Thread: International travel camera suggestions needed

I'm looking for something that takes great pics in spite of the lack of skill of the operator. I'm not really concerned so much with action shots as I am with the quality of the resulting photos, ease of use, power usage and possibly durability. My budget is somewhere around $300-$1000. I'd spend more if it meant more durable, better zoom capabilities and dummy proof (awesome pics on auto type settings). I've seen the reviews on the RX100 but it won't be available in time for my next trip and I'm not sure its exactly what I'm looking for (because I have no idea). I'm not looking to haul around a full DSLR if I can help it.

Suggestions? If I can answer further questions to help guide my search, I'm all in. Thanks for the help.

Canon S100, G12 or G1X. Get a couple extra discount batteries from amazon.

Originally Posted by gonehuckin

I'm looking for something that takes great pics in spite of the lack of skill of the operator.

It's not the camera. Look at my pics. I got thousands of dollars in gear and my pics suck.

What Hugh said.

I just took a Canon G1x to Euroland for two weeks and have been carrying it around a lot over the past month. Takes amazing pics. My wife can grab it, flip it to auto, and still get excellent photos. I can grab it, monkey with settings, and also get fantastic (for me) images. Nice zoom range (24ish to 120ish?). In addition to the stock battery, I bought two eight dollar batteries from Amazon and a 16 gig card. Didn't even come close to filling the card, but I had a 4g backup just in case. The card, batteries, and a case didn't cost me more than $20 from Amazon. I didn't need three batteries either, two would've been more than sufficient. In a full day of shooting I probably never ran down a battery unless I was using the flash a lot.

If you don't want to spend the money on the G1X, I'd get the S100 over the G12. From what I hear they take pretty close to the same shots and the S100 is a lot smaller.

Here's a sample of my buddy:



I probably will check out the RX100 when it becomes a little more established, but I'm "highly" doubting I'll trade in the G1x for an RX100. It's pretty hard to beat the image quality of the G1x for its size. Focus is slow, but it has never bothered me, and I'm coming from a DSLR. In fact, I ditched my DSLR and just took my G1x to Europe. Finding not much of a need for the SLR anymore.

This thread has a bunch of pics: BTW, I'm a very average photographer so I'm confident anyone can make images like this with the G1x. Also, if you don't like it, you could sell it and probably be pretty close to being able to afford a new RX100.

http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...RX100-thoughts

Before these other guys posted, my thoughts went straight to the new G1X. Doesn't sound like you want to bother with a DSLR, so this is likely the next best thing unless you want to look into the Sony NEX series mirrorless cameras.

I'm in a similar boat. Wanting to get away from the bulk of my 5Dc but still have something of good quality for traveling, weddings, hiking, etc.

Curious that everyone went straight to the compact Canon series in here. Sounds like a pretty nice deal, with a sensor half way between cropper and MFT. With the small package, you sacrifice lens interchagability though.

smmokan, why just the NEX if someone is looking for lens options? Has MFT died for you guys? From my casual research, the Panasonic GX1 and the Olympus e-p3 look very attractive. What with improved MFT sensor quality, high ISO, AF and large lens selection it something I hadn't even considered in the past

Originally Posted by jm2e

smmokan, why just the NEX if someone is looking for lens options? Has MFT died for you guys? From my casual research, the Panasonic GX1 and the Olympus e-p3 look very attractive. What with improved MFT sensor quality, high ISO, AF and large lens selection it something I hadn't even considered in the past

A smaller sensor with older technology for pretty much the same money? No thanks.

I'd like to see one honest reason why someone would really choose the GX1 over the NEX.
http://snapsort.com/compare/Panasoni...y-NEX-5N/specs

Originally Posted by systemoverblow'd

I'd like to see one honest reason why someone would really choose the GX1 over the NEX.

The lens lineup(s).

Originally Posted by Lonnie

The lens lineup(s).

Why? You can get adapters for almost any lens for the NEX. Stock options for both cameras suck.

But to the original post... I still think he wants a fixed lens anyway.

Not sure gonehuckin is in the same boat, but when I was looking a month ago...I wanted nothing to do with interchangeable lenses. If I wanted that flexibility I'm fine with carrying a full blown dSLR. Even on a mirror-less, as soon as you add a second lens you're pretty much roped into carrying a bag and that's the one thing I wanted to avoid while jet setting, training, walking, bussing, etc. my pennies worth.

Originally Posted by systemoverblow'd

Why? You can get adapters for almost any lens for the NEX. Stock options for both cameras suck.

Oh, I agree with you, and think that's one of the best things about the system, but if you want AF then you're "limited" with the NEX.

Im seriously considering getting my wife a g1x for her bday in a week. Just got to figure out what it costs.

Norsk.

Check out the deal on the G12 right now.... $328 for the camera plus a PixmaPro printer. Sell the printer for a couple hundo and you've got a helluva a deal for the G12.

Originally Posted by smmokan

Check out the deal on the G12 right now.... $328 for the camera plus a PixmaPro printer. Sell the printer for a couple hundo and you've got a helluva a deal for the G12.

-----Link?

Originally Posted by gonehuckin

-----Link?

B&H. You buy the camera and printer for 728, get a mail-in rebate 400 gift card so that brings it down to 328. Sell the printer for 200 and you get it for 128. Just ties up a lot of money for a while but you end up paying peanuts.

damn...brings the cost of a G1x down a ton, too. 1068-400rebate-200printer sale = 468. Almost $200 cheaper than I bought mine for and i bought it used.

Yup. But you have to sell the printer for cheap because due to this they have totally saturated the market. Last time when this deal happened with the 5d mkii you'd see a ton of the printers on Fred Miranda for sale. That's how I got mine for cheap.

$150 ish is what it's looking like on ebay and amazon...not $200. And I'm not even sure those are selling at that price.

Damn, I got mine for $220 a couple years ago and that was shipped. You can get $500 off on the PIXMA Pro9500 mkii. Not sure if those are selling now? The promotion has been running a while. Maybe it's just too saturated at this point to be very effective...

I'll update in a day or so...watching a few on ebay that have no UPC's for rebate purposes. so we'll see what they sell for or if they sell!

wow. i wish someone would start a thread about this rebate thing.

To me the G1X seems geared to DSLR users looking for a take anywhere camera. DSLR users won't mind the bulk of the G1X, but it still seems a little bulky, especially to someone not used to carrying around a DSLR. I think I would suggest a more compact camera based on gonehuckin's needs. The S100 or something similar, perhaps.

Also be sure to get a memory card with a speed rating of at least 6 if you intend to shoot video.

Originally Posted by The AD

Also be sure to get a memory card with a speed rating of at least 6 if you intend to shoot video.

Also know that there are a lot of cheap cards that are not up to snuff for video. When I first got my t2i I bought cheap class 6 cards and would tons of errors. Someone once explained to me how the class rating was pretty much bullshit but I forgot. But as long as you go with a reputable class 6 (I like transcend) you won't be left with video issues.

Update: I haven't made a purchase yet. The wife has decided that she is going to get a G12. But I still want a camera so I'm adding MTB/ski photos to my requirements. And now the rx-100 is available. Does this change anything or should I still be looking at g12, g1x, s100 and rx-100? Best of the bunch for doing it all?