Not aMjused

John Bragg

John Bragg

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I have a thing for P&S compacts. Truth is I was buying them for pence long before it was hip and trendy and the price of some select models went through the roof. I like the Olympus Mju a lot and have two good working examples which have taken their fair share of my favorite photos when an slr kit or rangefinder were left at home, as photography was not on the agenda for the day. Despite all the hype and it's allegedly superior spec, I find the Mju ii less able in many respects. It simply wont nail focus on a low light close up and I guess the exposure program has a lot to do with that (it favors f2.8 even when it could stop down). Also for all its abilities, its build quality sucks. To that end I have been looking again at alternatives and have settled on the Canon Sureshot Supreme aka Autoboy 3. I have paid as little as £1 for a great working example and up to £20 for the pristine one that arrived in the post today. It is a lot more of a handful ergonomically speaking, and also quirky to use, but has a killer 38mm f2.8 lens and is much more adept at critical focussing. What other kinds of point and shoot thrift store marvels do any of you use, espescially for people pics when low light demands pinpoint focussing ?

Plastic Fantastic by E.J. Bragg, on Flickr
 
I'm not surprised, I hated my Mju and was happy to sell it to a sucker. Terrible focus, decided to take a pic when it decided to take a pic, no matter how much I pushed on the shutter button.
But they are trendy to that's what matters...
 
My common things to do is to walk with crazy dog on leash or jog around.
Small film P&S is very good for it. One hand operation, no "Leica slows me down and it is good thing" bad excuses for lousy photos.
It doesn't give absolutely perfect focus all the time, but results are never the failure.
For low light I use flash. And it just good, especially with bw film.
I don't even know what kind of lens in it. It is zoomed Samsung.
 
Ko.Fe. said:
My common things to do is to walk with crazy dog on leash or jog around.
Small film P&S is very good for it. One hand operation, no "Leica slows me down and it is good thing" bad excuses for lousy photos.
It doesn't give absolutely perfect focus all the time, but results are never the failure.
For low light I use flash. And it just good, especially with bw film.
I don't even know what kind of lens in it. It is zoomed Samsung.
Click to expand...

Every other P&S camera I have is great. And most of those cost between $10-$20!
Just random Pentax, Minolta, Samsung, Nikon, Canon etc models. That aren't "it" cameras so no-one cares and they are super cheap.
 
Other than the Olympus models, any P&S camera with a 35mm lens is usually a good performer, though I can't say I've used them in low light conditions very often. Faster film helps though.

One I've used that is similar to your replacement Canon is the Minolta Freedom AF35, of which I did a test on.
https://flic.kr/s/aHsjvMYHhu

If you dive a little deeper into my Albums page you'll find many more P&S tests, including three more I did in comparison with the Minolta Freedom AF35.


Minolta Freedom AF 35 Front (Open) by P F McFarland, on Flickr

PF
 
farlymac said:
Other than the Olympus models, any P&S camera with a 35mm lens is usually a good performer, though I can't say I've used them in low light conditions very often. Faster film helps though.

One I've used that is similar to your replacement Canon is the Minolta Freedom AF35, of which I did a test on.
https://flic.kr/s/aHsjvMYHhu

If you dive a little deeper into my Albums page you'll find many more P&S tests, including three more I did in comparison with the Minolta Freedom AF35.

Minolta Freedom AF 35 Front (Open) by P F McFarland, on Flickr

PF
Click to expand...

Thanks Paul. There must be many more cameras that are not yet subject to the hype surrounding certain over priced compacts. My first Canon pre-dated my Mju and Mju ii cameras and I paid £3 for it in a charity shop. It died on me, but not before it had been joined by another one costing £1 from eBay. The one I got today is honestly like new, apart from one mark, also from eBay.
 
My Olympus Stylus Infinity still works fine. I bought it new, the flash thing is a little confusing so I have figure it out before every use. The focus and lens are excellent. But the fill flash when I figure it out is great at the beach.

I took it to Turkey:

Sardis by John Carter, on Flickr

And a blowup form the above image:

Crop by John Carter, on Flickr

I also have a Canon AF35M, which was one of the first AF cameras. I gave up on it because it ate batteries quicker than I could buy them.
 
I've got boxes of P&S cameras I paid no more than $3 for, John, and a lot of them can give the big boys a run for their money.


Phil
 
charjohncarter said:
My Olympus Stylus Infinity still works fine. I bought it new, the flash thing is a little confusing so I have figure it out before every use. The focus and lens are excellent. But the fill flash when I figure it out is great at the beach.

I took it to Turkey:

Sardis by John Carter, on Flickr

And a blowup form the above image:

Crop by John Carter, on Flickr

.
Click to expand...



This is what this Pentax can do:





And 1:1 crop:




$10 on ebay.
 
charjohncarter said:
My Olympus Stylus Infinity still works fine. I bought it new, the flash thing is a little confusing so I have figure it out before every use. The focus and lens are excellent. But the fill flash when I figure it out is great at the beach.

I took it to Turkey:

Sardis by John Carter, on Flickr

And a blowup form the above image:

Crop by John Carter, on Flickr

I also have a Canon AF35M, which was one of the first AF cameras. I gave up on it because it ate batteries quicker than I could buy them.
Click to expand...

Impressive John. I wouldn't sell my stylus Infinity either. It has much better ergonomics than the Epic (Mju ii). Trouble is that it has become a lot more expensive too.
 
I`ve had a number of Mju 2`s over the years .
More or less since they first came out .
You could until a few years ago pick them up cheaply but last time I looked they were going for a couple of hundred quid .

Maybe that was a fad and they`ve dropped in price again …. must admit I found them to be ok .
 
Michael Markey said:
I`ve had a number of Mju 2`s over the years .
More or less since they first came out .
You could until a few years ago pick them up cheaply but last time I looked they were going for a couple of hundred quid .

Maybe that was a fad and they`ve dropped in price again …. must admit I found them to be ok .
Click to expand...

Hi Michael. I think that's it, they are "OK" but not £200 pounds worth of outstanding. No, the price is not falling, and it might be me, but in the sort of marginal low light that I like, I can not get them reliably focus pin point on. Even.with the spot feature enabled.
 
I love my Canon SureShot WP-1, a.k.a Prima AS-1, a.k.a SureShot A1:

p3756314929-4.jpg


The 32mm lens is adequately wide for a compact P&S and delivers beautiful pictures. The viewfinder is huge and very bright (it is designed to be used with a snorkeling mask).

This camera stands out of the dull black P&S crowd, and it does go to the beach or withstand the occasional downpour too! It sure hasn't the sex appeal of a Nikonos but it's far more convenient to use...

Cheers!

Abbazz
 
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