SausalitoDog
Well-known
Comment est-ce qu'on dit define?
A point-and-shoot camera is a camera that has almost no user controls except to point it at a subject and to shoot -- except to perhaps focus and to set the flash. No aperture control, no shutter control, few exposure controls, and no capability to add filters, larger flash units, or other accessories.
Add to that an observation that they generally have no viewfinder, relatively poor build and very small sensors...they might make great snapshots but leave you little room to crop and adjust for larger prints.
Clearly the lines are blurring but the concept remains - like pornography - something you usually "just know."
bugmenot
Well-known
Add to that an observation that they generally have no viewfinder, relatively poor build and very small sensors...they might make great snapshots but leave you little room to crop and adjust for larger prints.
Clearly the lines are blurring but the concept remains - like pornography - something you usually "just know."
That applies to digital point and shoots. Also a LCD is an electronic viewfinder.
David Hughes
David Hughes
HI,
I'll go along with just point and shoot, meaning no control over the things beyond that.
But most of them let you turn off the flash, so do any exist in reality?
Regards, David
PS No How are we defining reality comments please. This thread is running in a big enough loop already </;-)
I'll go along with just point and shoot, meaning no control over the things beyond that.
But most of them let you turn off the flash, so do any exist in reality?
Regards, David
PS No How are we defining reality comments please. This thread is running in a big enough loop already </;-)
Bill Clark
Veteran
It depends who is working the camera.
SausalitoDog
Well-known
That's true about the viewfinder, but the concept that goes wrong with the LCD is that you hold the camera at arm's length and it is always going to be less stable (sharp) than if you held it against your forehead for stability, in my thoughts, one of the biggest advantages of the viewfinder
cosmonaut
Well-known
P&S = Press and Pray.
Chris101
summicronia
My Lytro seems to be the quintessential point and shoot. It's got no controls other than pointing and shooting.
Sparrow
Veteran
... reality is an illusion brought about by imbibing too little alcohol
robbiechad
RobbieChad
I think I can say my Minolta Dynax 7xi is definitely a point and sdhoot !!
zuiko85
Veteran
You can make quite a few cameras into a point and shoot. If I load my OM-1 with 400 ISO color negative film, click on a 28mm lens, set lens at f11, set focus to 8 feet, set shutter to 1/125th., I have reduced the camera to the equivalent of a 'one use' point and shoot camera.
ColSebastianMoran
( IRL Richard Karash )
I will suggest that a P&S is a camera which is well-designed for, or perhaps optimized for, fully automatic photography with no user choices or settings. Yes, a dSLR can be used in fully auto mode, but it has a a wide range of user choices.
Real P&S cameras have no extra baggage. Open the cover, bring to the eye, and push the button. Click, whirr, and you are done.
By my definition, a Yashica T4 is a P&S. A Panasonic LX5 is not.
Real P&S cameras have no extra baggage. Open the cover, bring to the eye, and push the button. Click, whirr, and you are done.
By my definition, a Yashica T4 is a P&S. A Panasonic LX5 is not.
Aristophanes
Well-known
Almost no fixed lens cameras anymore. It's pretty much all zooms save for the X100.
At one point it was costly to automate and duplicate manual controls, but digital controls (by wire) eliminate P&S as a camera design implementation fixed t the body.
P&S is simply a function all cameras can have through automation of focus and exposure.
Leica excepted, for a $15,000 premium.
BlackXList
Well-known
Add to that an observation that they generally have no viewfinder, relatively poor build and very small sensors...they might make great snapshots but leave you little room to crop and adjust for larger prints.
Clearly the lines are blurring but the concept remains - like pornography - something you usually "just know."
lets not be quite so hasty, we could be missing out on the opportunity to do a lot of "research" to come up with a definition here
Bob Michaels
nobody special
So is a Holga a point & shoot? You cannot adjust aperture or shutter speed. And your focus choices are icons of: 1 person, 3 persons, 7 persons or a mountain.
Or, how about a Brownie Hawkeye? You have no adjustments at all.
Don't let your thinking be constrained by a small box.
Or, how about a Brownie Hawkeye? You have no adjustments at all.
Don't let your thinking be constrained by a small box.
daveleo
what?
my DSLR has a P mode.
point . . . shoot
"Point and shoot" is a procedure. Some cameras can only do that one procedure, some can that plus more.
point . . . shoot
"Point and shoot" is a procedure. Some cameras can only do that one procedure, some can that plus more.
bugmenot
Well-known
I wrote "fixed lens camera", as opposed to an interchangeable lens camera. I was not referring to a fixed focal length.
Merkin
For the Weekend
Brownie Hawkeye, yes. Holga, no. You have to do a bit of tinkering with a holga, but you can adjust the aperture. You also zone focus a holga. Also, technically you have the choice of two shutter speeds- 1/60, and Bulb.
GaryLH
Veteran
LOL
Any camera has af and can be set to full program mode with a built in flash such that someone who knows nothing about aperture and shutter speed can take a good picture. The camera I can ask anyone to take a picture of my wife and I.
Gary
bugmenot
Well-known
+100.
Now, should we only call the cameras that can do that one procedure alone a point and shoot camera, or should we be including the ones that can do a little more ... Where would we draw the line for features?
dave lackey
Veteran
The point and shoot line is indeed blurred....this must be the bokeh of camera categorization.