Travel Cam

[Sidebyte]

Anticipating some extensive airplane travel, I have been researching a "pocket cam" to keep from carrying a lot of gear.

My criteria:
7-8 MP minimum
28 mm wide
3.5 X zoom or more
RAW file capable
Max. size of 4.5 X 3 X 1.8 inches
Storage card unimportant
Would prefer an actual optical viewfinder but none now?

With over 500 P&S digicams available from various manufactures you think this would be a "cake walk" to find several.....wrong! Only 2 camera's fit this criteria and they are almost identical (except for price), the Panny LX2 and the Leica Dlux3. The last Oly was the C-7000 (3 years old), Canon S70 also (3 years old), no raw from Nikon....
Looks like the LX2 for me.
Looks like some room here for some other choices?

[cyclohexane]

Looks like some room here for some other choices?

Sadly, yes. The Canon G7 handles decent, but lacks RAW capability. Otherwise it'd be close to your specs, maybe a little large.

His needs/wants are a little different than yours, but Nikon guru Thom Hogan decided to proclaim a Compact Camera Challenge following a tirade on the prevalence of lousy, nearly-identical compacts.


I was looking for a compact late last year, and ended up settling on the Fuji F30. It fails your resolution, 28mm wide, RAW categories though. The new F40 is 8 MP, but I have no experience with it and there's probably still no RAW.

[digitalzed]

I don't think there's a camera in your size category that also shoots in RAW. The closest I've seen is the Ricoh GX that Adorama has as an exclusive on in the USA (I don't work for them). The specifications say RAW but also notes that it's in the DNG format. Here's the link:

174363 Ricoh Caplio GX100 Compact 10mp Digital Camera Kit with VF1 Removable LCD Viewfinder

Hope this may help...

[Sidebyte]

The Canon S80 would be perfect if it had raw capability....wake up Canon, took raw out of several fine cameras newer models.

The GX has NO zoom...what a waste for a fine camera.

[Tom Swaman]

Sidebyte,

What you have found is exactly what I have found. In fact, I have been waiting around for the next version of the Panasonic LX2 or its Leica twin in all aspects except name and price.

Here is a thought if you do not mind used gear. The Canon S70 has it all and it takes excellent images at low ISO values. I owned two that I have now traded for other gear. I never tried to shoot at ISO values above 200, but I did get excellent results in photos with significant cropping and enlargements to 11" X 14", but mostly to 8" X 10".

Best of success and please let us know what you decide and do and what you think of your "minature Gowlandflex".

Regards,
Tom

[Sidebyte]

Tom,
I have considered a Canon S70 used, I buy a lot of used gear without problems, basically from KEH, Adorama and Cameta....good luck with all of them.

The Gowlandflex cameras are still available from Peter, I think he is over 90 years old now.. He was my mentor when a young photog in the Navy, I actually met him in L.A. at a show when I was about 21 years old (wish I could go back there again) . Without a doubt one of the best studio glamour cams ever built.

[Tom Swaman]

Sidebyte,

Thanks for your comments. I actually had the privilege years ago of using a Gowlandflex. I wonder whether we have made much progress since those days??

Here is my detailed experience with the S70. As I think I said, I owned two which I sold about a month ago. In the entire time that I owned these, which was probably two years, I only had one problem. One of the cameras had a zoom rocker switch stick and I had to replace this. Otherwise, performance was perfect. The clamshell design of this camera is great as it eliminates carrying lots of extras and it keeps the lens relatively clean. I also feel that the size of this camera makes it much more functional than its terrible replacement, the S80. The S80 is just too small for adult fingers to work manual settings if one is really using the camera features.

I would never have sold my S70s if I was using these. I also would have never guessed that Canon would become so fashion-conscious and photographer-stupid. They have ruined their point-and-shoot line and turned this into toys, IMHO. As I wrote earlier, I am hoping that Panasonic/Leica release their new upgraded camera with a bit better noise-free characteristics and I will be a customer. I am a firm believer that any functional camera that claims to shoot wide angle must have a minimum focal length that intercepts approximately a 75 degree angle, i.e. a 28mm lens in 35mm film equivalents. I also believe that if the images are to be decent, the zoom ration needs to be very close to 3:1. This makes the lens versatile for travel and for family shots, etI will be interested in what you decide.

Tom

P.S. KEH, from my experience is totally reputable. if I buy major equipment via mail order, I use B & H or KEH.

[Sidebyte]

Tom,
Because of my current location in S.A. I mail order almost everything. Only one major dealer here, basically Canon and as an example I priced a 30D and it was exactly double the B&H price.
I further investigated the LX2 and it AIN'T for me. At 2:3 or 4:3 it cripples both the lens aperture and the megapixels. I further evaluated my needs and decided that I can live with a larger camera, just not my D1X , lens and accessories or even a XTi with all the associated gear necessary so I bit the bullet and ordered a Sony DSC-R1 while still available. No question about the IQ, I just read a test whereby they shot the exact scene, exposure and time of day on tripods with the A100, the KM 7D and the R1 and the R1 was the best of the three. All it entails is a slightly larger case to carry it in, that I can live with for increased performance...10 MP, decent ISO up to 400 and a Zeiss lens for about the same cost of the Leica Dlux. One of my photo buddies bought a new LX1 in Spain last year and the noise level is unacceptable at anything over minimum ISO level. This fellow has many cameras, mostly Canon's, including the 5D, 30D, Pro1, XT and 3 film Canon's and he bought the LXI on vacation in Spain because of his disgust with sensor dust on his 5D....unfortunately, we don't live in a perfect world, packed all his DSLR kit only to end up shooting the P&S pocket cam. This man is a retired Chem. engineer and is totally paranoid about cleaning his own sensors, sends them back to Canon in the states for service and takes forever to get one back. I also hate cleaning my DSLR's, especially Nikon because they are not really conducive to cleaning because of the framework surrounding the sensor, at least my D1x isn't. I'm getting too darned old and shaky to clean sensors, that's partly why the R1.

[SGreen]

I just signed on the forum to ask this exact question. The Ricoh Caplio GX 100 has a 24 to 72 zoom. PopPhoto did a extensive test and liked it, but said that it was expensive. I hadn't found anything else that came close to what I was looking for, so thanks for the information.

[Sidebyte]

This is the one that really rang my chimes because it matches my tu-tu............

The GX100 looks promising but with a 10 MP, 1/1.75 sized sensor, it also has to have a lot of noise at anything above ISO200, approx. the same sized sensor as the LX2 Panny.
I liked the idea with the Sony R1 of a 10 MP APS-C "CMOS" sensor, only CMOS in a prosumer camera to date. Purportedly the same sensor that's in the Nikon D2X.