any suggestions for a compact?

[Tinderbox (UK)]

The Panasonic Lumix DMC ZS25 does not support RAW if that is an requirement also Panasonic compacts with extendible lenses have a tenancy to pull in dust/dirt that sticks on the sensor, but there are lots of guides on youtube on how to clean the sensor but you have to take the camera apart or send it to panasonic/ect for servicing, this is one good reason to buy a changeable lens camera, it`s much easier to clean the sensor.

John.

 

[timbo59]

I read up on that point about the EXR sensor while doing my research. Given that it's for my wife to simply take some holiday snaps, I'd leave it on auto for her or even switch it to enhanced DR.

 

[timbo59]

Ok, weird. The XF1 I was linked to yesterday by Sashbar jumped from $115 yesterday to over $400 today on Amazon! Same link and all, and being sold by Amazon itself, not an affiliated seller. It can be found cheaper elsewhere on the site, but not at that $115 price. Very slimy of Amazon.

 

[Tinderbox (UK)]

Take the hint, you were not meant to buy the XF1, roll the dice again.

John

 

[timbo59]

Oh, I was leaning away from it anyway. After the comment about the lack of RAW images on the Panasonic (which is where I was inclined to go) I had just decided to go back over the others and double check on their format offerings.

 

[Didereaux]

Oh, I was leaning away from it anyway. After the comment about the lack of RAW images on the Panasonic (which is where I was inclined to go) I had just decided to go back over the others and double check on their format offerings.

You have a conflict in needs that needs to be resolved. First you say you need a camera for the not tech savvy wife that must be small, portable, and take good pictures for under $200. NOW you are quibbling that it must take RAW, which she won't be able to upload well to media, and will be rather large files, and will take technical skill, software, and a computer to make the best final image. S I take it you are going to send her off with a pocketful of SD cards, a laptop and a small P&S...?

Second thing, if the camera is shooting in a programmed mode it will output JPEGS to the viewer anyway. I cannot say from experience what the quality is of hte others as goes jpgs, but the Panasonics produce very high quality stuff, Wife used to shoot one a couple years back and its output could be printed at high qaulity at 8x10. So sit back and and give a second hard look at your list of wants and eliminate those that conflict.

 

[sashbar]

Ok, weird. The XF1 I was linked to yesterday by Sashbar jumped from $115 yesterday to over $400 today on Amazon! Same link and all, and being sold by Amazon itself, not an affiliated seller. It can be found cheaper elsewhere on the site, but not at that $115 price. Very slimy of Amazon.

Bad luck. I told you the price was great.

 

[sashbar]

Amazon.com : Fujifilm XF1 12 MP Digital Camera with 3-Inch LCD Screen (Red) with SanDisk Ultra 16GB Class 10 SDHC Memory Card : Camera & Photo

 

[timbo59]

Quote 'You have a conflict in needs that needs to be resolved. First you say you need a camera for the not tech savvy wife that must be small, portable, and take good pictures for under $200. NOW you are quibbling that it must take RAW, which she won't be able to upload well to media, and will be rather large files, and will take technical skill, software, and a computer to make the best final image. S I take it you are going to send her off with a pocketful of SD cards, a laptop and a small P&S...?' unquote.

@ Didereaux. Seriously....you write this kind of garbage and consider that I have a problem? Guy, all you have done throughout this post is display a basic inability to comprehend basic English, and this post is yet another example. I started out in the OP by stating that I had a range of $100 to $200 to spend. You responded with the bell-ringing 'What is your budget?'. I pointed out that I wanted to get my wife something compact that she could slip into her handbag. You come back with a Fuji S4800 that someone else took the trouble of pointing out to you is hardly the kind of camera one would carry in a handbag. You now want to launch into a riff about how I'm suddenly getting pedantic over RAW? I stated that I was leaning towards the Panasonic but mentioned the RAW issue as a means of explaining how/why I had gone back to check out the Fuji link and other cameras on my list out of curiosity (and thus discovered the price change to the Fuji, even though I had decided not to buy it) because being a DSLR user I had simply assumed that all of them would have had RAW available as a given. As stated in the OP, I don't know the first thing about compacts - my entire 40-year background in photography has revolved around high end SLR Nikons from the F2 through to the F5, right through to modern DSLR's. Never owned a compact in my life. For my wife's snapshot usage I couldn't give a crap either way about RAW, as I almost certainly would have set her camera to jpegs anyway for her trip even if RAW had been available.

So no, she won't be needing a handful of SD cards or a laptop, but thanks for playing. When she comes home I'll go through her stuff, use my 25 odd years of experience working with PS to enhance the best, and put together a folder for her of the trip to Paris. End of story.

 

[Didereaux]

Quote 'You have a conflict in needs that needs to be resolved. First you say you need a camera for the not tech savvy wife that must be small, portable, and take good pictures for under $200. NOW you are quibbling that it must take RAW, which she won't be able to upload well to media, and will be rather large files, and will take technical skill, software, and a computer to make the best final image. S I take it you are going to send her off with a pocketful of SD cards, a laptop and a small P&S...?' unquote.

@ Didereaux. Seriously....you write this kind of garbage and consider that I have a problem? Guy, all you have done throughout this post is display a basic inability to comprehend basic English, and this post is yet another example. I started out in the OP by stating that I had a range of $100 to $200 to spend. You responded with the bell-ringing 'What is your budget?'. I pointed out that I wanted to get my wife something compact that she could slip into her handbag. You come back with a Fuji S4800 that someone else took the trouble of pointing out to you is hardly the kind of camera one would carry in a handbag. You now want to launch into a riff about how I'm suddenly getting pedantic over RAW? I stated that I was leaning towards the Panasonic but mentioned the RAW issue as a means of explaining how/why I had gone back to check out the Fuji link and other cameras on my list out of curiosity (and thus discovered the price change to the Fuji, even though I had decided not to buy it) because being a DSLR user I had simply assumed that all of them would have had RAW available as a given. As stated in the OP, I don't know the first thing about compacts - my entire 40-year background in photography has revolved around high end SLR Nikons from the F2 through to the F5, right through to modern DSLR's. Never owned a compact in my life. For my wife's snapshot usage I couldn't give a crap either way about RAW, as I almost certainly would have set her camera to jpegs anyway for her trip even if RAW had been available.

So please, by all means quote my posts back at me and point out where I stated that my wife 'won't be able to upload well to media', where I bitched about 'large files', and moaned about needing 'technical skills, software and a computer' to get the best out of her work?

So no, she won't be needing a handful of SD cards or a laptop, but thanks for playing. When she comes home I'll go through her stuff, use my 25 odd years of experience working with PS to enhance the best, and put together a folder for her of the trip to Paris. End of story.

yeah, your such a genius and so knowledgeable you can't even select a simple P&S. And you wonder why it was assumed that both you and your wife might not be experienced? I am certain there is a village in some shire needing a Village Idjit...
you're now on ignore

 

[Tinderbox (UK)]

I gave my opinion/advice and whay timbo59 buys is his own business and i respect that.

John.http://www.thephotoforum.com/members/timbo59.172931/

 

[timbo59]

'Yeah, your such a genius and so knowledgeable you can't even select a simple P&S. And you wonder why it was assumed that both you and your wife might not be experienced? I am certain there is a village in some shire needing a Village Idjit'

@Didereaux. Spectacular riposte yet again highlighting your inability to comprehend English. Also noted is how well you took up the cudgels in terms of responding to the points made about your diatribe.

Did I not state from the very beginning that I know zip about compacts - or was that too much for you to grasp? The first camera I ever used was an SLR, and every camera I've owned since has been a variant of that. I have over four decades of experience on that level. I'd guess you'd use the same asinine argument if someone ventured to make inquiries about large format 4 x 5 or 8 x 10 film cameras despite years of experience with 35mm? As for the 'assumed' inexperience on my part, did you not grasp the point in my OP about 'knowing my way round SLR's and DSLR's' or did that little tidbit skip your attention as well? Nice try, but no points.

I also love people who refer to others as 'idjits' and make disparaging comments about their intelligence, then sashay forth to display their own intellectual inadequacies by highlighting an inability to comprehend the basic difference between 'you're' and 'your' in the same sentence.

As for segueing down paths of inexperience, that's an interesting response from someone who cites a Fuji S4800 as a compact.

Simply put, every single other respondent came through with helpful and to the point advice that was appreciated. Absolutely nothing you insinuated into the discussion added anything of substance - other than to highlight your own ignorance, bombast and propensity for extrapolating rude opinions and suppositions out of nothing.

Finally, as for the childish 'blah blah blah' followed by sticking your fingers in your ears and stating you were putting me on ignore - is that a promise - please???????

Apologies to everyone else. It's exasperating to have someone try and upbraid me over highly fanciful interpretations of my posts.

@ Sashbar. Yeah, I saw that other Fuji when I started hunting around on the off chance the link had been screwed up. Seriously, if the decision was up to me to select one of the compacts for my own use, I'd go for the Fuji because there's a lot to like. But I know my wife, and she'll get put off by the 'complexity' of how to turn the unit on and off, and while you and I would appreciate the manual zoom she'd consider it work! Also, she owns the handbag equivalent of the Tardus, and being tossed into that vast collection of bits and pieces would concern me (even with a case) because one of the issues I read with the XF1 is that the built-in lens cover is very fragile.

So as things stand I'm still leaning towards the Panasonic, though there's also a lot to like about the Nikon. I'm just a bit concerned that the latter might be a little bulky as a compact with that lens poking out, plus I'd be concerned about the potential for damage in the handbag with it sticking out like that.