A camera Every Photographer Should Have - Compact Super Zoom.

I have a 35mm super zoom - The best fuji made in the day. Zoom/Date 1300 - Goes from 28mm-130mm. Not as large a range as you get with a small sensor digital of course. But I love it - It's compact, has more zoom range than an SLR with the kit lens, and of course super sharp fuji glass.
 
Nick:

Once I felt I needed something like that... I got it, and it's been an important camera several times... I think you're right.

Mine (an OlyStylus) is not digital, but it's compact, and goes from 28mm to 100mm (I mean it goes from street to portrait) and it can use ISO3200 film, apart from having a flash I can keep off... Originally I bought it to make it shoot stopped down and with fast shutter speeds with ISO3200 film in dull light, and it's great for that.

As you and others have pointed, these cameras are about being prepared for lots of unexpected and too different things in the smallest and lightest package. I think to some of us it is required gear as you say...

I don't use it as much as my real cameras, not because of the lens (a good shot is a good shot) but because of the bigger pleasure I feel with more mechanical cameras and the control they give, and I don't even carry it "just in case" as much as I carry my OlyXA, but thank God I had it with me a few times, both doing street and surrounded by my family...

What is clear is, to get the same tool, and to get the photographs I got, I would have needed several cameras and lenses or my much bigger DSLR with flash mounted, and maybe because of size and sound, people wouldn't have felt comfortable... At all! I was able to photograph old relatives smiling naturally, as I didn't need to be close, and my camera was tiny and silent. The last time I used it (exactly one year ago) it was my grandmother's 80th birthday, and her older (and only) brother and sister came to visit her for the party: I shot with simple drugstore ISO400 color film, with flash half the times, and made three identical albums for them, as they had not been together for many years... Everybody loved the albums in our family and in their families, and during the party I took all the care I could to make people forget I was interested in getting photographs... But I was VERY interested... It was hard to me to decide avoiding my DSLR... I never had my camera in my hands more than a few seconds, and then after one single shot without exception, back to my pants for some minutes, so I was never "the photographer"... But I was! :) Now two of them have passed away, both on this 2011... Yet I saw them smiling yesterday on my grandmother's album... I couldn't have done it with any other camera I own.

I find that camera my best tool for family/indoors shooting. If it's paid work or if people can see "a photographer" and remain the same, my DSLR doesn't harm, and if all I need is 35mm FOV and no flash, my HexarAF is the best tool, but for natural shots indoors with my loved ones, nothing beats a zoom compact IMO...

Cheers,

Juan
 
unixrevolution said:
When I can get a superzoom that fits comfortably in my pocket, then i'll get one. You must have bigger pockets than I do.
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Dude - the old super zooms were big. The new ones totally fit in your pocket, any regular-sized pocket. No bigger than any compact digital, the lens collapses fully into the camera. It fits in the palm of your hand.

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To the rest? Bah! Bah, I say. You each own bunches o' cameras. I know you do. The advantage of small-sensor cameras has always been zoom. Zoom. zoom. zoom. zooma. zooma. zoom. Small sensor - fine, we can slap a "regular sized lens" on it and that will give us a gianormous "crop factor" in a small form factor. Add image stabilization and? Viola. A camera with unique and useful capabilities. Issues? Sure. Fuji did a decent job addressing them. Yeah, I'm a prime shooter, sure. Love my fast primes on film and digital. But I go for max versatility (min cost) in my camera body collection. I have an infrared digital, an APS-C DSLR, small film cameras (Oly XA the primary these days for "full frame in your pocket) - my film SLR is a dedicated super wide (19mm lens), and this super zoom. Photographic bases covered... I'm done with "collecting" a bunch of cameras that all do the same thing, virtual clones of each other...

This is the correct way to acquire gear. Each camera has a unique purpose, a unique strength. It's like a baseball line up. Playing "3rd base" (metaphorically, of course) - The Fuji F80 EXR compact super zoom. 28mm wide side to 270 tele I can fit in my pocket that I can shoot hand-held due to effective image stabilization.

Bah... collect what is the same camera with the same capabilities over and over again if that suits you... then sell the closet queens on eBay for a loss. I have no closet queens.

Not n'more.

And not to have one, is like playing baseball without a 3rd baseman.

I reiterate required photo gear!
 
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I have found the Canon S95 to be an excellent camera, except for the placement of the flash.
Always pops up when you need it--but when your finger is holding it down.
S100 did not solve that issue--and I know I know--pay attention! Move yer stinkin' finger!
Great camera though--agree with Nick--required gear. Very easy to carry around...
 
Paulbe gets it, migs gets it. Betchya HBC would be using something like the Canon S95. But I think I would use the compact superzooms for his outdoor street stuff.
 
My computer crashed because XP got corrupted, and I tried a Microsoft fix on it. Boy, I'm never going that route again. Anyway, the so-called tech down at the shop said I had to reload all my software, and he would overwrite my files. I told him no such thing was going to happen, just put another drive in it, and put the programs on it. When I got it back, I just copied all my files I wanted over to the new drive, then trashed the old drive, since it was apparently the cause of the problem. So you may not have to use a recovery service if you files still exist.

And secondly, I'm with Nick, as far as the usefulness of a pocket super zoom. As far as it being required, well not everyone takes the same kind of photos, so not everyone needs the same kind of camera. I also have several film p&s cameras from my search for the perfect combination of lens and features. But I find they lack speed when I need it, as most require at the minimum 400 ISO to be of any use when the day gets long, or the clouds come in. I have a Panasonic TZ-3 for a pocket zoom, but it's getting long in the tooth, I never did like the output anyway, and the macro function sucks. But the fact it's still working after having been dropped on the asphalt from a height of five feet two weeks after I bought it six years ago, is a testament to the construction. But I really would like one where I can control the focus point. And with a better sensor.

PF
 
mugent said:
If you have valuable data, you need to be backing up. It's easier to backup files than negatives.

MT
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Same thing happened to me and I had three complete back ups (a PC, an iMac, and a external HD). ALL THREE had harddrive meltdowns within a week and with them went 90% of the photos i took of my daughter and family that year. Had some people try to recover the data, no go. I know it's like getting hit by lightning but THAT SUCKED! So glad I was also concurrently shooting film though admittedly for family photos I mainly shoot digital.
 
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andredossantos said:
Same thing happened to me and I had three complete back ups (a PC, an iMac, and a external HD). ALL THREE had harddrive meltdowns within a week and with them went 90% of the photos i took of my daughter and family that year. Had some people try to recover the data, no go. I know it's like getting hit by lightning but THAT SUCKED! So glad I was also concurrently shooting film though admittedly for family photos I mainly shoot digital.
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This is why I use film for all family pictures.

Seagate makes a good recovery program to rescue stuff from dead HDs. Just plug the HD into a good computer with the Seagate software and it'll extract all the info.
 
Calm down, people. It is just a person's excited post about a camera. As long as Nick likes this camera, it will be unimportant to him that others may not like it. It is a message from him. I don't think that he expects a message back.
 
I've used a Canon A570 IS over the last few years with good results. It has an optical viewfinder as well as LCD screen.

Those cameras without the VF gives a whole new meaning to the term "point and shoot" on a sunny day at the beach. More like point and pray.
 
Nick, I agree with you.
Especially those that has 24mm equivalent lenses.
I had an LX3 that takes interesting photos at interesting angles because it's so darn small.

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The only reason I sold it was because I was getting my E-P2.
 
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