Looking for a pocketable point&shoot camera with advancements, low budget

[midix]

Hi all.

Currently I'm using a camera of my Nokia Lumia 920 to shoot pictures and videos. It is OK for mundane tasks, but it fails when I want to shoot some far-away objects or a video in tricky light conditions, which would require to adjust ISO, white balance and what not. My phone does not provide advanced controls when shooting videos and I really miss optical zoom.

While I'm not a professional photographer, still I like to fiddle with some effects in photo editing software, therefore it would be great to have RAW format support, so I have pure pixels which I can tweak as I desire.

Essentially, I'd like to find a camera which would outperform my phone camera in every aspect, plus have more features. My wishlist follows:

- budget is 250 .. 350 EUR (this would be about 220 .. 300 USD, considering that we in Europe have that 21% VAT thing)

- camera should fit in a pocket, but it can be a large pocket. I'm not against system cameras, as long as they are not huge. I don't want to pay for compactness if I can have a better system camera for the same price.

- intended use - mostly point&shoot in automatic mode, but sometimes I'll need manual tweaking.

- decent quality pictures. I mean, the best quality I can get for the budget.

- zoom. Maybe not 30x, but something stable and reliable.

- macro mode. I'm a hardware guy, I want to snap some shots of electronic parts, PCBs and what not.

- good quality video with control options. I've heard that some cameras add video capabilities as a bonus without any afterthought. But for me it is important to have at least basic controls - manual ISO, white balance, stabilization.

- as I will use it for videos, it is really important to have a good battery, or at least, ability to attach external USB battery pack and use it while shooting video. I've heard that some cameras can charge internal battery from external USB, but they have to be turned off during that time. That would be pointless.

I have briefly looked at some options and my head gets dizzy. Most cameras I've looked at seems to have some show stoppers which make it in some aspects worse than my phone.

So, here is my list of what I've looked at:

- Panasonic LF1 or its new reincarnation DMC-ZS40 (TZ60, as it is called here in Europe). Mixed reviews. LF1 edition seems to satisfy almost all of my requirements, but not sure about the new incarnations. Have seen reports of images having blurry corners and problems with charging. Also, I might be paying for its compactness instead of having something with better quality.

- Sony RX100 (the very first edition)

- Samsung NX1000 or NX1100 (not sure if they have zoom and video stabilization with their default lens?) APS-C sensor for that price looks so tempting...

- Sony A5000 - have read that the default lens is not good. I don't want to replace it, considering how expensive these things are. But APS-C sensor for that price looks so tempting...

- Nikon Coolpix P7800. Haven't yet investigated, which of my requirements does it fit, but have seen heard good words about it.

- Nikon Coolpix P340. Again, haven't yet investigated, which of my requirements does it fit, but have seen heard good words about it.



Could you please help me to remove some options from my list of candidates or maybe add some new options worth looking at?

Thanks in advance.

 

[IronMaskDuval]

Just spit out the money and buy a used x100s

 

[midix]

Thanks for the suggestion, x100s seems a great device. I'll try to find it in my vicinity.

Meanwhile, currently I can get Sony a5000 for 299 euros (330 USD). Is it worth the price or I can get a better new camera for the money?

 

[fjrabon]

Just spit out the money and buy a used x100s

Eh, as much as I love the Fuji X series they're sort of mediocre at video. Also they don't have a zoom. Also battery life is meh.

Incredible camera, but doesn't have the feature set he's looking for and even the S is still twice his budget.

 

[rudimaes]

Take also a look at the Panasonic LF1. A good camera for its price with a decent 28-200mm zoom and Panasonics have a
good auto mode.
Rudi

 

[midix]

Considering that now I can get Sony A5000 for the same price as Panasonic LF1, I guess, there is no reason to pick LF1, right?

 

[rudimaes]

The A5000 is better if you consider buying a good lens with it.
For the rest, it's the photographer that makes good pictures, the camera
is just a tool.
Rudi