Beater compact P&S recommendations

[nongfuspring]

Hi everyone. I usually use an olympus stylus 80 for whenever I'm going somewhere not-so-camera friendly (rivers, mountains, bars, places with a lot of pickpockets etc.). I was really happy with it, despite what often gets said about it online I had no issues with sharpness, only occasional problems with weird circular flare (which seems to happen at random). I was willing to deal with a couple of flare-ruined photos per roll, but the last roll I developed has pretty much 50% of the photos having very distracting flaring. Anyway, so I'm thinking of getting a new p&s and was wondering if you guys have any recommendations for (preferably under 50 bucks) cheap and underrated cameras. I was thinking of a mju ii, but they mostly seem really overpriced now.

Bonus points for:

- manual flash override
- f 2.8
- reliable autofocus
- weather sealing (I'll be travelling through some sandstorms next year)
- pocketable
- tough
- some form of exposure comp

I have been thinking about the pentax PC35 AF since it's cheap and seems to tick most of my boxes, but supposedly it only has 3 distances for autofocus! Still, I like it, but keen to see if anyone has better ideas.

 

[Gregoyle]

Ha! I was going to say mjuII/Stylus Epic, but you beat me to it! I love mine; not sure if it's weather sealed though. I don't know any camera that would do well in a sandstorm (having been through a few). I think a plastic sandwich bag is the best answer for that.

They allegedly appear in thrift stores, although the closest I've come is a Stylus Epic Zoom. If not, you can still find them for ~$50 online on forums, although eBay looks to be a little overpriced.

-Greg

 

[nongfuspring]

Ha! I was going to say mjuII/Stylus Epic, but you beat me to it! I love mine; not sure if it's weather sealed though. I don't know any camera that would do well in a sandstorm (having been through a few). I think a plastic sandwich bag is the best answer for that.

They allegedly appear in thrift stores, although the closest I've come is a Stylus Epic Zoom. If not, you can still find them for ~$50 online on forums, although eBay looks to be a little overpriced.

-Greg

Hey a sandwich bag is a great idea, I'll definitely try that.

 

[peteography]

MJU2 has weather sealing, but it's billed as water resistant; I wouldn't want to blast it with sand.

It suffers from a lack of exp comp. but does have a point mode (spot meter & focus on center). It's also tiny.

I think the Fuji klasse would tick most of your boxes, hah.

Best of luck!

 

[Sparrow]

... I've dropped a mjuII in a pool before now, not to mention how many times its 'bar of soap' styling has seen it slip out of my hand/pocket/bag onto various surfaces from different heights ... from new it stood up to twenty-some years of daily use and abuse before finally dying last year. I tried a few 'pocket' cameras since then but I think I'll be buying another when one comes up

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

The improvement on the mju zoom 80 (in its various mju II and III versions) is the infinity stylus zoom 80 wide DLX or some similar name. It'll zoom from 28 to 80 but is only f/4.5 when wide open at the 28mm end. But it has spot metering.

There's also the Pentax ESPIO 928M, Minolta Riva Zoom 90, Nikon Lite Touch 90S (or similar), Canon Sure Shot Z90W and Konica Z-up 110 super. None of them dear and fairly modern in that they are small. There's also the larger Rollei Prego 90 AF.

Talking of flare every one of them would be improved if a lens hood was available. The APS Contax TiX takes a lens hood and turns out excellent photo's but has a prime lens only. There's a zoom lensed APS camera the Konica Z3 which I rate very highly because of its controls and lens.

BTW, my last mju-II cost about the same as a cup of coffee (or two cups of coffee at that stall in the flea market). They are dear on ebay but look at the mju-I, which I also rate highly. The makes I've mentioned above also do small brilliant cameras with prime lenses, like the Olympus AF-1 mini, Konica A4, Minolta Riva mini, Panasonic C-625, Pentax ESPIO mini, Yashica Minitec Super and so on.

I use all of the above and Leica mini III. Plus some larger lumpier P&S's like the Olympus AF-1 and similar that take AA's. The bigger older ones have f/2.8 lenses on them and the smaller ones f/3.5 in general terms.

And there's the Olympus XA2 which is dirt cheap due to XA worship but XA's do turn up in shops at three pounds or so from time to time.

Regards, David

PS When buying in flea markets check the battery terminals for corrosion first then the back of the lens for thumb prints.

 

[Greyscale]

Konica Off-Road ticks all of the boxes, except it has a f3.5 lens. But there is a "wide" version with a 28/2.8.

 

[p.giannakis]

I would definitely recommend Nikon L35AF but i cannot call it "pocketable"....

 

[btgc]

I have been thinking about the pentax PC35 AF since it's cheap and seems to tick most of my boxes, but supposedly it only has 3 distances for autofocus! Still, I like it, but keen to see if anyone has better ideas.

It's only VF indicator. I have not manual for PC35AF but say, Ricoh FF-70/700 (which would be another very good choice) also has three AF positions in VF but manual clearly says it has 10 focusing zones.

 

[Peter_S]

Not sure what they go for these days, but look at the Yashica T3.

 

[bhop73]

I used to have a Stylus Epic.. it broke, so I bought another, but I broke the second one myself trying to fix the half-press focus. I want another, but yes, they do seem overpriced. I really liked that camera though, a lot, so it might be worth the cost.

 

[GaryLH]

Before I switched to digital p&s that were weather resistant for this purpose, I was using the Minolta weathermatic dual 35.

http://120studio.com/weathermatic.htm

Doesn't match up perfectly to your list of requirements but I really think it could be the ticket. Of course the down side is that it is yellow and the 35 if f3.5 and the 50 is even slower. But this camera is well sealed and can take a beating and can be found cheap.

Gary

Ps. Have u considered taking to different p&s since they are small. A sealed beater like the Minolta and a better p&s like a Minolta tc or Nikon version or contax T, t2, etc..when conditions are better (not in sand storm) or inside where u are more protected?

 

[nongfuspring]

Thanks everyone for the really useful suggestions. The weathermatic seems like a good choice and pretty common, the Konica Off-Road almost looks like a ruggedised Hexar AF - will definitely get one if I ever find one, but ebay doesn't have any listings right now. I wish I had the luck of other people when it comes to finding mjuIIs for almost nothing.

Gary, my dream p&s is a Contax T2, though its a little lower down on my priority list at the moment since I'm planning a set of gear for a project in northeast China and I'd like to keep my setup as light as possible. I think I could only justify a T2 right now if it were to replace my SLR.

btgc, thanks for the heads up on that, really good to know. I'll probably buy a Pentax PC35 sometime very soon.