Wanted: slim body and enormous LCD!

Matthew Saville

Hey guys and gals, I'm directing this topic at all of you who are probably DSLR owners, who probably know apetures and shutter speeds better than you know your girlfriends phone number.

What do you think of the new trend in huge 2.5"-3" LCD, ultra-slim body, 4-6 Megapixel cameras? I'm finding that a nice point&shoot would be a cool thing to have in my shirt pocket when I go out.

I've been a long time advocate of simply shooting 35mm, sometimes even 35mm slide, when I go somewhere with my family or just for fun, somewhere where nobody's paying me to take pictures but I'd like to record the event just the same. However it'd be even cooler to have a camera that I can put in my pocket just for going over to a friends house or out to dinner etc. etc.

Since I already have a DSLR, I don't really care about having tons of megapixels or tons of zoom. However, having owned a DSLR, what I have become acustomed to is control. WB control, ISO control, and of course exposure control and focus control.

I'm not going to carry an Olympus 8080 or a Coolpix 8800 in my pocket, am I? As sexy as those cameras look, no. And you wouldn't catch me dead with one of those mickey mouse, fisher-price looking P&S cameras.

Now, I think camera companies are starting to catch on to the desire for a camera so cool looking that even a pro who has thousands of dollars of drool-able equipment at home would want to carry.

I'm talking about the Sony T1, the Nikon S1, the Fuji F1, etc. etc. Do these cameras not look absoutely irresistible, or is it just me?

Anyway I'll stop beating around the bush. I'm interested in this new trend, but everywhere I look I seem to read things like "absolutely no manual exposure modes other than +/- EV"... which is not cool. I'm interested in a black, or other really cool looking (like that hot orange Casio!) camera that has a huge LCD, but more importantly is slim but with ample manual control. Does this exist in a camera yet? I'm too busy working on Rabbit Island scanning / printing to research this. Any advice or input or general knowledge would be greatly appreciated. In fact I'd be happy even if people were to agree that I'm not alone and yes these new slim cameras are sexy looking and yes you all want one very badly.

Take care,
-Matt-
PS: More on Rabbit Island someday. Anyone in the SoCal area should know about OCC and it's stellar photo program...

Michiel de Brieder

As a 20D owner I am *completely* in love with the Casio Z750. Functionality, speed, ergonomics, quality, it's all there, I adore that li'll cam! And the battery life is stunning! I've filled 2Gigs of memory and the battery still lives!!!

Any questions about the camera are welcome

Matthew Saville

Michiel de Brieder wrote:

As a 20D owner I am *completely* in love with the Casio Z750. Functionality, speed, ergonomics, quality, it's all there, I adore that li'll cam! And the battery life is stunning! I've filled 2Gigs of memory and the battery still lives!!!

Any questions about the camera are welcome

Oh yeah, battery life is a nifty thing, too. And like I said, that hot orange Casio has caught my eye. But that's the uh, the EX S500, correct? Right now that camera and the new Fuji F1 are highest on my list, but neither of them have the fully manual controls that I'd like, nor 1600 ISO that I'd like. I'm hoping that there are cameras out there that I don't know about which have these features...

-Matt-

gsgary

Fujifilm F10 zoom has 80-1600 iso but not much manual control 2.5" lcd 500 shot battery life

Matthew Saville wrote:

Oh yeah, battery life is a nifty thing, too. And like I said, that hot orange Casio has caught my eye. But that's the uh, the EX S500, correct? Right now that camera and the new Fuji F1 are highest on my list, but neither of them have the fully manual controls that I'd like, nor 1600 ISO that I'd like. I'm hoping that there are cameras out there that I don't know about which have these features...

-Matt-

robscomputer

I'm also looking for a small pocket camera around 4MP. I like the SD300 as well but the screen is slightly smaller. Casio cameras are really nice, love the metal cases.

Rob

gluwater

Dsc-t1
My sister has the Sony DSC-T1 (http://www.betterphoto.com/reviews/reviewItemDetail.asp?reviewItemID=5788) and it is a cool little camera, as long as your outside. The controls are a bit lackluster and kinda hard to navigate. Not that I'm a good photographer or anything but I like the idea of teh camera better than the camera itself. In bright light it takes very nice pictures but in low light or indoors, even with the flash, the picture quality degrades severely. Here are a couple pictures from a family party taken with it.

Taken outside in bright sunlight. (my little cousin Zoe at her birthday party.)

Inside in low light, with the flash on. (Zoe and her mother Lidia opening her presents)
The shot is blurred and was quite dark. I did quite a bit of post processing to get this to this shape. A lot of the photos taken inside were like this.

Hope this helps.
Nick

kini62

I have the Z1 and am quite happy with its performance for its class. It's totally a point and shoot though. ISO 800 is actually quite good. It's a little soft, probably due to me moving. Shutter speed is 1/38.

Matthew Saville

kini62 wrote:

I have the Z1 and am quite happy with its performance for its class. It's totally a point and shoot though. ISO 800 is actually quite good. It's a little soft, probably due to me moving. Shutter speed is 1/38.

The Z1? I'm not sure I know which company is making the Z lineup... But wow, for ISO 800 that (relative thumbnail) looks really good! A little USM and that's very printable, I'd guess.

Okay so we've got the Nikon S1 and the S2, the Sony T1 and a bunch of assorted other T's, the T7 being the latest? Also Fuji has the F10 and the F1, Kodak has that crazy looking Easyshare ONE, oh and the Casio Z750, the Casio S500, and that's all I can think of right now. Oh yeah there's an Olympus limited edition Ferrari camera, but as sexy and red as it is I don't think I'll be forking out that much...

I think simply compiling a list of the cameras that fit into this new category is what I'm trying to do for now. Please, anyone who knows of another camera just drop a reply and let me know. Thanks!

-Matt-

XO-Studios

Matthew Saville wrote:

Hey guys and gals,<SNIP>.

While it might not live up to all you are looking for, I bought a Pentax Optio WP, as an alternative to lugging around the D70, and I must say, it is fantastic, while picture wise pretty good, the WP (Weather Proof) feature makes it the ideal alternate camera, to take to the beach, teh pool, snowboarding, etc. Controls are pretty good including WB and ISO.

FWIW, YMMV,

XO,

Aaron Bernard

The new Sony V3 7.1MP is sort of small compaired to a DSLR. Fully manual and will take a compact flash card (as opposed to a memory stick).

Might be something to look at.

Matthew Saville

XO-Studios wrote:

While it might not live up to all you are looking for, I bought a Pentax Optio WP, as an alternative to lugging around the D70, and I must say, it is fantastic, while picture wise pretty good, the WP (Weather Proof) feature makes it the ideal alternate camera, to take to the beach, teh pool, snowboarding, etc. Controls are pretty good including WB and ISO.

FWIW, YMMV,

XO,

Hey, I didn't think about that! Weather proof might be, or at least should very well be, an item on my list... I'll think about that!

-Matt-

DeanMcM

Dsc-p200

Matthew Saville wrote:

Hey, I didn't think about that! Weather proof might be, or at least should very well be, an item on my list... I'll think about that!

-Matt-

Just picked-up a SONY P200. Not always able to lug around my Canon 20D.
I had it about a week now. Takes great pictures, fast start-up, not much lag, great battery life, very small, manual and auto controls, etc etc...

You can shoot 7.2mp, 3.2, 5mp, 3mp and I think 1mp for emails.

Check it out.

Dean

kini62

Matthew Saville wrote:

The Z1? I'm not sure I know which company is making the Z lineup... But wow, for ISO 800 that (relative thumbnail) looks really good! A little USM and that's very printable, I'd guess.

Fuji makes the Z1. It's their newest ultra-compact and about the only choice in that class right now if you want to be able to use ISO 400 or 800 with decent results.

Matthew Saville

kini62 wrote:

Matthew Saville wrote:

The Z1? I'm not sure I know which company is making the Z lineup... But wow, for ISO 800 that (relative thumbnail) looks really good! A little USM and that's very printable, I'd guess.

Fuji makes the Z1. It's their newest ultra-compact and about the only choice in that class right now if you want to be able to use ISO 400 or 800 with decent results.

Oh, you see, Fuji went from making the F10 to the Z1, so I got thrown off because the other companies were keeping their letters consistent between their slim 2.5" LCD cameras, lol. But the Z1 I did see on dpreview, and I like it. I put it in second/third place behind the Casio S500 and that Pentax WP I just caught word of.

Ironically, and I'm being serious here folks, a big LCD and cool looks are sort of a priority for me. Cause like I said, I get the big-print-performance I need from my DSLR. Manual controls aren't all that necessary, high ISO isn't all that necessary. But the hot "fiesta" orange of the new S500 is really good looking. I told you my priorities were backwards!

-Matt-

gtc

v3 for me
its like a little digital equivalent of the rangefinder cameras of yore-you can turn off the fake shutter sound and shoot silently and quickly-full manual control and an excellent chip with good infrared sensitivity,laser assisted night time focussing which works very well and going going going gone..soon to be discontinued ,so you can bargain.

its small enough to pocket and whip out without drawing attention(talking about camera here)

Matthew Saville

gtc wrote:

its like a little digital equivalent of the rangefinder cameras of yore-you can turn off the fake shutter sound and shoot silently and quickly-full manual control and an excellent chip with good infrared sensitivity,laser assisted night time focussing which works very well and going going going gone..soon to be discontinued ,so you can bargain.

its small enough to pocket and whip out without drawing attention(talking about camera here)

V3? This is not something I think I am aware of... Laser-assisted focusing? It sounds sweet... Where can I look this thing up?

-Matt-

pathfinder

Matthew Saville wrote:

V3? This is not something I think I am aware of... Laser-assisted focusing? It sounds sweet... Where can I look this thing up?

-Matt-

It is a nice 7Mg pixel Sony - but not shirt pocketable. Looks like a great P&S - similar to the Canon G6

You can read about it here http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/V3/V3A.HTM

Matthew Saville

pathfinder wrote:

It is a nice 7Mg pixel Sony - but not shirt pocketable. Looks like a great P&S - similar to the Canon G6

You can read about it here http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/V3/V3A.HTM

Oooohhh! Up to 30 seconds shutter speed! That camera is sweet. considering the 2.5" LCD, the V3 would definitely be my camera of choice if I didn't already have a DSLR... But having a DSLR, like I said, makes it a tad difficult to justify the V3. But I'm definitely bookmarking this sweet camera...

I got to hold the Sony T7 yesterday. Almost TOO small! I could see myself dropping that camera a bit, not to mention getting fingers in my pictures... I'm now thinking that the whole "folded, inside lens" thing isn't that good of an idea. I'll opt for an extending zoom if I can. But remember people, we're still prioritizing a slim body and a large LCD. And so far, the Fuji Z1 and the Casio S500 are the most attractive to me.

Now that I finished all my Rabbit Island images, here's a list of similar cameras that I've compiled:

Sony T1
Sony T3 (not for the US?)
Sony M1 (Sweet!!!)
Sony T33 (interesting camera, apparently good for macro)
Sony T7

Nikon S1 (apparently the black models are impossible to acquire, boo nikon...)
Nikon S2 (not available yet)

Fuji F10 (underwater housing too! That reminds me, Pentax OptioWP is also a nifty little digicam)
Fuji Z1 (the "james bond" camera)

Casio Z750 and Z757 (interesting cameras, odd features)
Casio S500 (unavailable. Currently my love-affair, with that hot orange color... I fear however for the LCD's miniscule 85,000 pixels... Also, Casio LCD's hare alleged to be hard to view, which would probably go VERY bad with my "packing tape LCD protector" trick...)

Let me know if there's any others I'm not including... And I hope this list is helping some people!

-Matt-

DeanMcM

F10
Just got the F10 - I love it!

Sent my P200 back, it was nice but not a nice as the F10

PhotoArtist

FujiFilm FinePix Z1
Hi All,

I just bought the FujiFilm FinePix Z1, I love the size of the camera, the size of the LCD, but even though the shutter lag is .001, it is still too slow. Of course I only shot 3 images and that was in low light. So we will see. I am very happy with the size though.

Crawf

Matthew Saville

PhotoArtist wrote:

Hi All,

I just bought the FujiFilm FinePix Z1, I love the size of the camera, the size of the LCD, but even though the shutter lag is .001, it is still too slow. Of course I only shot 3 images and that was in low light. So we will see. I am very happy with the size though.

Crawf

Everybody seems to be really liking their fuji's.

But hey, you know what my latest kick is? I'm really, really digging the Sony M1, that strange phaser-like camera that is supposedly especially good at video. As much as I like the sweet color scheme of that Casio, I think I've narrowed down my options to the Fujis and the Sony M1.

Thank you all for your input on these cameras,
-Matt-

Matthew Saville

Nikon S4!!!

Matthew Saville wrote:

Everybody seems to be really liking their fuji's.

But hey, you know what my latest kick is? I'm really, really digging the Sony M1, that strange phaser-like camera that is supposedly especially good at video. As much as I like the sweet color scheme of that Casio, I think I've narrowed down my options to the Fujis and the Sony M1.

Thank you all for your input on these cameras,
-Matt-

And now, to join the 2.5" LCD craze, we have the Nikon S4!!!! Akin to the legendary SQ that the world loved so much, this camera now has 10x and a 2.5" LCD!!! Gosh, I definitely just felt a pang of desire...

Any other takers!
-Matt-

Oakley

Matt

I'm not a pro, but I just bought a Canon Powershot A95 because it's a (relatively) small point and shoot camera but comes with all the manual settings.

But the biggest plus going for it is the swivel LCD. That feature alone is why I am starting to think I might have some photo talent. lol

So now I can take this picture with the swivel ....standing up!

Dach

i just picked up a new Sony W5 and I think it's a really good hybrid between P&S and Pro cameras. It's small, but it might not be as small as you want, because it is about an inch thick. It fits in my shirt pocket. I was also looking for a small camera with a big screen, but what made me opt for this camera were all the shooting options. You can control exposure, white balance, shutter speed, ISO, even focus (though only in steps) manually, which is rare for a camera this size. Also, it gets great battery life from just 2 AA batteries. I don't know if this is what you're looking for, but I seemed to be looking for the same things you described, and this one worked for me.

Matthew Saville

Dach wrote:

i just picked up a new Sony W5 and I think it's a really good hybrid between P&S and Pro cameras. It's small, but it might not be as small as you want, because it is about an inch thick. It fits in my shirt pocket. I was also looking for a small camera with a big screen, but what made me opt for this camera were all the shooting options. You can control exposure, white balance, shutter speed, ISO, even focus (though only in steps) manually, which is rare for a camera this size. Also, it gets great battery life from just 2 AA batteries. I don't know if this is what you're looking for, but I seemed to be looking for the same things you described, and this one worked for me.

Actually yes, those of us who are DSLR owners still desire as much control as possible in a P&S. In my case I'm willing to sacrafice control if the camera can manage to take good pictures by itself, but the Sony W5 looks like a really perfect camera for a lot of us.

Thanks!
-Matt-

Matthew Saville

Wow! What is with all these perfect-for-me cameras lately, eh? I just read on Dpreview about the Capilo R3 made by Ricoh. Just HOW perfect-for-me, you ask?

~ 28-200 7.1x optical zoom! (Does anybody realize how coveted 28mm is on a P&S?)
~ 1 cm macro! (Don't get me wrong--I love my 150mm Sigma--but I really enjoy P&S cameras for macro, it's a great tool when you want less "subject isolation".)
~ Vibration Correction! (nifty, and with ISO 800 I could really do some damage!)
~ Skew correction! (Holy toledo, batman! This sounds SWEET!)
~ 2.5" LCD (Would I settle for any less?)
~ Did I mention the ISO? 64-800!

Anyway, needless to say I'm stoked.
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0509/05090702ricoh_caplior3.asp

There's the link, oh and here's the Nikon S4 as well, still a contender in my opinion:
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0509/05090103nikon_coolpixs4.asp

Take care,
-Matt-

PS: Dpreview seems to be down right now. I hope it's nothing too serious...
[edit] oop, they're back up now. Everyone go check out the Capilo R3!

knary

So... what did Mathew end up getting?

Matthew Saville

knary wrote:

So... what did Mathew end up getting?

Hi Knary,

Right now P&S cameras are pretty low on my list of things I want, and that list comes after the "needs" list of course...

But if I suddently came into a lot of money I would buy TWO cameras. First I would buy the recently announced Pentax W10, then I would get that Kodak dual-lens camera that was also recently released. 23mm wide angle view in a P&S camera is just as tempting as being waterproof and shock-absorbant...

But, I don't just "come into money", I must earn it, so right now I'm saving up for more important things like a spare body and the two Tokina DX lenses that are coming out, the 16-50 f/2.8 and the 50-135 f/2.8...

Take care,
-Matt-