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Compact digital camera with good optical zoom

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UncleIan
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Re: Compact digital camera with good optical zoom

#51961

Postby UncleIan » May 8th, 2017, 9:13 am

jackdaww wrote:much better than smartphones


My Nexus 5x seemed to take better pictures than any pocket camera I've had. Maybe I've just not bought decent pocket cameras. Ok, so the zoom is usually the stumbling block but the detail colours and sharpness were fantastic.

Hoping my new Huawei P9 with Leica lenses and 12mp camera is similarly impressive. Only taken close ups of flowers so far, but it's pretty darn crisp.

redsturgeon
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Re: Compact digital camera with good optical zoom

#51972

Postby redsturgeon » May 8th, 2017, 9:52 am

UncleIan wrote:
jackdaww wrote:much better than smartphones


My Nexus 5x seemed to take better pictures than any pocket camera I've had. Maybe I've just not bought decent pocket cameras. Ok, so the zoom is usually the stumbling block but the detail colours and sharpness were fantastic.

Hoping my new Huawei P9 with Leica lenses and 12mp camera is similarly impressive. Only taken close ups of flowers so far, but it's pretty darn crisp.



The clever thing about smart phone cameras is not the camera itself, as in the lenses or the sensor, but it is in the software. The phones use their built in computing power to do clever things with focus and exposure and then colour correction, contrast, sharpness etc. These things make the photos look great on a phone screen which is where 99% of them will be seen.

If you use a high level camera to take a photo in RAW format, you then need to spend some time on it using a photo editing programme to achieve the optimum image for the use you need. When I take a portrait, the editing choices I make will depend very much on the use to which the image will be put. For instance, I have recently taken some portraits for a local business of their staff, these will be used either on their website, on the wall as 12 inch black and white shots or in a couple of cases, blown up to 5 foot high canvases. Each of these uses requires a very different approach in terms of editing.

Most people take photos that will only be viewed on a small screen though and often a smart phone will be all that is needed.

John

UncleIan
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Re: Compact digital camera with good optical zoom

#51978

Postby UncleIan » May 8th, 2017, 10:08 am

redsturgeon wrote:If you use a high level camera to take a photo in RAW format, you then need to spend some time on it using a photo editing programme to achieve the optimum image for the use you need. When I take a portrait, the editing choices I make will depend very much on the use to which the image will be put. For instance, I have recently taken some portraits for a local business of their staff, these will be used either on their website, on the wall as 12 inch black and white shots or in a couple of cases, blown up to 5 foot high canvases. Each of these uses requires a very different approach in terms of editing.

Most people take photos that will only be viewed on a small screen though and often a smart phone will be all that is needed.


All excellent points. Apparently my P9 will allow me to save in RAW, but I know I'm never going to have the time to fiddle about with the images. Like you say, facebook and instagram exactly need it do they, though I'm old school and the best holiday pics normally get printed out 6x4 (or 5.3x4 these days) and stuck in an album. The 5x was fine for that too. You're definitely right about the software though, my P9 has one colour lens and one B&W one, the latter supposed to help fill in the details though god knows how. Magic basically. Probably a gimmick that makes no real difference 90% of the time.

77ss
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Re: Compact digital camera with good optical zoom

#51985

Postby 77ss » May 8th, 2017, 10:32 am

UncleIan wrote:.....I'm old school and the best holiday pics normally get printed out 6x4 (or 5.3x4 these days) and stuck in an album....


Snap.

It took the high street an extraordinarily long time to wake up to the different aspect ratio of digital snaps, and they lost my custom permanently as a result.

I get 6"x4.5" prints (or nearly - given that everything is metric nowadays) from an online operator.

brightncheerful
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Re: Compact digital camera with good optical zoom

#52061

Postby brightncheerful » May 8th, 2017, 4:35 pm

I use an Olympus Tough(model TG-810) for my work, also for random shots when out and about.

Pocket size, shockproof to circa 2m, (droppable, not photo subject!), crushproof to 100kg, waterproof to circa 10m (photos in the rain or underwater), 5X wide optical zoom (28mm-140mm), GPS and electronic compass. 720p HD movies. Automatic or user controllable, whichever you like. ISO range, I keep mine permanently on exposure compensation: take it out of pocket, switch on, click, put it away: all done in a minute or so. (There is a slight delay between clicking the button and the photo being taken but I've got used to that: I don't move the camera until I sense it's captured the image. Battery life I find very good. Depending on the size of card, I get around 100 pics, or about 15 mis of video.

The model I have has been superceded. I bought it 26 May 2011 and still going strong: if and when it goes wrong then I'll get another new model without hesitation. More info here: https://www.olympus.co.uk/site/en/c/cameras/tough/index.html

iain123
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Re: Compact digital camera with good optical zoom

#52165

Postby iain123 » May 9th, 2017, 8:52 am

I can recommend getting one with Wifi. Our Sony compact DSCWX350 has been great, tough, super photos and easy to charge with a standard phone charger. You can transfer photos to tablets/PCs simply with its WiFi and even control the camera remotely from an ipad/phone anywhere – great for family photos without a camera operator.

macbrains
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Re: Compact digital camera with good optical zoom

#52617

Postby macbrains » May 10th, 2017, 8:42 pm

Another vote for Canon - I use an SX260HS which has an excellent 20x optical zoom. It also has the distinct advantage (to my mind) of having GPS, so that I can identify where that mountain range or whatever actually is. An ideal travel camera and will fit in a shirt pocket.

The GPS does hit the battery life, of course, but I solve this by taking half a dozen spare batteries with me (non Canon branded) and they are fine at a reasonable cost. I usually use 2 or 3 in a day, and I take a LOT of pictures.

HTH
Rob

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Re: Compact digital camera with good optical zoom

#54631

Postby RaspberryFool » May 18th, 2017, 10:05 am

You may have already made your decision, but I thought that I would add a reply in case it assisted anyone else in future.
I had to make a similar decision about a year ago when my Canon compact camera with a 14x zoom died. I looked at many reviews and in the end opted to purchase a Panasonic TZ70 with a 30x zoom. This broke a tradition of owning a number of Canon cameras beforehand. What really swung the decision (apart from a generous cashback offer at the time) was the Panasonic had a viewfinder. I was pretty fed up not being able to see the image on the screen in bright sunlight. The TZ70 has now been superseded by newer models but still remains a Which? best buy. I have been very pleased with the results so far and a couple of the better results now hang on our wall as canvas prints.
RF

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Re: Compact digital camera with good optical zoom

#54667

Postby Clariman » May 18th, 2017, 12:28 pm

Thanks everyone. Sorry, I forgot to post what I went for. It was the Canon SX620 HS WiFi. I did look around for a camera in a similar price range with a viewfinder but couldn't find anything suitable.

C


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