Upcoming vacation - which small camera?

jtyson

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I have a trip to Europe planned for early summer. I'd like to take along a camera. I know these type of threads get posted all the time, but I couldn't find any that were terribly recent, and I know new equipment comes out all the time.

In the past, I've tried some mirrorless Sony NEX cameras, Nikon D3100 and a Sony A55. Frankly I was too impatient to learn the cameras to the extent I needed to so that I could get the results I wanted. Also, they were just too large. I found myself spending more time taking pictures, and less time enjoying myself on my trips. So, I sold them off. Now my only camera is my iPhone 6+. While I enjoy the iPhone camera just fine for day to day stuff, I have a feeling a higher end pocket camera would still give me better pictures.

I'm a large man, and thus wear large pants with fairly large pockets. No skinny jeans here. I CAN fit my NEX 3 in my pocket with the 16mm prime lens, but it isn't comfortable nor easily accessible.

What I'm looking for
  • Something that shoots relatively quickly for candid moments.
  • Something that performs fair in low light for indoor shots or late afternoons
  • Something that has a good auto function. - I know that is against most people's way of thinking on here, but I want as much quality out of the camera as I can without having to toy with settings every single shot.
  • Something that has WiFi or Bluetooth so I can transfer things wireless would be great
  • Something a little smaller than an NEX-3
  • No brand preference, but the most reasonably priced would get my nod. If Leica makes something awesome, I'd love to have it, but only if one of you is giving it away for pennies on the dollar!
  • I'm not opposed to used equipment. Actually I prefer it. I'm kind of cheap.
  • If a camera with a fixed length lens, the IQ would need to be pretty good for cropping photos later on for those landmarks I may not be able to get close to.
I have quite a bit of time to make a decision, but I wanted to start looking early and figured the best place to start would be with the experts on this board. You guys eat sleep and breathe cameras, so you are the go to folks!
 
Budget would be useful to know ....

My travel camera is the Pentax Q7; I love it - you can go auto, but it has full manual controls (even a hotshoe) if you want to go further with it. The 03 fisheye lens has produced some of my favourite travel photos - and is incredibly compact. No built-in wi-fi, but eye-fi card compatible. High ISO performance is only OK-ish though; ISO 800 is fairly clean and ISO 1600 mostly usable - but the ISO 1600 is only as good as the ISO 12,800 on my Pentax K-3. There's little lag using the Q7; not quite as instant as a DSLR but actually not far off now (and light years ahead of the Q10 I had previously).

Other cameras I've personally looked hard at as a small travel camera are the Fujifilm X-M1, and the Sigma DP series. If I didn't already own the baby Pentax, it's quite likely I would have got the Fujifilm. That's probably not much smaller than your NEX-3 though.

The Sigma DP series just go somewhere else entirely; the older (affordable) models don't have good low-light performance, but the image quality in good light looks borderline medium-format good.
 
Have a looooook at the Nikon 1 System camera`s they are have a very good auto mode that gets the focus and exposure and whiteballance right 95% of the time and they are reasonably small and they come with a 1" sensor and start from 10mp to 18mp but i prefer the 14mp models myself, they come in many prices from basic entry level to one with built in evf in addition to the normal lcd on the back.

Nikon 1 Cameras | Interchangeable Lens Cameras from Nikon

John.
 
Get the Sony RX100 Mk III, 1" sesnor, fast lens and excellent image quality.
I consider it to be one of the best point and shoot cameras available, its not big either.
 
Now my only camera is my iPhone 6+. While I enjoy the iPhone camera just fine for day to day stuff, I have a feeling a higher end pocket camera would still give me better pictures.

I don't think a point and shoot pocket camera will give you any better images then the iPhone 6+

There are a few things however that you can do to get a little more out of shooting with the iPhone.

1- Use apps like Pure Shot or 645 Pro that not only give you more manual control features then the built in camera app but they also give you option for the compression that your image saved with. You can even have time image saved as a uncompressed tiff.

2- Get some add on lenses. Now don't get the cheep ones that have optical distortion destroy the image quality. The olio clip is a vary popular one but i think the quality of it sucks and you can't continue using it when you get a new model phone.

The BEST add on lenses are from Moment Moment - World's Best Lenses for Mobile Photography
They attach via a bayonet mount that is attached to the camera, and they have mounts for many different cameras. The Moment lenses are designed by people who have 25 years in lens design. The optics are top notch and they do not distort the image like other iPhone lens attachments. They can also be used with many different cases unlike the other lens add on options I've seen.

 
If you get a "bridge" camera that captures raw files, has manual control and has a real optical zoom you will be getting more than the phone or a P&S. Otherwise, just use the phone. Something like the Canon S120 or the Sony mentioned above. I don't know the Sony but the Canon is very compact. These may be above budget because we don't know that, but anything less may not provide any significant advantage over the phone.
 
I don't see any Bridge/Superzoom compacts fitting into trouser pockets, however baggy.

Just using the iPhone is an option; spending some time learning about photographic composition will probably improve your photos more than a getting a dedicated camera. However, a dedicated camera has the potential for much more reach (i.e. zooming in on distant subjects) and low light performance (because of a larger sensor, or using a more powerful flash). And almost certainly better image quality (though the iPhones aren't bad - so it depends on how much image quality you need. It's more of an issue if you have any intention to make large prints from your images).
 
The physical specs for the S120:

Dimensions (WxHxD) 3.9 x 2.3 x 1.1" / 100.2 x 59.0 x 29.0 mm
Weight 7.65 oz / 217 g CIPA standard

It will fit easily even in a regular pants pocket.
 
I agree with Light Guru based on "I was too impatient to learn the cameras" you would do best with your phone camera.
 
I'd strongly suggest Sony RX100 series. If possible go with mk2 or mk3. Mk1 is has same sensor size but sensor is backlit in mk2 and mk3 so it has exceptional low light performance.

I also own a Sony A55 like yourself. Actually A55 is a small camera, even one of the smallest (for a SLR camera). But I know what you mean by saying you want a smaller camera especially when travelling. A55 is my primary (and older) camera but since I got RX100 2, I only use RX100 for my vacations and trips. I have a lot of good lenses for my A55 but even with good lens like Sony 16-50 2.8 or Tamron 17-50 2.8 or Sony 16-105, RX100 photo quality is very close (if not same) with A55 in most scenarios.

Considering its sensor size is smaller, I know it looks hard to believe that but well it never failed to surprise me in many occasions. Actually I have tested it against other cameras in many conditions, please check them yourself too:
For instance these are actual vacation shots shot by both Rx100 2 and Sony A35. A35 is a APS-C sensor SLT but as you can see their photo quality is quite on par there. (You can also check this comparison from my Munich trip). Unless you go with a full frame camera (like A99 here), its really hard to beat it and as for size and weight I don't think there is any competition anyway.

There are also other good 1 inch sensored cameras (like Samsung NX mini, or Nikon V1) but when you mount an objective to them, none of it fits to your pocket like RX100 does. When it comes to image quality / size ratio I don't think any camera can beat RX100 series.
 
I appreciate the responses. It is true, that I would be better suited with any camera if I were to dedicate a large part of my life to learning it. However, that is simply not an option. That is why I specifically asked for suggestions on cameras with a good auto function. I'm not an aspiring photographer. I just want to take nice pictures to share with friends and family. Yes my phone will suffice for much of it, but it doesn't have much capability as far as zooming and low light.

I know for many of you, photography is your hobby or career. For me though, I'm just not that interested in it. I thought that I would be, that is why I tried a couple different larger cameras and such. While I appreciate cool pictures, I didn't enjoy the work it took getting them. I also felt like I wasted a lot of time behind the lens, when I could have been the subject of picture having fun instead.

My phone is my day to day camera. And it is tolerable. Though I hate it in low light. It is also not the most ergonomically friendly camera to operate.

I plan to use whatever camera I decide to get for trips, as well as photographing things for my work (buy/sell eBay type stuff)

Budget - I'd like to stay under $1000. The more bang for the buck the better. Again, I'm not opposed to used equipment either.

I've seen the RX 100 mentioned quite a bit on multiple threads. I believe I did check out one of those a year or so ago, but I think it was the first gen model. I will go to Best Buy and see if they have one of the new ones I can check out that isn't trashed.
 
I recently went on the hunt for a small camera to carry everywhere to supplement my mirror less camera. I found the Samsung wb350f. It's small and cheap but has a long zoom and WiFi and takes good pictures. It can be had for less than $150.
 
I went to Best Buy today. As usual, 80% of the cameras were dead or broken, so not much luck. They didn't have an RX100 in any generation. They had a Canon G16 which wouldn't turn on, but it looked decent and felt okay in my hand. I did check out the Samsung wb350f and I wasn't impressed. Just too slow unfortunately.

I did get the chance to play around with an a6000. Man is that AF fast. Is there anything P&S on the market even marginally close? I could always buy an a6000 body. I've got a 16mm lens and a 18-55 kit lens on my NEX-3. But then I'm still in the same position with something that is technically going to fit in my pocket, but not comfortably so. Maybe buy a bunch of cargo pants/shorts?
 
Another vote for the camera phone. They have gotten so much better these days, probably all you really need.
 

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