As per title, mate wants to buy a camera for her partner. She asked me for advice but I’m clueless (no change there, then). She has seen the Panasonic Lumix TZ60 and the Canon SX720. Any opinions on these or any others? I said I’d ask The Oracle so come on folks, do us proud! 😀

Not used either but this may help:

http://cameradecision.com/compare/Canon-PowerShot-SX720-HS-vs-Panasonic-Lumix-DMC-ZS40 *

*note – ZS40 is the US name for the TZ60

Recommendations difficult without knowing any criteria. ie ‘recommend a bike’ 😉 It’s hard for amateurs to go wrong with either the Powershot or TZ range IME, unless you’re after a specific function or larger sensor etc then they are both decent compact zooms for snaps.

How about a Leica Sofort. It’s an instant camera but a very lovely one. Makes a perfect Christmas gift and is genuinely charming. You can also get Fuji equivalents for a lot less, but the Leica is a lovely thing and something you would enjoy getting as a present.

I was going to follow up with a comment that for this kind of money, I don’t think you get much beyond what a good phone will do these days. It’s why camera sales a declining rapidly.

So if you are going to spend £250 on a camera, you might as well buy something that was going to be a lot of fun and provides a very different user experience, hence the instant camera suggestion.

This is the Sofot:

This is the less expensive Fuji equivalent;

And this is the similarly price to the Leica new Impossible Camera Project:

All of them offer something far beyond the crassness of cheap point and shoot or mobile phone cameras and all are in budget. You’d even be able to buy additional film.

I have the TZ70 and it really is a pretty good all rounder, image stabilized 30x zoom and all the manual overrides you will practically need. Image quality is very good for a compact with the Leica lens and picture transfer/camera control via wi-fi is very useful. It also has the added bonus of a viewfindwer which is very useful when zoomed in or in bright light. I believe the T80 has a touch screen and more megapixels but isn’t as good in low light.

Depends on the recipient Greg but the problem with instant cameras is the the whole “Ooh thats great, send me a copy!” response to pics in the age of social media. You’d have to really know what the gift is for. If it is to share ‘moments’ with others these seem useless.

If it is to share ‘moments’ with others these seem useless.

Ah but you can still do that and indeed that is precisely how I use mine. Quite often I even take people’s pictures in the street and simply give them the picture as a gift. Yes it requires a certain amount of generosity but that feels good doesn’t it?

My ‘Transitions’ project, whereby I’ve been building trust and rapport with the large community of teenagers in my local community in order to then photograph them was in part brokered on using my own Fuji instax to do just this. I’d give them the camera and tell them just to take pictures of each other and keep the images. They were shocked at first, that someone would do something so generous (and to them seemingly without agenda but obviously that is not strictly true) but loved the experience.

They’ve even gone as far as to take pictures of the pictures with their phones and post them on Instagram (which you can still do of course with any picture).

Thanks for the replies. I have forwarded this thread on to my friend and she says thanks for the advice.

geetee1972 – Member

I was going to follow up with a comment that for this kind of money, I don’t think you get much beyond what a good phone will do these days. It’s why camera sales a declining rapidly.

I don’t think this is true quite yet.
My Nikon P300 which cost £200 & is getting on for 4 or 5 years old is still streets ahead of any phone camera I have seen. Don’t get me wrong, phone cameras do take great pictures, primarily in decent light) but they aren’t a match for a dedicated camera just yet, in my opinion.

A camera offers you options that a phone doesn’t (and vice versa admittedly).

Sony RX100 is a solid choice, the video out of it is very good too, no WiFi/BT though. I didn’t think I’d care about that but I must admit the WiFi functionality of the GF’s Nikon is very useful – WiFi the pics straight to phone for editing & upload, no faffing with memory cards + laptops.

I don’t think this is true quite yet.
My Nikon P300 which cost £200 & is getting on for 4 or 5 years old is still streets ahead of any phone camera I have seen. Don’t get me wrong, phone cameras do take great pictures, primarily in decent light) but they aren’t a match for a dedicated camera just yet, in my opinion.

I agree. Although my (now ageing) iPhone 5 takes great pics for the size and portability I just pulled up a pic I took with a Lumix (TZ10) almost exactly 4 years ago – placing them in the same chronological ballpark. EXIF on the Lumix image shows ISO 200. It was a handheld shot.

Shot into a sunrise and I know that even with HDR mode (disregarding the innate problems with that for the moment) the iPhone would struggle if at all to match the dynamic range. Additionally, it would most certainly choose a higher ISO than I was able via manual operation with the dedicated camera. And then there is the zoom and macro capabilities, both of which effectively non-existent on a phone camera.

Good luck trying to take either of these pictures on a phone – Sony RX100. Some of my favourite pictures are taken on a phone, but they certainly have their limitations.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/PoXp6w]DSC03598[/url] by davetheblade, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/NPrsR7]Sunset[/url] by davetheblade, on Flickr

Can you get the RX100 for £250?

If you can I retract my earlier comment and would stongly recommend getting one. It will be significantly better than a camera phone.

There’s a good condition Mk1 on Amazon for £270. Not checked fleabay

+1 for RX100. I found it took incredible pics for a compact. Bought a minty one on here for 250.

Pentax MX-1 (now discontinued) seem to remember was in the ballpark in the sales three years ago. There must be something like it around now for similar price? I bought a used one for £140 a few months ago.

Adding RAW into the discussion – here’s a hasty shot from the MX-1

Looks somewhat like a pic taken with an iPhone?

Quick RAW processing via Snapseed is a different world – much more lifelike (as I remember the view):