Which Compact Camera

[Paul Simons]

Hi all trying to decide which compacy camera to get

am looking at ether the panasonic TZ30 or the sony HX20 a nice compact camera but with some of those SLR features.
am after a nice compact camera so can put in my pocket or bag etc to just take out and snap ipics rather than a big SLR camera, but am tempted by the great manual features on these compact and the bocai (not sure if spelt right) feature on the Sony.

any suggestions or preferences on which to get

 

[Steve Kelly]

Olympus XZ series are good compacts, quite a few manual settings, great bokeh effects, etc.

I found my Panny TZ was only really good for zooming. Didn't like the lens. I was never happy a lot of aspects of the shots (apart from zoomed shots). Landscapes lacked any sense of depth, portraits never looked like the person I was snapping.

I've had the XZ-1 since last summer and I'm still very happy with it.
Worth a look, for sure. check the reviews too.

For anyone wanting a new compact camera, it's about getting your requirements down, i.e. define which type of shots it will be mostly used for. and then research accordingly.

 

[Ugg10]

If you are looking for great Bokeh then you need to look for a compact with a lens with a low F number (f 2.8 or less, preferably f1.8), snapsort.com is a good site for this type of info but don't pay too much attention to their rating system. You will find that with low f number lenses they tend to only come in 4x zoom (exception being the Nikon P7100 which is 7x and f2.8) so if super/mega zoom is a requirment you may need to think hard about what you will mostly be shooting. Also look for the biggest sensor you can to help with low light shooting and reduced sensor noise. XZ1 looks a prety good fit.

Probably worth doing a search oin this site for similar threads as there has been a couple recently -

http://www.avforums.com/forums/digital-photography/1760397-camera-buying-help.html
http://www.avforums.com/forums/digi...t-mid-range-camera-camcorder-replacement.html

 

[Buck 68]

I have a Canon S95 that I use as my pocket compact when the DSLR is too big for the occassion.

I really like it as it can shoot RAW and the quality of the shots is only limited by my skill rather than the camera!

I know the S95 has now been replaces but a good second hand one or a new updated version would do you very well IMO (I chose the Canon partly because my DSLR is the Canon 5D MkII so it was a very similar user interface)