Camera advice?

Hobbies/Arts/Crafts Photography
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After finding my iphone memory almost full from taking alot of photos and videos, I’m wondering if it might be a good idea to purchase a compact digital camera so I can benefit from storing photos on sd cards, so endless opportunities to take photos and videos.

Essentially I’m looking for something:

1)relatively compact that I can easily whip out quickly from a pocket/waist bag to take shots

2)simple to use, similar to the phone, including a zoom function

3)at least same quality as the iphone

4)simple an uncomplicated to use

I’m sure there could be other criteria, but the above are the ones springing immediately to mind.

Any advice gratefully received :blush:

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Are you happy with quality of the photos your iPhone takes?

Do you want more control over camera settings?

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I’ve got a compact Canon, I would tell you the model but it’s mostly worn off! It easily slips into a pocket, very slim too, so great when we’re out walking. I find it easy to use and has a good zoom, good battery life too.

I’m sure they’ve upgraded my model by now, but I’ve had mine a long time and it’s still as good as it’s always been. I don’t think it was frighteningly expensive at the time and we’ve no need to replace it.

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I’m very happy with the iphone photos so don’t really need anything more in terms of ability to tweak etc

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That sounds like just the type of camera I’m looking for in terms of size and convenience.

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Thought this might give you an idea of size.

IMG_0374
IMG_03741920×2560 801 KB

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Traditional compact cameras are a bit of a dying breed thanks to the use of phones.

Avoid the very cheap ones sold on Amazon, even if you recognize the brand - “Polaroid” or “Kodak” for example are camera brands that have been sold on to the Chinese and now appear on cheap tat.

I would suggest you have a look on MPB for something second-hand - no point in paying full retail any more. I buy professional cameras and lenses from them, or as “refurbished” from Fuji UK.

https://www.mpb.com/en-uk

Fujifilm compact cameras like the X100 series are really nice, but they command a premium since they have been taken up by the hipster crowd. :slight_smile:

It depends on your budget as well. A Canon Powershot compact with a zoom would be a good carry-around camera. Bear in mind that older (and cheaper) ones will have slower autofocus and poorer low light performance.

Panasonic (Lumix) or Sony would also be viable options.

If I was buying a “one size fits all” camera I would be looking at an interchangeable lens mirrorless camera.

Fujifilm are my personal preference, as I think their colours are really good (especially skintones) and they are nice to use. Something like a Fuji X-E2 or X-E3, or if you don’t mind a bigger form factor, an X-T1 or X-T2 perhaps. At one time I shot whole weddings with a pair of X-E2s so they are more than capable, if not super-speedy to focus in modern terms.

https://www.mpb.com/en-uk/category/used-cameras/mirrorless-cameras/fujifilm-mirrorless-cameras

Alternatively the Micro Four Thirds system is worth considering (Panasonic-Lumix, or Olympus).

The sensor in these is a bit smaller but they are nicely made and quite compact.

https://www.mpb.com/en-uk/category/used-cameras/mirrorless-cameras/panasonic-g-mirrorless-cameras

You will need to add a lens but that need not be too expensive - there are consumer-level “kit” lenses for both Fuji and MFT. In the MFT range you can mix and match e.g. an Olympus MFT lens will fit a Lumix body.

The advantage of an interchangeable lens system is that it gives you room to grow if the photography bug bites - you can add a longer zoom lens, or one of the nice compact prime lenses.

Ask if you have questions!

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Download them from the phone to your PC?

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That’s super, and thanks for taking the time for the pic​:+1::+1::+1:

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If you have an Apple ID the full definition photos should be stored in iCloud and only thumbnails on the phone until you need the full resolution. I also store videos in Photos but I do pay for extra iCloud storage.

I always had a decent camera but in 2016 I downsized to a Sony ILCE6300. Sony had acquired Konica Minolta ten years before so I reckoned there were now a serious camera manufacturer and that proved to be the case. I’ve been delighted with and used it all over the place with excellent results. I bought one for my daughter soon afterwards when her camera was stolen in Sweden (so much for Nordic honesty :face_with_hand_over_mouth: ). There have been new versions of the body pretty regularly but I haven’t felt the need to upgrade. Even on long trips now I use my iPhone, the quality is so good. And, moving in the opposite direction to you, I don’t need to fiddle with SD cards :slightly_smiling_face:

Exactly :slightly_smiling_face:

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Thanks Chris for the very comprehensive response, and yes I may come back with questions after more research :+1::+1: very much appreciated. It would be far simpker if there was just be one camera on the market :grin:

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These are neat and handy, but they do have a very small sensor so will not work very well in low light (without flash), especially if a few years old.

If on a very tight budget and therefore considering an older camera, do check which memory cards it takes and also if batteries are still available for it (search on Amazon).

There are some old memory card formats (such as XD which was used by Olympus and Fuji years ago) which can hard be to find, or very expensive (e.g. £70 for a 2Gb card).

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Yes that would work but I don’t normally take my laptop with me on travels unfortunately, mainly from a security pov

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With most recent phones you can plug in an external SSD drive with a suitable cable and save your photos to it as described here:

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Ooooh that could work very well! That would certainly avoid me carrying another bit of kit, and remain with the convenience of using the very easy to operate iphone​:+1::+1::+1:

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Would you need to - you’d download older pics to leave room for newer ones, surely.

Or Chris’s idea looks good.

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Well I have alot on my phone, so only a certain amount of space for photos, so transferred photos to the laptop before I left, but very close to now running out of space, so I think Chris’s solution could work well. I’m going to give that a whirl now before the separate camera option, and see if that can work for me​:+1::+1:

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Thanks to all who responded with advice - very very helpful, as always, and very much appreciated :blush:

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At the risk of being obvious - buy a bigger SD card. 512GB are reasonable price these days

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That’s generally my approach - save’s hard thinkiung about which images to save.

But this is an iPhone, no expandable storage.