I’m looking into a new camera. My gut feeling is a DSLR would be too big and cumbersome to carry around. The smaller and lighter the camera the more likely I’ll use it more often I think, so I’ve been looking at high-end compact stuff.

I’ve not excluded the Olympus E420 which is apparently a very small DSLR.

Budget? can’t really go above £300.

Thoughts?

g9 here, love it. some issues with the g10 that canon recently issued a fix for – but FIL has one and likes it (handles better than the g9 tbh, but have added a little grip and thumb rest to my g9) – like the full control and ability to attach a strobe/ transmitter for off camera flash

carry mine everywhere and just save the DSLR for ‘big jobs’

cant comment on the others, but did have a lumix (FZ20) which was really noisy, so gave it away and bought a DSLR and then bought the g9 as a carry around

if you are considering the oly as a small dslr, then how about the new pentaxes – they are supposed to be pretty small, and they have the added nicety of lots of 2nd hand lenses for reasonable money (cf expensive 4/3 specific lenses for the oly (doe sit use 4/3 lenses? I think it does, might be wrong there though) – nice 40mm pancake lens on a small pentax body…mmm tempting

db – which pentax models are you referring to?

I’ve only heard good things about the Canons, it might be worth waiting for one of the new Samsungs if you want an SLR without the bulk?
Samsung Four Thirds Camera

It’s not clear there’s any absolute best. 35mm w/a put me off a G9 and build quality put me of an LX3 so I got a GX 200. I’ve not really played with it much and it’s probably much more than I need!

The smallness & lightness is nice though, seems well made too. Blokes are impressed with the accessory lens cover 8)

Powershot G10 here.. Goes everywhere, in saddle bag, or camelbak.. For the past week it has been in the bottom of my very heavy laptop bag, I’ve been chucking that bag around all week! The G10 is very well built and robust.

It weighs about 400grams, so isn’t the lightest/smallest thing about. But it has a fair few features and controls gallore!

Are you really sure aobut purchasing a smaller camera rather than a slr?

I bought a p5100 (slighlty lower spec than p6000) and whilst it was a great camera, and did offer manual controls, I never reall bothered taking it off auto and usign it as a P&S. It did take brillaint pictures though.

However, i sold it on here, and bought a nikon d40, and i must say, I’m far more creative and invovled in taking photos-bothering to set the aperture etc, and whilst it has half the number of megapixels, the quality of the photos is so much crisper than any compact I’ve used.

If you get into the habitat of carrying an slr around-in a messenger bag or something-you’ll get use to it and take better pictures as a result. the only time the P&S wins is when you’re out at social do’s and dont want a big camera around, but then any old P&S will do tbh..

I’d also be very, very tempted by a Leica compact though….expensive though….maybe secondhand?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Leica-D-lux-3-Digital-Camera_W0QQitemZ200341813360QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CamerasPhoto_DigitalCameras_DigitalCameras_JN?hash=item200341813360&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1690|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A50

My D300 is quite cumbersome I suppose, though I rarely notice it when riding, but what sets apart a proper SLR from other cameras is ease and readiness of use. The D300 is gagging to be used. It shoots so fast it’s not all that easy to take a single frame, there’s no waiting for anything, and zooming is instant. Apart from taking shots when actually riding (which I’ve not dared so far), I don’t think any lesser camera would get much use from me

Have to say that the G10 would be my choice.

As a Nikon user I want to love the P6000 and it would probably fit my workflow better as I could use my existing tools (though I believe that Nikon choose a different RAW format that doesn’t work in CaptureNX for some reason). But I think the G10 takes it on quality.

The Sigma DP2 was announced recently and looks interesting. It has a DSLR-sized sensor, so you can get nice shallow DoF. But it is a fixed lens (f/2.8, 24.2mm equiv to 41mm on 35mm) which might be a bit limiting for some.

think it was the k1000d for the pentax lineup. tbh I have a k10d which I use for best, but also have an older ist DS, which when fitted with a fixed lens ie 28 mm or 50mm fits pretty well in my parka pocket – makes for a nice walk around camera. prefer an slr to the g9 – just feels right – sounds odd, but do like the g9 alot

one thing I did find with the g9, is due to big fat sausage fingers it was hard to hold – hence my purchase of the grip and thumbrest – think the g10 has slightly altered ergonomics to solve this problem

I couldn’t find a release price on the Samsung nx. It’s described as a “hybrid” as (I guess) it doesn’t have a pentaprism? Isn’t a bad thing – it’s very slim.

The 4/3 lense system looks interesting too.

I have a Canon Pro 1 powershot and am delighted with it. The Canons you list are an updated version of my camera, I can’t imagine you’d be disappointed with them. One difference between the two is that the G10 has a 28mm (equivalent) wide angle, the G9 is only 35mm. My camera has 28mm, and it’s really helpful for wide angle shots.

I’ve got a P5100 and I’ve just bought my daughter a P6000 to go travelling (I looked for a P5100 but they were nearly as much as the P6000) I’m pleased with the results from both but the P6000 has the added advantage of the GPS tagging, the daughter took some photos of the Pyramids and the Nile and you could go onto Google earth and see exactly where they were taken.

I have the Panasonic G1 which is a “micro-four-thirds” DSLR (not really a reflex, in fact, if you want to be pedantic). I bought it for when my bag is too small, or my shoulders too tired, for my D300, and I have to say I’m delighted with it. The image quality is excellent and it is just really easy to use. It has an electronic viewfinder that is really amazing, as well as a big orientable LCD. Also it is small enough not to be obtrusive in street-shooting situations. Now the temptation is just to leave the D300 at home 🙁

More info about the G1 here

took some photos of the Pyramids and the Nile and you could go onto Google earth and see exactly where they were taken.

*resists obvious comment*

Liking the look of the ricoh gx200 (£250) and still weighing up the olympus e420 kit (£280). might just have to pop into currys digital to see one. 🙂

I’m pleased with the results from both but the P6000 has the added advantage of the GPS tagging

FYI you can add this in post process if you carry a GPS and use a free utility called Gpicsync

Bought a G10 recently, following lots of reading. I was after a ‘decent’ or ‘proper’ camera, but I was well aware that anything as big as a DSLR would sit gathering dust whilst I was out looking at nice things wondering where my camera was.

The only negative on reviews seems to be centred around the fact that the image sensor is ‘compact’ size, and has too many pixels for the size really. This gives rise to poor quality (high image noise) in low light / high ISO settings.

Not suffered this myself yet, but I’m sure I will in time.

Until then though, it goes pretty much everywhere (except the pub!). It is ‘just’ small enough to be carted around, and very rugged.

Bottom line – I’m taking photos again after a long period of not taking photos, so it’s all good!

I’ve got a nikon p5000 and a D90 DSLR, and love Nikon kit generally. I hate using the p5000 and find it a real pain in trying to capture anything that isn’t stationary. The flipside is I love using the D90 but it does weigh loads, and more annoyingly requires removing your pack to access (yes have tried the Chipps method for carrying and didn’t really like it).

Am keen to try a G9 or G10 but find it difficult to believe they’ll get close to the speed of a DSLR.

I’ve had a G9 and the Ricoh GX200

Both good cameras. The lens cap was an annoyance on the ricoh though.

As others have said high ISO = noise.

Am keen to try a G9 or G10 but

Where are you based? Welcome to try mine out if you are close.

For those with a G9 / G10 any chance of a link to your photo hosting sites? I’d like a look at some full size images from these cameras to see what the quality at 100% is like.

I’m having to get rid of my 40D soon and was thinking of a G9 or G10 to replace it. Only thing that worries me is the high ISO performance.

On my 40D I can shoot at ISO400 with no noticable difference from ISO100, but I tried a mate’s compact (Sony) a week or two ago and even at ISO 200 there was a really bad loss of detail.

I’ve got a Ricoh GX100 (10MP rather than 12MP of GX200).

It’s a great camera but not without its faults which are:

1) Noise at high ISO (400+)
2) Limited highlight dynamic range (highlights get clipped unless you dial in a bit of underexposure in high-contrast scenes).

These faults are common to all compacts to a greater or lesser extent due to small sensors. Shooting RAW mitigates the dynamic range issue and taking photos in good light allows low ISO and little noise.

What I like about it:

Compact
Pretty sturdy (metal body)
Very capable with lots of manual control
Very good ergonomics and can be tailored to your own preferences
Brilliant lens, especially in macro mode
24mm wide-angle
Pretty responsive
Excellent battery life (300+ shots)
Good looking in a ugly kind of a way…

Some samples:

You’ll find more by trawling the respective sets on Flickr.

Nice photos Stu, how much os one of those Ricoh jobbies then?

Anyone know what the frame-per-second rate is on the G9 & G10?

Anyone know what the frame-per-second rate is on the G9 & G10?

2 or 3 fps 🙁

Cheers Andy.

Not sure they’re still on general sale now that they’ve been superseded by the GX200 but you should be able to pick one up second hand for under £200. Have a wee look on ebay?

I’ve seen the GX200 on amazon for £250.
Think I’ve just bagged a new GX100 for £170.

Good work!

The P6000 is pants from what Ive used of it! slow, poor quality at high ISo, not very sharp, exposure is poor and noise is bad. Likewise, the LX3 was set to be a great camera but at 800 ISO and above the photos resembled lego rather than a photo! Ricoh is a good choice, if they’ve sorted out the reliability. The older Ricoh semi-compacts were brilliant bit had a habit of failing. Lens errors, electrical problems or problems reading to cards were the common faults. Canon G10 has prooved reliable, better than the G9 anyway so far.

Heihei, the G9 and G10 run a smaller sensor than an SLR but keep the digic III and IV processor. Noise control is very good on both, kicks the ass off the Nikon and especially the LX3. Its only a fraction of a second slower than a DSLR, but when the G11 comes out itll have an automatic servo focusing mode, meaning its continually focusing regardless of wether you are half-pressing the shutter. its to decrease focus time aparently!

If it is just focussing speed that slows the G10 shutter then presumably just pre-focussing sorts it out?
Continual focus would be very draining on the battery surely?

Still I wish Nikon made something to compete with the G10. The P6000 should but doesn’t. I’d love something that size that had an APS-C size sensor in it, manual controls and produced NEF files.

“I’d love something that size that had an APS-C size sensor in it, manual controls and produced NEF files.”
Amen to that!

I’m hoping micro 4/3 will deliver a compact camera capable of decent low-noise RAW files and giving full manual operation along with some nice glass. Used a G9 and really didn’t like it.

I cart an Olympus Mu 790SW around in my chest pocket. It’s waterproof and reasonably shockproof and takes decent pics. I rarely drag out my DSLR on the bike – too heavy and also an injury waiting to happen if I land on it.

I used the G1 and couldnt get on with it at all. Its small, but not small enough to get over the fact its still bulky. Its only about 1cm and a bit smaller in every measurement, putting it not much smaller than most entry level SLR’s.

GrahamS, the G10 dosent have an APS-C sized sensor, but I reckon if it did it would have even better performace. But then that would be taking away from the D-slr market. As for focusing, its something thats becoming popular on compacts. Higher end Sonys do it, Panasonics, some Canon compacts and I reckon itll start moving brands.

Oddly though, the SX1 and SX10 both have APS-C sized sensors, but they dont deal with noise any better or any less than the G10. Aparently, you can ‘unlock’ most Canon compacts to write Raw and have manual control too.

I quite fancy giving the Ricoh GX200 a go, just to see if it is actually any good.

Given I sold quite a few shots, and won a few competitions with my old Canon G5, I would go with the G10 with no hesitation 😉 An SLR will give better image quality, but can be a pain in the arse to cart about.

Quite fancy a G10 myself… or a new Sigma SD2… or a Ricoh GR Digital…. Something I can throw in a pocket for those moments you just weren’t expecting to catch you unprepared!

Thanks for the responses.
Although, my budget was higher – seemed like too good an opportunity to miss and picked up a new (ex-display) Ricoh GX100 for £165. Specs good. Quality good. Size good. Not so sure about the photographer tho. but looking forward to rekindling my interest in photography from my youth.

stuartie_c are you using a vf1 viewfinder? most the reviews I’ve read have written it off for anything other than macro or extreme sunny days.

Oddly though, the SX1 and SX10 both have APS-C sized sensors, but they dont deal with noise any better or any less than the G10.

It’s not just about noise though. An APS-C (or larger) sensor means you can get shallow DoF that you can’t really get with a compact.