question, best zoom p&s avail?

[raytoei@gmail.com]

Hi,

I received my Contax tvs iii yesterday, and while I am finishing up my first roll today I am struck by the high quality of this camera.

Currently, the perception and the auction prices reflect this, is that zooms are inferior to primes fixed lens p&s, most likely due to the slow lenses and and zooms not as sharp as primes.

So, i am very happy so far with the tvs iii, before seeing how my first roll will turn out.

So, pls educate me, what are some of the zoom point and shoot cameras I should be checking out, in this end of days of film.

Raytoei
Ps
Previously I have had experience with the minilux zoom as well as several fixed lens p&s.

 

[Chris101]

I dunno best, but best for the money? Has to be the Canon A1400. Eighty four bucks.

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

In point and shoots the Rollei, Olympus, Minolta, Pentax, Canon, Nikon, Konica and so on. All cheap because they haven't got a cult name like Leica on them. But even the Leicas are cheap compared to what they used to cost because they are "just P&S's" and so not serious cameras.

I'll offer some advice, don't buy zooms that go beyond about 110mm as they open to about f/11 at widest there.

My favourites are:-

Konica Z-up 110 Super
Nikon One Touch Zoom 90AF
Olympus Infinity Stylus Zoom 80 Wide DLX
Pentax ESPIO 928M

Closely followed by the Rollei Prego 90 AF.

But it's important to remember that they are all old and will be second-hand. So they may vary a bit from camera to camera.

Regards, David

 

[sevo]

Currently, the perception and the auction prices reflect this, is that zooms are inferior to primes fixed lens p&s, most likely due to the slow lenses and and zooms not as sharp as primes.

As far as my experience goes, zoom p&s usually have at least a high image quality as the majority of (earlier) prime p&s. Probably as they had to be marketed to replace prime p&s, while the first and second generation of these replaced the much worse instamatic and pocket cameras. Film quality also had progressed considerably from 1980 to 1990, and the cameras had to keep up with that.

Zoom p&s however are tediously slow, almost universally in terms of lens speed, and very often in terms of their reaction speed as well - a few high value or late ones reach f/2.8 at the wide end, the usual set-up seems to be a f/5.6-f/11 lens.

 

[v_roma]

I think a TVS I was the only point & shoot zoom I owned. It was a great camera. Compact, good zoom range, great lens.

 

[rolfe]

Panasonic LX7 is pretty nice. f1.4 at the wide end and f8 at the long end. Good IQ.

 

[Greyscale]

If you are speaking in terms of image quality, the best that I have ever used is the Canon Sure Shot Zoom XL, which has a lens that rivals the Canon FD SLR lenses. It is far from compact, though, as in size it rivals many medium-format SLR cameras. More practical and pocketable offerings from Canon include the Sure Shot Classic 120, the 115U, and the Z135 and Z155. Samsung also produced some very good zooms in their Maxima, Fino, and ECX lines, using German (Schnieder Krueznach) lenses.

My personal favorite compact AF zoom, though, is the quirky and somewhat rare Vivitar Tec 155, with its manual Vivitar Series 1 35~70mm zoom lens.


Vivitar Tec 155 with Series 1 35~70mm zoom. by Greyscale3, on Flickr

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

Some of those big old ones, from when AF first appeared are very nice. There's also the two focal length versions, meaning they don't zoom to in between focal lengths. Pentax etc made them as did a lot of others but I've only used the Pentax one and can recommend it. Often called something "twin" by the way.

Regards, David

 

[OlliL]

I'd love to try a Fuji Natura, but they seem hard to come by.
Only had a TVS of the first generation and while the lens was stellar, the heavy vignetting wasn't acceptable for me. The Minilux zoom is certainly another contender, but I only had it for a roll or so, because I was able to exchange it for the non-zoom at no extra money.

 

[BlackXList]

I have the Fuji DL Super Mini Zoom (and the non zoom version), and I have to say it definitely impresses.

Looking at the styling/specs etc, it does seem rather like after putting out the DL Super Mini and getting it very right Fuji took aim at the TVS range with the zoom version.

I also have the Leica Mini Zoom, but I haven't finished the first roll yet, I struggle a little with zoom p&s cameras, because I'm so used to the fixed lens versions, so it takes me a while to mentally adjust to the zooms. (That's me though not the cameras)