Why I just ordered a new £80 Kodak P&S and not upgrade my phone

The best smartphone cameras are now very good, so why use a P&S ? well thats what I thought but I have had a rethink. Most Android phones are very good now (not talking about the camera part), so I have a Nokia 8.3 which as a smartphone is amazing value, it was £180 used, its fast, has a great screen, NFC and fingerprint sensors are fast, and most importantly it makes a superb Sat Nav for my job as a delivery driver using an Android App called DelM8

The camera though is not the best at all, to get a smartphone with a really good state of the art camera you are looking at maybe £1000 or even more, and the actual android phone side of things would be no better than my 5G Nokia, or if it is, I dont need it to be, I also dislike not having a proper shutter button and using a phone that has so many other functions

So you pay £1000 for a phone, which is £800 more than you need to for the camera effectively and this is a product that will rapidly fall in value as it ages and as the battery life fades.

So I will stick with my Nokia, because its great at everything else and adaquate for snapshots and images I need to send by email or Whatsapp etc. Dedicated cameras are generally inconveniently big, expensive and rarely have a wide enough lens for my taste so I have bought a new small Kodak P&S instead, the size of a credit card, I tried my friends and it really is not bad at all, 28mm wide end, in camera charging, there are very very few to chose from new these days, but maybe Kodak are on to something here and have spotted a gap in the market, I will post some shots when it arrives, its better than one might expect

I'm not really into this for "not bad". I have tried a lot of cameras like these back in the day and always came away disappointed, and I am far from an image snob.

vaughanB said:

. . . So I will stick with my Nokia, because its great at everything else and adaquate for snapshots and images I need to send by email or Whatsapp etc. Dedicated cameras are generally inconveniently big, expensive and rarely have a wide enough lens for my taste so I have bought a new small Kodak P&S instead, the size of a credit card, I tried my friends and it really is not bad at all, 28mm wide end, in camera charging, there are very very few to chose from new these days, but maybe Kodak are on to something here and have spotted a gap in the market, I will post some shots when it arrives, its better than one might expect

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Looking forward to hearing your appraisal of it. I don't see the model number, but I assume it's an FZ55. I've thought about ordering one of those, too, but one feature I find I just can't live without is a means of getting the camera to something around a 50mm equivalent focal length easily and consistently. I need a zoom memory feature, and preferably step zoom, to make taking pictures fun rather than frustrating. I don't care much for taking pictures with my iPhone 8 Plus, and while I hate that it always starts at 28mm, at least it has a one-touch feature to get me to a 56mm equivalent quickly and reliably.

Mackiesback said:

I'm not really into this for "not bad". I have tried a lot of cameras like these back in the day and always came away disappointed, and I am far from an image snob.

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did you see these from my 2005 £20 Kodak, this is my minimum requirement but its a little bulky, this cam is tiny by comparison

jrtrent said:

vaughanB said:

. . . So I will stick with my Nokia, because its great at everything else and adaquate for snapshots and images I need to send by email or Whatsapp etc. Dedicated cameras are generally inconveniently big, expensive and rarely have a wide enough lens for my taste so I have bought a new small Kodak P&S instead, the size of a credit card, I tried my friends and it really is not bad at all, 28mm wide end, in camera charging, there are very very few to chose from new these days, but maybe Kodak are on to something here and have spotted a gap in the market, I will post some shots when it arrives, its better than one might expect

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Looking forward to hearing your appraisal of it. I don't see the model number, but I assume it's an FZ55. I've thought about ordering one of those, too, but one feature I find I just can't live without is a means of getting the camera to something around a 50mm equivalent focal length easily and consistently. I need a zoom memory feature, and preferably step zoom, to make taking pictures fun rather than frustrating. I don't care much for taking pictures with my iPhone 8 Plus, and while I hate that it always starts at 28mm, at least it has a one-touch feature to get me to a 56mm equivalent quickly and reliably.

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I will post some shots, it will be interesting and yes its the humble FZ55

I will add that a P&S camera like this is ergonomically superior for use as a camera than any smartphone.

tbcass said:

I will add that a P&S camera like this is ergonomically superior for use as a camera than any smartphone.

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Oh I agree, a 2 stage shutter button for a start off, I had a Kodak superzoom (a Pixpro AZ something) and I reckon it had the same sensor it was bulky though and I mainly used the wide end, it was really pretty good, so hoping this has the same IQ, there are so few available now, this is a CMOS 16mp sensor so should be ok, but I will let you know

You can adust EV, it has a manual mode, a wide lens (albeit quite slow but I will be using it in good light for static subjects) and punchy Kodak colours

Everyone has their own opinions and preferences. But to me if a small camera like this does not have an eye level viewfinder, I would just as soon use my phone as it has a much larger screen to compose with.

I owned six different small sensor compact digital cameras from Sony, Nikon and Canon, back in their heyday. Some were quite good in bright light, but all performed poorly in low light. Also, none of them were capable of ultra wide angle (UWA), shots or decent video. I have an Apple 13 Pro that does UWA and excellent video and I am amazed at how good the images are compared to those old compact digital cameras, especially in low light. All I can say is that you are missing out on better photos and videos with your current photo gear, but if your OK with that then more power to you.




iPhone 13 Pro




iPhone 13 Pro

jonikon said:

I owned six different small sensor compact digital cameras from Sony, Nikon and Canon, back in their heyday. Some were quite good in bright light, but all performed poorly in low light. Also, none of them were capable of ultra wide angle (UWA), shots or decent video. I have an Apple 13 Pro that does UWA and excellent video and I am amazed at how good the images are compared to those old compact digital cameras, especially in low light. All I can say is that you are missing out on better photos and videos with your current photo gear, but if your OK with that then more power to you.


iPhone 13 Pro


iPhone 13 Pro

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I think the photos look very artificial at 100%

Supisiche said:

jonikon said:

I owned six different small sensor compact digital cameras from Sony, Nikon and Canon, back in their heyday. Some were quite good in bright light, but all performed poorly in low light. Also, none of them were capable of ultra wide angle (UWA), shots or decent video. I have an Apple 13 Pro that does UWA and excellent video and I am amazed at how good the images are compared to those old compact digital cameras, especially in low light. All I can say is that you are missing out on better photos and videos with your current photo gear, but if your OK with that then more power to you.


iPhone 13 Pro


iPhone 13 Pro

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I think the photos look very artificial at 100%

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Why would anyone want to view a small portion of a cell phone photo at 100%? They are meant to be viewed in full. Cell phone cameras are not meant to replace large sensor cameras which are more capable of very small details. Nevertheless, the images from the iPhone 13 Pro are still much better when compared to an old small sensor digital camera like the OP pictured. If I want more resolution and detail I use my much larger sensor Fujifilm ILC cameras, but for casual photo and videos the iPhone is my go-to camera, which is always with me, unlike my dedicated large sensor cameras that are typically left at my home.

Enjoy having proper Kodak colours at the click of a button and without having to apply 3rd party LUTs or editing RAW. The Kodak colour science is in another league compared to the mushy grey skintones of the iPhone.

If you were to show these Kodak P&S images to strangers on social media, they would probably assume you had shot them on a high end DSLR RAW, due to the superior Kodak colour science.

Those Kodak colours have a very high end "premium" look and are much better than the mushy cheapy cheap look of the iPhone.

Gave up on 'compact' digital cams some years ago. Had a Fuji X20 which was fiddly, not all that small really, and dissapointing. Ok for snaps, not much else. My iPhone 12 is a better camera, because it does the snappy thing brilliantly, is much smaller and I'll always have it with me. Significantly superior to most other 'phone cams, albeit expensive. I'll take that for a device I'll likely have for 4-5 years. Oh and it's also a very small mobile computer. In that regard, for me it's better value than an £80 compact.

RJ46 said:

Enjoy having proper Kodak colours at the click of a button and without having to apply 3rd party LUTs or editing RAW. The Kodak colour science is in another league compared to the mushy grey skintones of the iPhone.

If you were to show these Kodak P&S images to strangers on social media, they would probably assume you had shot them on a high end DSLR RAW, due to the superior Kodak colour science.

Those Kodak colours have a very high end "premium" look and are much better than the mushy cheapy cheap look of the iPhone.

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Totally agree, my 2005 Kodak P880 still produces the best looking OOC shots of any cam I have owned, even very modern cameras, every time I put the SD card in my laptop to view them , they are always better than I expected, love it

Bob A L said:

Everyone has their own opinions and preferences. But to me if a small camera like this does not have an eye level viewfinder, I would just as soon use my phone as it has a much larger screen to compose with.

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Except that my phone camera is not very good, the phone side of things is excellent but the camera is sub par, but I am not paying hundreds more pounds for a better camera on a product with a relatively short life, plus expensive phones can get damaged especially as I am an outdoor enthusiast, I think this little camera will do a good job for me

Phones are cheap to free around here. Cell providers give them to folks to get their business. And once you get a good one they have good trade in value for 2-3 years.

I wonder how many of those that have been raving on about how good the camera in their phone is wil be going back to a stand alone camera.

Bob A L said:

Phones are cheap to free around here. Cell providers give them to folks to get their business. And once you get a good one they have good trade in value for 2-3 years.

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There is nothing like a free lunch. You pay for the phone with your monthly payments. Often you can get the same service for lower fees if no 'free phone' is included.

jiberlin said:

Bob A L said:

Phones are cheap to free around here. Cell providers give them to folks to get their business. And once you get a good one they have good trade in value for 2-3 years.

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There is nothing like a free lunch. You pay for the phone with your monthly payments. Often you can get the same service for lower fees if no 'free phone' is included.

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In the UK, SIM only deals are really good now I have 6GB of data with unlimited voice calls on a 1 month cancel anytime contract for £6 per month, no phone included, but the best phones with the best cameras are really expensive and the deals that include a phone are a massive rip off that ties you in for 24 or even 36 months ( £600 is the minimum you need to pay for a phone with a camera that I consider acceptable for anything other than utility snapshots and £1000 is about average for a good one). There are plenty of inexpensive phones with so so cameras which as smartphones are a bargain, they all share the same tech, big screens, same OS, fast processors etc, but the cameras on cheaper phones are not great, you have to pay big money to get a good camera.

The tech on these little P&S cams has improved, so this little camera has a 16mp CMOS sensor with a 28mm wide end, the low light performance is much better than older P&S cams, it also has a proper optical zoom and a 2 stage shutter button, it is also very lightweight and small with in camera USB charging and great battery life, the photos dont have that HDR look that even the kids are tiring of (hence the resurgence in intrest in old P&S compacts on social media and the rise in prices of these cameras on Ebay)

What goes around comes around, and I suspect we may see more inexpensive stand alone cameras becoming available again, there are very few like this Kodak available and certainly not at this price point, I will post some shots when it arrives, they still have a place in the market I think and Kodak have spotted the gap