Compact

[bettyfly]

Although this is the place for DLSR Users, I suppose most of you guys do own one or more digital compacts. I'm thinking about buying a serious compact for occasions where a SLR is just to big and awkward to handle.

Today I read this story and it really wetted my appetite!

So what are your favorite tiny toys?

Betty

[aim54x]

My compact companion is the Fujifilm FinePix F100fd (great image quality but no manual features), but many of the people on the forum own Canon G9/G10's. Also have a look at the Panasonic LX-3 (Leica D-Lux 4's Panasonic clone).

[radar]

Betty,

when looking for a compact camera, I had it narrowed down to three:

-Panasonic LX3 (similar to Leica D-Lux 4 which is much more expensive)
-Canon G10
-Nikon P6000

They all have their pro/cons and all of them are in a similar price range. For me, it was a requirement that it did RAW.

See these good reviews below:
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/revie ... hips.shtml
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/revie ... /lx3.shtml

In the end, I ended up not getting the Nikon because its RAW format is not supported on the Mac (bad bad Nikon )

Left me with either the G10 or LX3. The size of the the LX3 is smaller, better lens and a bit wider, 24 instead of 28. The availability of the LX3 (none in Newcastle at the time and hard to get elsewhere) tipped me to get the G10. I needed the camera prior to going on a trip. I didn't need the extra pixels on such a small sensor that the Canon gave me (15Mb instead of 10 Mb for LX3) but in the end, I'm very happy. The camera feels very good in the hand, it is very fast for a P&S and if you don't go for the higher ISO, the quality of the photos is tops. It can be used in full manual mode and the controls are easy to use.

Also, you can get an underwater housing for the Canon G10, which I may look at getting as I've got some kayaking trips planned for this year.

The P6000 is still a very nice camera, a bit smaller in size then the G10, has the bonus of built in GPS and network connectivity, so don't discount it if you are processing your photos on a PC.

Cheers,

André

[aim54x]

Great idea Andre!

When I was looking (mid last year) I considered:

-Leica D-Lux 3 (cost was too high)
-Canon G9 (Too big for my liking)
-Ricoh GX100 (not bad, but not perfect)
-Nikon P5100 (no RAW, macro mode was not as good as I expected)

How did I end up with the F100fd? It was cheaper, had a wider zoom range (28mm wide, 5x zoom) and had really good high ISO performance to boot. But I did sacrifice the manual features and RAW capability, but the extra cost of the Leica and bulk (+ cost) of the G9 could not be justified for my uses.

So consider what you need the camera for? What are key features that you require?
-size
-zoom range (wide angle?)
-manual features?
-RAW?

[Grev]

I have done some noise test for compacts, LX3, G10, IXUS 980, Nikon s600, Fuji J120, Fuji F100, Fuji J10...

The best of the bunch is suprisingly the J120 and LX3.