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OT: Best Digital Point & Shoot?


trent

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Trent...

 

All the digital p&s cams have some shutter lag. And you probably know there are

tricks to reduce this through prefocus and holding the shutter in that prefocus

position until the "moment". I have used all the Canon "G" cameras excepting the G6

and owned several of the Olympus (5050 and 8080) and I must say the Olympus

8080 in the real world was the best...nowhere near dslr speed but pretty good for

what it is. The out of the camera images from the 8080 were pretty fine too.

 

Zero shutter lag in a digital p&s would have my attention in a big way. And I am sorry

to say it isn't available at this time. The best we have is a compromise and that in

itself is improving.

 

MH

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There are so many different subcategories of digi P&S's. I tried out a lot, the A80, the G5,

the S500 (all Canons), the Sony DSC-V1, and more I can't remember. In the end I found I

wanted an ultra-compact because the only reason I'd be using digital was for convenient

snapshots. I chose a Sony DSC-T1, and I'm satisfied. If I want to take "serious pictures," I

stick to film.

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I agree about the sony T1, fast and so small there is no excuse not to carry it. I for one absolutly hate digicam lag and I think the T1 is acceptable. If you wait a month you should be able to get the ricoh caplio R1, it has less lag than most DSLRs, and there is talk that next year or so they will have a digital version of the GR1.
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I really like my Canon Digital Elph (mine is the S400) but shutter lag is apparent though not horrible. It did a superb job as the digi back-up to my M7 while in Italy/England and you can't beat the size.

 

In fact, one afternoon in Siena we went out and I took only the Elph because I was tired of carrying the M7 + kit (humble apologies to all for my inappropriate behavior).

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There are two standouts in my view. The first an by far the best is the Fujifilm F610. This gets rave reviews for performance and has a 6 (12 if inteerpolated) megapixel resolution for those who need it. Something I like about it is its form factor. It is more or less the size of a pack of cigaretes and is held in the same vertical manner. This makes it very steady and comfortable to hold.

 

The second is the Panasonic Lumix DMC-F1S and subsequent variants. This sports a Leica lens and and active stabilising system to give unblurred pictures even in low light situations. In fact the currnt one is technically identical to the Leica DLux digital except for the body shells and a few accessories which differ.

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Make sure you check out the previous Ricoh cameras mentioned but also have a look at the <a href="www.ricoh.com.au/news/ViewArticle.asp?NewsId=302">Ricoh Caplio GX</a> .

 

If size and shutter lag are important this is probably the best bet. The shutter lag is just 0.12 of a second.

 

I'm not sure if this camera is available in the US but there are also some postings <a href="www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=ricoh+caplio+gx+site%3Aphoto.net">here on photo.net</a> .

 

I am personally holding out on the hope that Ricoh will release a genuine GR1v DIGITAL..... fingers crossed!

 

Cheers.

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I bought the Sony DSC T1 a couple of months ago and I'm delighted with it.

 

Pros: tiny, 5mp, big screen, very well built, cleverly designed, versatile - the super macro (magnifying glass) mode is amazing.

 

Cons: battery can drop out when you are removing the card as it's not retained apart from the door that retains both; that's about it.

 

I think I saw a T3 advertised yesterday, but couldn't see from the spec how it differs from the T1.

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Nikon D70 + 35mm F2 AF-D Not exactly what you asked for, but it is quite compact and has no lag and the ability to shoot between ISO 200 - 1600 (with excellent noise performance) at the turn of a wheel is priceless.

 

P&S Digis have too many actual photographic controls buried away on menus.

 

P&S Digis are too small and light and festooned with ickle buttons.

 

P&S Digis have zooms that are typically 7 - 21mm (or thereabouts) so even at widest apertures it is almost impossible to throw backgrounds OOF.

 

P&S Digis are impossible to manually focus (unless you count moving a slider on a scale in some sub-menu!) Whereas a DSLR gives genuine MF ability (especially if you want to splash out a little on the Nikon 45mm f/2.8 P CPU manual focus 'Tessar type' lens which makes a D70 seem even smaller)

 

P&S Digi sensors are tiny and have lots of tiny pixels which require lots of amplification when using faster ISOs than 50 - 100. Result = worse signal / noise ratio. This is why DSLRs have better noise performance at higher ISOs.

 

If I had to recommend a P&S then the Canon A80 (or its successor the A-95) but as long as you never need to go faster than ISO 100

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Make sure you have a look at the Sony P-150.

 

It has 7.2Mp, Zeiss lens and a very fast operation. You can easily carry it in your pocket all the time. The reviews give it high marks for image quality and (in particular) a minimum of purple fringing and other aberrations.

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