P&S with long or fast lens

[wolfpeterson]

My Infinity stylus is kicking the bucket and I'm looking for a new beater p&s.

I am curious as to know if there are cheap point and shoots with a focal length that is longer than 35?

Also, besides the high end usual suspects, are there any cheap p&s with 2.8 lenses or even larger apertures?

I'm not looking for a camera with both these criteria, I'm looking for either.

I come to RFF when google fails me!

thanks

 

[kzphoto]

I've been looking at p&s cameras for a few weeks now, there's a few that fit both criteria, but they're not cheap:

Leica CM / minilux 40/2.4 lens, supposed to be amazing.
rollei 35 afm 38/2.6
fuji klasse (same as the afm, I believe)
fuji Natura NP has a 24/1.9 lens on it, really fast for a P&S.

That's all that I've come across, but there's probably something else out there.

 

[Greyscale]

How about the Canon AF35ML? (Super Sure Shot)?

40mm, fast 1.9 lens. (5 elements in 5 groups) Fits all three criteria. Nice solid camera, here is mine:

Make me an offer if you can't find one on eBay Canada, but shipping from US to Canada ($26US FRB) might not make it so cheap anymore.

The first four Sure Shot/Autoboys (AF35M, AF35M II, AF35ML, and Sure Shot Supreme) all have f2.8 lenses or faster (and the Supreme has a 38mm lens), as do the Nikon L35AF and Nikon One Touch (L35AF2). And all can be bought for cheap on eBay.

 

[wolfpeterson]

That looks good! I have an L35AD (L35AF with date back) and it's pretty great but not exactly pocketable.

Today, I went to chinatown (here in montreal) to see a store that had new old stock. They had boxed Nikon AF lenses, F4 and some Lite touch point and shoots.

I tried as hard as I could to get him to sell me one of the One Touch zoom 90s, he refused to sell it! His excuses ranged from "it's film, you won't like it", "these are old", you will return it in a week".

Anyway, he wouldn't even give me a price. He said "I will just keep it here." (on the shelf) :bang:

 

[Greyscale]

I tried as hard as I could to get him to sell me one of the One Touch zoom 90s, he refused to sell it! His excuses ranged from "it's film, you won't like it", "these are old", you will return it in a week".

Anyway, he wouldn't even give me a price. He said "I will just keep it here." (on the shelf) :bang:

You mean one of these? Pretty, isn't it? 🙂

PM me, I have a bunch of Canon and Nikon P&S's that I might be willing to part with ... maybe not this one so much, though ... but you never know.

Shipping not so bad if 5 or 6 are in the box. 😉

 

[David Hughes]

You'll have a job as wide angle lenses were all the rage when P&S's peaked. So usually 35mm or 38mm and a few zooms starting there. But there's the Olympus Trip at f/2·8 and 40mm and, of course, the Leicas. And the Olympus AF-1 comes in at f/2·8 and 35mm but its batteries are expensive.

Most compacts and compact zooms start around f/3·5 or f/4 but looking at f/3·5 gives you the Konica A4, Leica mini, Olympus XA, XA2 and XA3.

Then there's the Ricoh 500 ME which is a coupled range-finder with a 40mm f/2·8 lens and the Yashica 35-ME at f/2·8 and 38mm which is zone focussing like the Trip 35 and XA2 and XA3. And another CRF the Olympus 35 ED at f/2·8 and 38mm.

Sorry I can't suggest more. As you can see a lot of them are elderly because "wider is better" seems to be the rule with non-zoom modern P&S's (a good example being the Pentax ESPIO mini).

And elderly means battery problems that are easily sorted out. Although I'd love to know how to modify the 35 ED with a diode to save leaving RM 640's to age and drop their voltage...

Regards, David

 

[ZeissFan]

On the long side, most with zooms seemed to top out at around 140mm, which is pretty long, if you think about it. On the downside, these are pretty slow lenses.

I've had a little Rollei Prego 35-70, and it's a nice little camera. There also is the Contax T VS series. The original had a 35-85 zoom, and it's f/2.8 on the wide end and f/5.6 on the tele side.

 

[Greyscale]

You also might consider one of the many dual focal length P$S's that are out there, the Ricoh TF 500 comes to mind, and I know that Fujifilm and Minolta (and probably most other major brands) had offerings that fall into this category. Usually, they are fast on the wide end, but slow on the long, though. For instance, the Ricoh is 2.8/35mm, and 5.6/70mm.

 

[btgc]

Bingo, Greyscale already mentioned dual-focus niche I were going to advice.

Then there are some zoom cameras (I know, they are evil, but very useful evil!) like Konica Lexio 70 (aka 70W), nice 28-70 lens and not too dark for it's class.

 

[muf]

Rollei Prego 90. I've had results that rival my T2. This is one hell of a camera. Exposure comp, bulb, snap mode, fill-in flash, Panoramic plus many other options. It's as quiet as a mouse too! It's not a shirt pocket camera, but it goes in a coat pocket. It's also a fantastic camera to handle. It is probably my fave camera. It's quite a feat for a plastic P&S to strike such a cord. I've got a second one in the post for backup. Cost me under £10($15) delivered. I simply love this camera. Note: There are two versions. The one with the Schneider lens is the one to go for.

Another one I'd recommend is the Olympus 35RC. It's a fixed rangefinder, but it's got 'a corker of a lens' on it. A five element 42mm Zuiko. f2.8 to f22. Shutter speeds Bulb to 500th. You can select aperture and shutter speed or put it on Auto, where you select the shutter speed and let the camera work out the aperture for you. It's shows the shutter speed and aperture in the viewfinder too! It's Smaller than the Rollei Prego 90. It's about the most pocketable rangefinder you can get your hands on. Note that it only goes to ISO 800, just in case that matters.

 

[ZeissFan]

The most pocketable rangefinder, of course, might be the Olympus XA.

 

[muf]

The most pocketable rangefinder, of course, might be the Olympus XA.

Yeah, forgot that one. I've got one of those too! Although the xa only has aperture priority where as the 35rc has it all.