Hello all, hope you're having a great holiday season!
I am on the fence, can't decide what to buy next. (I know I want the 70-300L, but only at a good price.)
Pardon my long-winded-ness. You're welcome to just skim over this and focus on the parts in bold, or else not read it and just tell about your favorite compact camera(s).
I recently bought a small powershot camera as a gift, refurbished via Canon's website. So far I think it will work well, and for approx. $49.50 including tax and free shipping, I thought why not take a chance? It might get some rough treatment, and very likely will get scratched up, so that's why I didn't want to spend more. I can't believe the little viewfinder zooms! And the tiny lens is f/2.8 at the wide end, faster than my SX150IS.
I guess my question is, is there a viable cheaper alternative to the Sony RX100? (The goal being a somewhat pocketable compact camera with very good image quality). I notice the Samsung NX300 appears to have the same sensor, as does the (perhaps older?) NX1000...which seems to be approaching "nice price" level, close to $350 new via amazon. If this is the same sensor as in the RX100, then that seems like a lot of image quality for the money. I notice the white color version of the NX300 is $50 cheaper than the other colors, as well as the Sony RX100, at $499.
It's likely the NX1000, as a camera, is somehow no good, but I thought I would ask the opinion of the smartest and most insane camera people I know of, so I am posting this here!
I will admit that, given the large 20-50 lens that comes with it...it makes it a lot less pocket-able than the RX100. So that's not good.
Ideally I would like to spend a good bit less than $500. I figure it's either this, or a Canon Rebel T5i refurb body (as a "backup" to my 6D) for $419 (if any more magically become available at that price)...or perhaps both a Rebel and a compact camera...or neither?
For a while I thought the Pentax K-01 looked interesting, but no longer. In the past I've owned the Nikon P7000 (which I felt was better than the G12 or G13, given the longer zoom and the lighter weight...and the 40% cheaper pricetag). Also I owned the Sigma DP2. The Sigma could have fantastic image quality, but I was happy to churn out about 6000 images and then sell it a year and a half later. Recently I printed a lot of 16x20 images on metallic paper, and the ones from the DP2 are mind-blowing! I used PR 7.5 to scale them, but PS would have done about as good.
I would like to own the DP series Merrill camera(s), but that's just a lot of money for a pocket camera, for me right now. Especially considering I've spent like $3500 to $4000 on cameras and lenses over the last year or so...which is huge money to me! Obviously I plan to sell a couple of those lenses...
The only compact camera I have now is the SX150IS. Laugh if you must, but I absolutely enjoy the ergonomics. Admittedly it's a tiny sensor and there's no RAW capture, and it's "only" 14.1 MP within that small sensor. But from ISO 200 and below, it's printable to 16x20. That's a lot of camera for $135 new (or the current refurb price of what, $80? $70?). I've made money with this camera...Oh, and I almost forgot the image stabilization. In my opinion it's approaching 5 stops, at least at the telephoto end.
I also came across the Fuji XF1 via amazon at only $199 (originally it was like $500). However, having read about its problems, I decided not to bite. I highly doubt its sensor compares to the aps-c one in the Sony RX100...since it's smaller, etc.
The reason I don't mention the G15, is because it seems like the image quality is low for even the discounted price of around $299. I also don't like that its zoom range is so short. If I'm going to give up a wide range zoom, then the image quality needs to be a couple of levels above the G15.
I'm most grateful for your thoughts and input!
I am on the fence, can't decide what to buy next. (I know I want the 70-300L, but only at a good price.)
Pardon my long-winded-ness. You're welcome to just skim over this and focus on the parts in bold, or else not read it and just tell about your favorite compact camera(s).
I recently bought a small powershot camera as a gift, refurbished via Canon's website. So far I think it will work well, and for approx. $49.50 including tax and free shipping, I thought why not take a chance? It might get some rough treatment, and very likely will get scratched up, so that's why I didn't want to spend more. I can't believe the little viewfinder zooms! And the tiny lens is f/2.8 at the wide end, faster than my SX150IS.
I guess my question is, is there a viable cheaper alternative to the Sony RX100? (The goal being a somewhat pocketable compact camera with very good image quality). I notice the Samsung NX300 appears to have the same sensor, as does the (perhaps older?) NX1000...which seems to be approaching "nice price" level, close to $350 new via amazon. If this is the same sensor as in the RX100, then that seems like a lot of image quality for the money. I notice the white color version of the NX300 is $50 cheaper than the other colors, as well as the Sony RX100, at $499.
It's likely the NX1000, as a camera, is somehow no good, but I thought I would ask the opinion of the smartest and most insane camera people I know of, so I am posting this here!
I will admit that, given the large 20-50 lens that comes with it...it makes it a lot less pocket-able than the RX100. So that's not good.
Ideally I would like to spend a good bit less than $500. I figure it's either this, or a Canon Rebel T5i refurb body (as a "backup" to my 6D) for $419 (if any more magically become available at that price)...or perhaps both a Rebel and a compact camera...or neither?
For a while I thought the Pentax K-01 looked interesting, but no longer. In the past I've owned the Nikon P7000 (which I felt was better than the G12 or G13, given the longer zoom and the lighter weight...and the 40% cheaper pricetag). Also I owned the Sigma DP2. The Sigma could have fantastic image quality, but I was happy to churn out about 6000 images and then sell it a year and a half later. Recently I printed a lot of 16x20 images on metallic paper, and the ones from the DP2 are mind-blowing! I used PR 7.5 to scale them, but PS would have done about as good.
I would like to own the DP series Merrill camera(s), but that's just a lot of money for a pocket camera, for me right now. Especially considering I've spent like $3500 to $4000 on cameras and lenses over the last year or so...which is huge money to me! Obviously I plan to sell a couple of those lenses...
The only compact camera I have now is the SX150IS. Laugh if you must, but I absolutely enjoy the ergonomics. Admittedly it's a tiny sensor and there's no RAW capture, and it's "only" 14.1 MP within that small sensor. But from ISO 200 and below, it's printable to 16x20. That's a lot of camera for $135 new (or the current refurb price of what, $80? $70?). I've made money with this camera...Oh, and I almost forgot the image stabilization. In my opinion it's approaching 5 stops, at least at the telephoto end.
I also came across the Fuji XF1 via amazon at only $199 (originally it was like $500). However, having read about its problems, I decided not to bite. I highly doubt its sensor compares to the aps-c one in the Sony RX100...since it's smaller, etc.
The reason I don't mention the G15, is because it seems like the image quality is low for even the discounted price of around $299. I also don't like that its zoom range is so short. If I'm going to give up a wide range zoom, then the image quality needs to be a couple of levels above the G15.
I'm most grateful for your thoughts and input!
