recommendations for a film p&s

My first pick would be any of the Ricoh GRX. Replace the X with an of the number of version, they are all great, even the R1, the first of the series.

Second would be the Olympus XA or XA4 Macro.

B2 (;->
 
If it's going to be in a bag on a motorcycle, I wouldn't spend too much money.

I would visit a local thrift shop and buy half a dozen for a few dollars each.

Most plastic P&S cameras from the 1990s should be adequate.
 
I can second the recommendations for the Mju II (stylus epic) and also for the Minolta Freedom Zoom Explorer. I've had consistently good results from both. The Minolta is a little slow at hte long end and there's some distortion at the wide-end, but it's still pretty good for a zoom compact.

My personal favourite, though, is the Rollei AFM35 [or the Fuji Klasse] which is fantastic.
 
Well you don't mention budget, but the Ricoh GR1 series are all wonderful cameras. I never leave the house without my GR1s these days - tiny, tough and blessed with a gem of a lens.

At the other end of the budget scale the little Olly XA2 is capable of some beautiful results and more of a true p&s than the XA. Or, as has been mentioned, the Olly mju/Stylus Epic cameras are all solid choices.
 
I have both the Olympus Stylus Epic 35/2.8 and the Yashica T4 Super 35/3.5. My wife and I used them interchangeably on a month-long trip to Southeast Asia, mostly loaded with Fuji Press 400 (and some Fuji Superia 800).

Image quality is comparable, though the Epic has a slightly faster lens and the T4 has slightly richer color rendering.
Stylus is smaller and has better lens protection when closed.
Stylus AF is a bit more responsive, but both are OK with pre-focus.
Stylus has nifty spot meter.
T4 Super has nifty waist-level (or overhead) viewfinder.

Overall, the Stylus is probably the better choice, and should be easier to find, and cheaper (consider that the Stylus was $79 new and the T4 Super was $279 new).

If your friend likes wide-angle (28mm) try to find a Ricoh GR1s/v -- hard to beat for compactness and quality, but hard to find and pricey.

If he wants absolutely top-of-the line image quality, at the sacrifice of some compactness, he can try to find a Konica Hexar AF. It's got a 35/2 lens that's the optical equal of a Leica Summicron, it's extremely quiet, and has decent manual controls. But it's also hard to find and pricey. Oh, and the flash is external hot-shoe.

[I also have an Olympus XA. This is basically the Stylus before AF and plastic became usual -- excellent 35/2.8 lens, clamshell lens protection, solid metal body -- but it will drive your friend nuts with the rangefinder focusing and other control quirks if he's looking for P&S ease of use. Also there's no built-in flash.]

::Ari
 
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I would add a recommendation for the Olympus Stylus zoom. This has been my main carry-everywhere camera for over 10 years. I just picked up another one on special for when my original one finally gives out. If you look around you can still find these new.
 
It's too limited to be an only camera, but I bring a Vivitar Ultra Wide and Slim with me on every trip. It weighs about 4 ounces and, as long as you have sun and ASA 100 film, it's super fun.
 
As someone else pointed out, it's a motorcycle trip so the camera is going to get jolted around at least a little. I have both the T4 Super and the Stylus Epic. They're both rugged little cameras with excellent fixed lens. I made up my mind recently that one of them had to go as they both serve the same purpose, a pocketable P&S for skiing, biking, hiking, etc. I love the smaller size of the Olympus, but the T4, at least my T4, has a lens that is superior to the Epic's lens. I wish the T4 was faster, but the quality of the lens makes up for the relative lack of speed. I just printed a photo of my wife last night that had been taken with the T4, and it could easily pass for having been taken with my former 35 Summicron (which was worth eight or nine T4's).

I'd avoid zooms on P&S cameras that are going to get jolted around. I have owned two of the Olympus zooms over the last twenty or so years and both developed zoom-related problems.
 
Oly

Oly

I love my XA, the smallest most compact of my lot




I like my Stylus Epic loaded with Neopan 1600 for those times when I can't bring my eye to the viewfinder.
With fast film I'm less worried about narrow DoF, so I can be more confident that everything is in focus.
Example:

 
Thanks for all your thoughtful replies. I'll be on the hunt soon. I was thinking about picking up an Olympus Trip for myself from tripman.
cheers,
Michael
 
valdas said:
I have Stylus Epic and Contax T2. Oly is true P&S and smaller than T2, but I like photo quality of T2 better and it has infinity lock plus aperture priority...
Click to expand...
Having been long spoiled by the upper-end p/s models, I've recently gotten hold of a Contax Tvs, which I had previously ignored on account of that zoom. Turns out that zoom is pretty damned good, between its relatively conservative zoom range (28-56mm, with relatively low distortion) and not-slowest-in-class max. aperture (f/3.5-6.5), this has become a pocketable high point for me.


- Barrett
 
p&s option

p&s option

I just traded canon G10 used for new in box Rollei AFM 35 at newtonville camera in newton, mass. They have one left (new). Just put in (1st roll)tmax4oo today to tryout. G10 was a burden over my sd880, but love film, easy carry, quality.. and trying to stay in my means. First post. DaveC
 
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I can never resist a P&S for a couple of quid in a charity shop and have had quite a few of them. The ones that have stayed here were the Konica Z-up 110 (38 to 110 mm & useful +1½ EV mode), the Canon Z70W (28 to 70mm & useful spot metering), Nikon Zoom 90s (38 to 90mm) and the Pentax ESPIO 928 (28 to 90 mm & useful infitity focus mode). I'd add to that the Olympus -II but it's not a zoom but, otoh, it's a great lens on it and spot metering.

All of them seem to prefer what I call supermarket films; I'll say no more.

And - although you'll not get one in a charity shop for £2 - there's the Leica C3 (28 to 90mm and centre weighted metering).

Another point; most of them assume you like the flash on all the time and so you have to remember to switch it off once the camera is switched on, which is irritating.

Buying instruction books for them will cost more than the £1 or so for the camera and the batteries can be very expensive or very cheap; so look around before buying batteries.

Regards, David

PS. I like the Olympus XA but once dropped one and the bill was more than the C3 cost on ebay...
 
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Since this is for a moto-friend and size is always a concern on a motorcycle, I'll chime in: for motorcycling, I chose the Ricoh GR1v -- mainly because it is so slim that it fits in the narrow and tight jacket pockets (along with my wallet and mobile phone). My only complaint is that I don't really love the 28mm focal length, otherwise it is a perfect P&S imo. I would have been happier with the 35mm lens of the Oly XA and it would have fit in the jacket too, but after having 2 ebay XAs die on me during the first test roll, I gave up on that option, and went with the Ricoh instead.
 
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