Pocketable Camera for Vacation

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giganova

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Hi all!

My wife and I will be traveling to NYC for a couple of days at the end of July for our 20th wedding anniversary. My SL2-S will be too heavy to carry around all day, and I don’t want to fuzz around with my film M4s. So I’m looking for a small digital camera I can take with me and carry around all day. Seems like there isn’t much to chose from at the moment:

The Leica D-Lux 8 will probably be released too late to get it on by July 30. The Fuji X100VI isn’t available and people have been on wait lists for months now. Neither the Panasonic LX100 nor the Ricoh GR models are available. If I go to B&H and look at what point & shot cameras are available, there’s almost nothing to chose from!

Any suggestions what pocketable or small camera I should get or am I stuck with my cell phone?

Thanks!
 
P.S.: next time I’ll listen more to what the guy in the Leica store said. Last summer I drove to the Leica boutique and said I either want to buy the SL-2 or the Q2. Played around with both cameras for half an hour and declared “Ok, I want to buy the SL-2!” I had the money with me and they had the SL-2 in stock … but the guy wouldn’t sell it to me!! Instead, he said “Know what? Think about it for a few days and I’ll send you what you decide to get.” So I drove back home 200 miles, sat & waited for three days, pretending that I was thinking about it, then called them and they Fedexed me the SL-2 overnight. But he was absolut correct: the Q2 would have been a better choice for me because the SL-2 is heeeaaavy and big and more often than not, I don’t have it with me.
 
One of the smaller Micro Four Thirds cameras might suit you, with a small lens. The Olympus EPL series or the Panasonic GX bodies are mostly pretty small. The lenses I would recommend would be the Panasonic 20mm f1.7 (40mm equivalent, one of my favorite lenses ever, not the fastest to autofocus), the Panasonic 12-32mm f3.5-5.6 (24-64mm equiv, nice image quality but slow aperture values, it's close to f5.6 through much of the zoom range), and the Panasonic 14mm f2.5 (great lens, absolutely tiny, 28mm equiv).

If you can swing the size (a little larger in some dimensions than a X100 I think, don't quote me) I would get a GX9 with the 20mm for the best IQ.
 
The contrarian position is to get a small carry bag and take whatever camera suits you. While there are fine smaller cameras if you do not feel comfortable using them why use them? I have no large cameras, but large is a vague term. To me it is just bigger than what I find reasonable. I try to travel light but will pack two cameras and a few lenses in toto and take one camera when I go out. YMMV My old M9 and a few lenses are usual companions. Maybe a couple of 50's and a 35.
 
There's a guy over on Cameraderie selling an Oly EM-10 that looks like it might fit your requirements. I know nothing about it or him, but I think he's a pretty straight shooter from what I've seen of his posts. You might take a look.
 
If you are really serious about pocketable I can vouch for the Pentax Q-S1 which features interchangeable lenses. I have one with the long and short zooms and also the equivalent of about a 50mm on a 35mm camera. With the lens off it will fit in a pocket with the lens in another. Both are tiny. It punches well above its weight.



IMGP1196 by West Phalia, on Flickr

IMGP4190 by West Phalia, on Flickr​
 
I've been researching pocketable digital cameras in anticipation of an upcoming trip to Europe and I'm pretty discouraged by what I'm finding available. I've been looking at Canon S100s, Nikon P7800s, and Ricoh GRD-IVs. I'm shocked at the asking prices on Ebay, and the number of these cameras I see with lens errors or listed as "for parts or repairs" concerns me greatly.

I've pretty much decided that unless a great deal on one of these cameras happens to fall into my lap, I'm just going to bring my iPhone 13 Pro and take pictures with that. It probably takes photos just as good or better than the 10-year-old compacts anyway, and has no retractable lens to cause problems.
 
AAlfano said:
I've been researching pocketable digital cameras in anticipation of an upcoming trip to Europe and I'm pretty discouraged by what I'm finding available. I've been looking at Canon S100s, Nikon P7800s, and Ricoh GRD-IVs. I'm shocked at the asking prices on Ebay, and the number of these cameras I see with lens errors or listed as "for parts or repairs" concerns me greatly.

I've pretty much decided that unless a great deal on one of these cameras happens to fall into my lap, I'm just going to bring my iPhone 13 Pro and take pictures with that. It probably takes photos just as good or better than the 10-year-old compacts anyway, and has no retractable lens to cause problems.
Click to expand...


This is an excellent solution.
 
Hoo hoo! The world is truly your oyster on this one. Suggestions will flood in. By the hundreds, likely.

In the end you are the one who has to decide about this. Me, I would go to a reputable secondhand camera dealer and buy something small, portable, a reliable brand name and not too old. I own a 15 year old Lumix GF1 with two Lumix lenses that suits me ideally when I travel, but it's old, and it may not give you the Leica quality you obviously are into. So I won't recommend it, other than saying it suits me just fine, and I can easily make A4 size prints from it if I chose to. I don't often do this, but I have the option to do it no-fuss, so for me it's a win-win.

Being me, I would avoid anything by Sony (poor after sale service), I dislike Canon, and sadly Nikon hasn't yet produced a small camera that comes anywhere near to meeting my own requirements for a 'portable'. But there are still many choices. Pentax, Olympus, and of course Leica, to name only three of many. Recently I saw many good Lumix cameras available at Ted's Camera in Melbourne (this in Australia, so it won't be much help to you, sorry), checked and serviced if needed, a good warranty and at prices starting from AUD $400. Also good kit lenses. For me the Lumix 14-42 is about as good as it gets for general travel snaps. For anything more serious,I take my Nikon DSLR kit.

Then spend a few days playing with your new toy, and get used to how it works.

This option would let you have a new toy, a usable camera for a vacation, and you can save most of your $$ for a more serious purchase later.

Obviously your iPhone will do he job, but isn't that rather like using a Kodak Brownie when you could be playing with a Leica or a Contax?

I like the Leica SL2, but if I had the choice (and the $$) I would take the Leica Q2. As things stand I can't justify spending the $$ for either, so this is entirely a by the way comment.

And do enjoy your holiday. Remember the guiding principle when one is on vacation is to practice excess in moderation...
 
Another suggestion would be the Sony RX100 - it's my go-to digital compact camera.

The later models have quite impressive zoom range (24-200mm I think?) and the earlier ones have quite a bright lens (f1.8-2.8 zoom) for such a small compact. I have the first version, simply because it's the smallest and lightest (240grams ready to shoot) - with a 28-100mm Zoom lens and a 1" 20.1MP sensor it beats the pants off my iPhone in agility.

I have to add that I do not shoot this camera "seriously" - that's for film for me. But it's nice as a proofing device or just holiday snapshots. Also with modern RAW editing tools you can get even more out of that now almost 12 year old sensor and ISO 3200 becomes fully usable - it's quite amazing.
 
agentlossing said:
us.ricoh-imaging.com

GR III Diary Edition - Ricoh

us.ricoh-imaging.com us.ricoh-imaging.com

In theory, Ricoh will have the GRIII Diary Edition available to ship on June 17th... The nice thing about GR cameras right now is, the resale value is more than what you pay for it from an authorized dealer.
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting that. If I had a grand to spend on a camera right now, I would have ordered one.
 
DownUnder said:
Obviously your iPhone will do he job, but isn't that rather like using a Kodak Brownie when you could be playing with a Leica or a Contax?
Click to expand...

No, not at all. (Or I should say, I don't think so, as I've never used either a Brownie, a Leica, or a Contax.)

I think of the iPhone as a digital camera with a different set of tradeoffs that is neither better nor worse than any other digital camera. Just different. I don't think any digital camera provides the same enjoyment I get with my film cameras. They're a totally different category. (I could get into why, but I think that would be a topic better addressed in a new thread.)

On my planned trip, we're bringing only carry-on bags and traveling by rail once we get to Europe. I'm not going to have the space to bring one of my film cameras and enough film, and I don't want to deal with the hassles of traveling with film.
 
One option that might make sense is a rugged point-and-shoot like the Olympus Tough. Those seem to be in stock. Ricoh also just announced a new model in this category (Pentax WG-8).
 
I was going to suggest one of the Ricoh GR iii/iiix pair, but you note they’re not available near you. It really is the obvious choice and if you could find one worth picking up. Mine fits into my back jeans pocket, with or without its tiny viewfinder, and they are a freeing way of making pictures.
 
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