p&s camera

Seamus

I am strongly thinking about buying a p&s digital camera. I would use it on bike spins. Sometimes the 20d can be a pain to take out of the case and set up for what is, really, only a snapshot. I have gone through the reviews on dpreview and the a620 looks like a good camera.

I'm just wondering if anyone here uses a small digital camera and if they have any specific recommendations?

ripbob

A620
It's a nice p&s, but it doesn't have the solid feel of an s70 or s80 since it's casing is mostly plastic. If that doesn't bother you, then go for it. You can get one for around 300.

chuckice

I've got an sd20 for bike rides, etc. GREAT little cam...impossibly small...

Tom Vervaeke

Canon S500 Digital Elph. I use this extensively for motorcycle rides. It's the size of a pack of cigarettes. 5MP. In the past I've also used a A70 and A80 for long trips to Mexico as these take AA batteries. Can also use my G6 for the motorcycle as well as long as you have a tank bag.

I will seldom take a DSLR on the bike.

T.

ramsingaram

I used to have a Canon SD300. It was small, light and fast. Had lots of fun with it until my friend dropped it and that was the end of it. SD400, SD500 are the same idea. Now I have a Casio EXZ750, slightly bigger (very slightly), amzingly fast and great pics.

http://ramsingaram.smugmug.com/gallery/1290549 : This gallery and a few others were shot with the Canon

http://ramsingaram.smugmug.com/gallery/1290763 : This gallery was shot with the Casio

Netgarden

I've found a ton of P&S's on ebay for half the price of new ones. That is if you don't mind waiting a few days. So many of them are used for less than a year and people move on to higher resolution cameras.

I have found the Sony's [if ya like zeiss color] and Canons at great prices.

Seamus

Thanks for the help and advice folks

I'm going shopping at the weekend and will let you know what I decide on.

Seamus.

NHBubba

I just took delivery of an A620 within the last hour. (I ordered it maybe 24 hours ago and can't get over how quickly it shipped and got here!) So far I haven't taken anything more than a few P&S grabs w/ it.. but so far I like it quite a bit. I bought the A620 as a 'toy' pocket camera to compliment my DRebel/300D and so far I'm delighted w/ it. It is more than small enough for my needs. Tonight I'll go shopping for a belt-mounted holster style bag for it.

The big selling point of this camera for me was the available underwater case. I have that on order as well as a 2 GB SD card. I plan to have this thing teathered in the boat while kayaking this summer. I was also turned on by the decent video capabilities of it. It probably won't make for the most artistic shots ever, but should be good for some interesting grabs. And I won't worry about damaging or loosing it.. Well, I won't worry as much as I would w/ a dSLR and some expensive glass!

I had been planning to go for the A610 instead and save a few bucks, as I think 5 MP is more than enough for this application. However at the last minute I decided what the hell and went for the 620 instead. I figured it might make it just that much more future proof or help me resell it in the future if I'm not totally happy. There was only a ~$75 difference.

The 'My Colors' feature is pretty nifty. We've been passing it around the office playing w/ the real-time color replace function!

Seamus

I bought the a620 today and posted a couple of pics in this thread:

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=140572

Thanks for the advice

Shay.

Andy

FWIW, I just bought my wife a Kodak Z612, great little camera with IS built in. Awesome quality, wonderful optical zoom range.

SeattleYates

Andy wrote:

FWIW, I just bought my wife a Kodak Z612, great little camera with IS built in. Awesome quality, wonderful optical zoom range.

Also in the FWIW category, I just recently bought a Panasonic/Lumix DMC-FX01 - it can be had for about $300, and not only has IS, but a high sensitivity mode that allows you to take shots while moving with minimal blurring (it bumps the ISO and shutter speed). I've had several digital Elphs and Coolpix's, but couldn't get good results of moving targets (or while I was moving) with either. Thus far, I'm delighted with this little Lumix!

jimf

SeattleYates wrote:

Also in the FWIW category, I just recently bought a Panasonic/Lumix DMC-FX01 - it can be had for about $300

I'm hearing a lot of good things about this camera, too, although I've yet to try one myself.

The P&Ss I usually recommend are Canon A-series if you are looking for better quality but not so concerned with portability, and Canon SD series if you're looking for compact and easy to use. Both produce very nice results.

I also suggest not spending money on high megapel numbers for compact cameras, the lenses aren't good enough to get much value out of anything more than perhaps 4mpel anyway.

If you're looking for a small, virtually indestructible camera then the only choice on the market is the Olympus 720sw. I can't say I'm entranced by its image quality but it's decent and the camera can shrug off both impacts and water. It's what I take mountain biking because sometimes it's not whether or not the pictures are great, it's whether or not you get them at all.

knary

Well timed thread.

Wife and I are off to Italy this summer for the first time (and our honeymoon, 10 years late ). I'm shopping for my first DSLR, but don't want to lug around a pricey(for me) piece of equipment or get suckered into spending my time taking pictures instead. And the old Canon S45 needs to be put out to pasture (14k+ shots later).

Something with IS is very appealing.

ed_h

Andy wrote:

FWIW, I just bought my wife a Kodak Z612, great little camera with IS built in. Awesome quality, wonderful optical zoom range.

Andy
I have been looking at something like that for the same reason as Seamus, how would you compare the Z612 with the Canon S3 IS
Thanks in Advance
Ed

Michiel de Brieder

I currently own a Casio Ex Z750, which is a very capable camera, but I will be replacing it today with a Sony H5, I can get back to you on these cameras if you want!