Recommendation for "pocket" camera

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slavetoabunny

slavetoabunny

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Bunny Beach, Florida, USA
I want to start taking pictures at our adoption events, but my Canon Powershot S5 is just too bulky to take with me. It is really uncomfortable to wear around my neck all of the time and I worry about putting it down anywhere becauseI'm concernedabout theft when I am distracted by the public.

I want to get a (fairly) inexpensive, very compact camera that I can put in my pants pocket when I'm not using it. The camera doesn't have to have a lot of megapixels or fancy settings. I just want to take a decent picture for publishing on the internet.

Any recommendations?
 
I love the Canon Elph series. My old faithful camera is a Canon SD600. It is still doing great after 3.5 years and my sister is borrowing it while studying abroad in Italy right now. They have a higher and lower end models, some with more features than others.
I was standing behind a guy at a concert the other night who was using a compact Sony camera and it was taking great low light pictures! I was impressed with it.
 
I was looking at the Nikon S3000, S4000 and S70 yesterday. I ended up buying the S8000.

The S3000 is very affordable. I found it on Amazon for $131 and it was at Best Buy for $140. It's very small and has some basic functions plus vibration reduction which is always nice. The screen is just ok for me, because 2.7 seems a bit small.

The S4000 is the same as the 3000, but has a touch screen and HD video at 720p. I don't like touch screens because I find it horrible to operate when you have bunny fur all over you, not to mention that the LCD screen is usually pretty horrible on the touch screens. The screen is bigger than the 3000 at 3". Price ~$170-199

The S70 (~$270-299) has a bigger screen than the other two so the body is a little bigger too. It is a touch screen and shoots HD video. The sample was busted so I couldn't see if the screen looked better than the S4000, but I doubt it would be a nicer screen than my...

S8000, has a 3" screen, costs the same as the S4000 without the touch screen (yay!). The color on the LCD is just fantastic and the resolution on it is great.The way I see it, the S8000 and the S70 tradeoffthe touch screen for 10X opticalzoom. I'd pick zoom over touch screen any day of the week!It's a 14MP camera (in my opinion anything over 5MP is overkill for regular pix, especially if you don't intend on printing them). It has vibration reduction, HD video mode, and a ton of "scene" selections. 10x zoom is pretty great, but you need a steady hand. I got some good headshots of the buns with the zoom.Because of the optical zoom, the front of camera bulges out a little bit, so the camera is generally a bit larger than the rest that I have mentioned, but by all means is still a small camera that'll fit in your hand and purse very easily. I bought mine at Best Buy for $270 (they price matched their website).
 
For what it's worth, Ken Rockwell calls the Nikon S70 "awful". He doesn't review any of the other Nikon point-n-shoots (he says he likes Canon better for that kind of camera - your mileage may vary)
See http://kenrockwell.com/nikon/s70.htm

I haven't spent much time with point-n-shoots, so I don't have any opinions on any specific models, but as a general rule I'd say it's best to stick with real camera manufacturers (Canon, Fuji, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax) rather than consumer electronics manufacturers (Sony, Panasonic, Casio, etc). In my experience the image quality's much better on the cameras from companies in the business of making cameras.

Beyond that, be sure to try before you buy. I've never had problems picking up and using any Nikon product, but I've yet to be able to use an Olympus without referring to the manual. Just the way I think, I guess.
 
Thanks everyone. I will look at all of the recommendations. More comments are welcome! My biggest requirement for this particular camera is compactness. I want to put it in my back pocket without making my butt look big, lol!
 
slavetoabunny wrote:
My biggest requirement for this particular camera is compactness. I want to put it in my back pocket without making my butt look big, lol!
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LOL - Gotcha. Then you're gonna want this little bitty Canon I saw yesterday. I gotta go back to Best Buy today to exchange my S8000 (busted microphone). I'll take a quick look to see what model it was. It was *really* small and if I remember correctly it was very cheap too. I remember it lacked a lot of fancy schmancy features but for auto mode point-and-shoot, it was just fine.
 
kirbyultra wrote:
slavetoabunny wrote:
My biggest requirement for this particular camera is compactness. I want to put it in my back pocket without making my butt look big, lol!
Click to expand...
LOL - Gotcha. Then you're gonna want this little bitty Canon I saw yesterday. I gotta go back to Best Buy today to exchange my S8000 (busted microphone). I'll take a quick look to see what model it was. It was *really* small and if I remember correctly it was very cheap too. I remember it lacked a lot of fancy schmancy features but for auto mode point-and-shoot, it was just fine.
Click to expand...
Thanks Helen! I would appreciate it. I am a Canon fan.
 
kirbyultra wrote:
I ended up buying the S8000.
Click to expand...
:huh

I'm kinda confused. You got another camera (P/S) just after getting the Nikon D5000?

Wish my wife would let me do that. :p I guess there is no good picture, unless you have a camera with you. Ihave my bulky D300 with a 2.8 lens most of the time. I carry it in a holster belt (ThinkTanksystem) with no problems at all.

r8zaxj.jpg


You can seemy beltpouch with the 70-200 mm lens on my left hipand the camera pouch is on my right side.
 
slavetoabunny wrote:
Thanks Helen! I would appreciate it. I am a Canon fan.
Click to expand...

I am spoiled with larger DSLR's so I don't think I could settle for a small P/S.

My son has the Canon SD780 IS and it is a nice camera that suits his needs.

2wmicyq.jpg


You can see it is the size of a credit card.
 
Stan, yep I got the S8000 after the dslr! Yeah there are just some vacations you don't take an expensive camera with you you know? :p

I am a small girl whose worst feature is that my fat accumulates in my thighs and butt. It's unfortunate... I don't see myself adding a bulky camera bag to that area of my body LOLOL

Patti, the Canon i saw was the 1400S, it's pricier than it's predecessor 1300S, but both have the same body! I think you will like it because the body is slightly curved in the corners, perfect for sticking into a back pocket. You might want to read reviews about them though. I don't know how they shoot but how bad can a canon really be?
 
I ended up buying the Nikon S3000 today. It was $149 at Walmart. I considered the Canon 1400S, but for the $100 price difference the Nikon will be just fine for the purpose intended. I have my Canon Powershot S5, but just wanted a pocket camera for use at adoption events.
 
Nice! :)

I ended up returning my Nikon S8000 and bought myself a teeny weeny Canon SD780 IS. Cost me $166 on Newegg.com. Funny how you got a Nikon and I got a Canon :)
 
kirbyultra wrote:
Nice! :)

I ended up returning my Nikon S8000 and bought myself a teeny weeny Canon SD780 IS. Cost me $166 on Newegg.com. Funny how you got a Nikon and I got a Canon :)
Click to expand...
I looked at the Canon SD780 at Staples last week. It was on sale for $185 and I seriously considered it. I think I will be happy with the Nikon.
 
I've used it alot and really like it. I have a pocket on my purse that it fits perfectly in and can take it everywhere with me. It's easy to use and takes great pictures.
 
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