Reasonably Price P&S with RAW option

[mike_smith54]

<p>Anyone know of any reasonably priced P&S with the option of capturing RAW files that is around $250 or less and fairly portable (smaller than G9 or G10)?</p>

[anov]

Some Canon poweshot sd series can be hacked to take raw. You can search canon raw hack for more information.

[phule]

<p>A good number of the Canon PowerShot cameras (more than just the SD models) can load 3rd party firmware which gives you RAW (and additional) functionality.</p>

<p>Unfortunately the webpage doesn't seem to be pulling up for me right now. Probably just a glitch in the Matrix. The firmware resides here:</p>

<p>http://chdk.wikia.com/</p>

<p> </p>

[bill_tuthill]

The cheapest cameras with manufacturer-supported RAW mode are the Panasonic FZ28 and Olympus SP565.

[jcuknz]

<p>I suggest you go to dpreview.com buyers guide and put in RAW and Compact .... you will get nine current models including the cameras you don't want Three Panasonics and a couple of Ricoh and Sigmas ... prices not shown but you might get that by checking out the individual cameras or maybe include your budget limit in the search.</p>

[oofoto]

<p>Check out a used Ricoh GX200</p>

[john_mccormack]

<p>Your size and price restrictions don't leave a lot of options. The GX200 - maybe. I love the FZ28 for its long zoom and RAW or maybe you can find an older FZ18 (but it doesn't have the image quality of the FZ28, IMO). Look at this site for a whole list of RAW shooters:<br>

http://rawsumer.1001noisycameras.com/2007/07/list-of-rawsumers-work-in-progress.html</p>

[dg1]

<p>If you can find a used GX200 for $250.00, buy it. I don't think that's a legitimate option within your budget. But you might find a Fuji F810 which is excellent for RAW or jpeg (I just sold mine for $100.00), or Fuji F700, or the best bet might be the 9meg E900 which can be bought new for under $200.00 and while it hasn't certain bells and whistles like image stabilization, is a very very capable camera.<br>

The Canon A series cameras with the RAW hack is another good budget option. It may also be possible to find a Ricoh GX100 used for $250.00 but they're usually more.</p>

[robert lee]

<p>Basically any of the Canon P&S will do RAW with the CHDK firmware loaded on the SD card. Also go download Raw Therapee RAW converter while you're at it.</p>

<p>The CHDK software actually enables much more functionality on the Canons than just RAW. For example, I use an Canon A720IS with a Gigapan head for high resolution photography. When the image is of wide open vistas or night cityscapes, it is often the case that the scene dynamic range can exceed 10 stops. This is when contrast blending or real HDR becomes invaluable, and where the Canon P&S / CHDK really comes into its own.</p>

<p>With the CHDK software, it is possible to program the camera to delay shooting for 2 seconds after the shutter press. Thereafter, have it automatically brackets 10 exposures, 2/3 EV apart, with the whole series biased 1 1/3 EV darker than the root frame. </p>

<p>With possible exception of shooting tethered to a computer, it doesn't get any more powerful than this.</p>