Going abroad. Seeking tips on equipment

[Trudenwilk]

I'm not a photographer at all. I've never even owned a camera. So, please excuse my ignorance. I'm not even sure what questions I need to be asking right now, or if this is the right place for me. This is why I'm here: to find out. Having said that, I'm going to be spending a semester abroad starting in Israel and then traveling through the rest of the Middle East. I would like to have something to record my journeys. I'm looking for a camera that can do stills and video. I'm not planning on pursuing photography, and I cannot spend a very large amount of money. (I'm thinking 4-5 hundred max). Also, I don't want something very bulky. We are only bringing 60-70 liter backpacks and will be constantly on the move. I will doing some relatively "outdoors-y" things, so that needs to be taken into consideration. And finally, even though I don't know a thing about photography, I do know that I can't stand low-quality images, and I love interesting lighting in a photo. (Who doesn't?)

And here we go. At this point, I'm thinking about a Lumix GF1, but that's only because a friend of mine had one and I liked it. Any advice or direction would be appreciated. I'm going to be consulting a few people I know, as well. Thanks


-Trude

 

[aavivi]

Have you considered a pocket? The Lumix ZS-15 is pretty good, will get you nice shots+video, and a decent zoom for only $166 in amazon... http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-DMC-ZS15-Sensitivity-Digital-Optical/dp/B00728ZAHG

I use mine whenever I don't feel like lugging my DSLR...

 

[tirediron]

Used Canon G10/11/12.

 

[Solarflare]

Canon Powershot S100 fits that budget, and is a quite popular camera.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX7 also fits that budget, comes with nice low light performance (for a compact camera, anyway) and can do full hd video at 60 Hz.

These are high quality compact cameras, though. I dont know much about cheaper cameras.

Used Canon G10/11/12.

Thats a very bulky camera.



P.s.: Oh, correction: well the GF1 is a camera from 2009 and should be available very cheap used now.

Its about as bulky as a Canon Powershot G10/11/12 though.

The GF3 is the current model (I think) and apparently rather so-so in performance. For 500$ you only get the camera, without lens (and thus useless in this state).

Panasonic DMC-GF3 Review: Digital Photography Review

Since its already a year old, though, it should probably now be available cheaper.