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Help narrowing down P&S compact choices

Started Aug 20, 2012 | Discussions thread
toomanycanons Forum Pro • Posts: 14,167
Re: Help narrowing down P&S compact choices

Put your list up on a dart board, throw one dart and one dart only: there's your choice! And don't overthink it next time.

openroad wrote:

Hi everyone, sorry this is so long.

I've had a Canon A630 for 6 years and it finally crapped out on me. I don't want to spend A LOT of money on a new camera (I'm 99% a film SLR user) but don't want to go TOO cheap either. Temporarily I'm borrowing a Samsung ST70, and don't like it (other than the small size).

Would prefer to pay around $150-$270 for an older model. I'm living in Thailand (not Bangkok, but will be there next weekend), visiting home (NYC) in a few weeks, but could also order from Amazon. Obviously there are new cameras in that price range, but I'm assuming they won't be as good.

What I like:

  • f/2.8 or bigger

  • 28mm or wider would be great, but I can live with the same 35mm as A630

  • Must have manual settings

  • Better quality at ISO 400 at the VERY least (A630 was already sucky at 400), but preferably decent up to ISO 1600

  • Sensor size shouldn't be smaller than the A630's (1/1.7 according to this site) unless some other factor is outweighing this.

  • Loved the flip-out screen for the A630, but it seems like current cameras with it are mostly bigger--are there suggestions?

  • Reasonably sharp lens. I feel like the ST70 takes fuzzier pictures than the A630 did (I know this isn't user error).

  • No bigger (or not much) than the A630. Would be nice to have a smaller camera for a change.

Other features don't matter, including HD video & long zoom.

At first the Samsung TL500 was standing out, but it seems pretty large and expensive. I won't be able to try it in person. Some of these I can buy in New York, which is expensive due to tax, but then I can try them.

There are so many similarly-named models out there, it's a bit confusing for someone who hardly uses digital. Can people help me understand the value of these cameras, including if features make a larger one worth the size, extra cost, or if a cheaper one is fine as is? LX5 seems to be the obvious choice for price/condition, but I wonder if the TL500 had more of the extras I like (f/1.8, flip-out screen).

General prices (including Amazon shipping, not including NYC tax)
Canon G9: $144 (V) or $164 (E-) at Adorama
Canon G10: $199 (V) or $249 (E- or E+) at Adorama
Canon G11: $249 at Adorama (E) ^ these prices confuse me…is G11 worse than G10?
Canon G12: $299 at Adorama (E+)
Canon S95: $265 used or $288 refurb on Amazon
Olympus XZ-1: $290 on Amazon
Panasonic Lumix FX78: $199 at B&H, cannot find any reviews.
Panasonic Lumix LX3: $250 (8+) or $270 (9) at B&H. $224 (E) at Adorama.
Panasonic Lumix LX5: $250 (E+) at Adorama.
Samsung TL500: $306 on Amazon

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