameras. Saying that I moved from Sony an A7 mk1 which was a superb camera, I just wanted something a bit different in the Fuji.
 
If you want something that is truely pockable with a zoom then the Sony RX100 family is your weapon of choice.

However there are cameras from Canon and Panasonic which also meet the bill
 
Canon GX5 mk2. I have one. It's great. Feels like a proper well made metal cam. great sensor, pop up viewfinder really works, and image Q is cracking. Good zoom range too. perfect for street. BUT...it's more than 500 quid, as is the Sony. new. used you'll find one.

I much prefer Canon's image colours to Sony's.
 
My carry around camera is the Panasonic Lumix DMC TZ100. It has reasonable EVF, good usable focal length, and plenty of different modes to use.

I am very happy with it, only criticism is that the optical correction on the EVF is too easily moved.

I would caution against keeping any camera with a retractable lens in your pockets without a cover. Pockets are dusty places and you risk some that dust being sucked in and ending up on the sensor.

I keep mine in a little Hama case it slings easily across my body.
 
I hesitated between the RX100 zoom and one of the fixed focal alternatives, ended up getting a Ricoh GR III which has just been delivered.
I intend to use it in Manual mode with Auto ISO and it's "snap focus" pre-set focus distance mode, mostly in crop mode (35mm @ 16mpix) and have bought an optical viewfinder which I think I would miss. I have never enjoyed shooting without the camera to my eye...
Point and shoot at its best. (I hope :D)

Unfortunately no pocketable camera comes with an EVF large enough that I can live with it.
 
Thanks for your advice everyone. I went and had a little play with a few alternatives and ended up going with the Canon G7x MkII. It had a very nice feel, the control layout and symbols were familiar from my DSLR and I really liked the rotating exposure dial on the top. It’s a feature I use a lot even when it’s in the software menus.

Cheers. J
 
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Sounds perfect. When I got my first dslr the advice I was given (by a pro photographer), go to Jessops, play with all of them and see which feels right (Canon 40D in my case), then go back through the model history until you can find one you can afford (Canon 20D). I think it was sound advice, his opinion was get the camera that feels best, the features are much of a muchness and won't make that big a difference to you. I've always picked cameras that to me feel right in the hand, specs of whatever I have has never held me back.
 
I've been through a few compact cameras...last was a lovely Leica. These days they don't see the light of day, I use my phone. I only use the SLR with a long lens for bird photography.
 
I’m the other way. Rarely use my SLR anymore. Use my iPhone a lot for day to day photography but regularly feel I’m missing a high quality pocketable compact. I spend most of my time photographing in cities rather than countryside. SLR too big to carry on a day that isn’t specifically devoted to photography. Experience tells me the best photo opportunities come out of nowhere and rarely on the day you head out with photography in mind.
 
I’m the other way. Rarely use my SLR anymore. Use my iPhone a lot for day to day photography but regularly feel I’m missing a high quality pocketable compact. I spend most of my time photographing in cities rather than countryside. SLR too big to carry on a day that isn’t specifically devoted to photography. Experience tells me the best photo opportunities come out of nowhere and rarely on the day you head out with photography in mind.

I've just sold my FF DSLR for a pocketable for that exact reason. I wish to have a camera that is always in my pocket; tried the smartphone but it doesn't work.
 
I haven’t considered myself a photographer for years, mostly because I’m sick of electronic matchboxes (ie. Panasonic LX, Samsung compact, Sony NEX, Sony A6000, all phones), squinting through a micro viewfinder if they have one, pressing a button or tapping a black screen in most lighting and hoping the damned things take a shot or two. It has driven me crazy to be honest.

I’m hoping the imminent arrival of an EM1 Mk ii with 12-40 Pro will take me back 20 years to when I actually enjoyed shooting stuff with my Nikon film gear, in a modern blindingly fast never-could-have-dreamt-of-this-capability sort of way.

But I get it entirely that many just want a compact in the jacket pocket.
 
I haven’t considered myself a photographer for years, mostly because I’m sick of electronic matchboxes (ie. Panasonic LX, Samsung compact, Sony NEX, Sony A6000, all phones), squinting through a micro viewfinder if they have one, pressing a button or tapping a black screen in most lighting and hoping the damned things take a shot or two. It has driven me crazy to be honest.

I’m hoping the imminent arrival of an EM1 Mk ii with 12-40 Pro will take me back 20 years to when I actually enjoyed shooting stuff with my Nikon film gear, in a modern blindingly fast never-could-have-dreamt-of-this-capability sort of way.

But I get it entirely that many just want a compact in the jacket pocket.
Hope this works for you. I love all things Olympus, except the complex menu layout (I'm old and grumpy tho:) ) so my advice IS
get a really good book on setting it up and take time to do that. When that's right, you'll love what it does i think.I like Thom Hogan...straight talking pro. This is well worth a look.
https://www.sansmirror.com/cameras/...mera-reviews/olympus-e-m1-mark-ii-review.html
 
I've been through a few compact cameras...last was a lovely Leica. These days they don't see the light of day, I use my phone. I only use the SLR with a long lens for bird photography.

Personally I don't own a 'smart' phone and probably never will. But, yeah, why bother with an extra thing on you (and the extra expense) when the phone does the job?

I have a shit quality old (+12 years) Fuji something of the type that looks like a small SLR but isn't. Sometimes I hope it will break so I can get something new. Probably worse than anything you get when you buy a phone today.
 


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