Budget pocket camera - Worth it?

chickadee · 2 May 2018 at 23:58

So Im in the market for a camera, i have a DSLR (old 1000D) and a point and shoot from 2012, its 14mp and was a budget panasonic. Im going on a trip and was thinking of getting a better point and shoot for the pocket, my phone is a samsung galaxy S5 so it would have to be a big increase over the phone to be worth it really. I was thinking a budget of £150 - £200 but it seems to me the pocket camera area has stagnated a bit, the advice i seem to see is get a good phone or spend £400+ on a large sensor model. Anyone have any ideas/opinions?

Schizo · 3 May 2018 at 07:29

Sony RX100,might get the first one for your budget.

sniperone · 3 May 2018 at 08:04

Used rx100 without a doubt but you do need large pockets for it as its not that small. I just picked up a canon G9X ii although outside of your budget it really is pocket size with much better image quality than any phone camera. The first gen G9X is also very good and small size and worth a look

chickadee · 3 May 2018 at 15:17

Schizo said:
Sony RX100,might get the first one for your budget.

Thanks for both replies, i looked at the rx100, im a bit wary of second hand but it is an option. I was having a look around and how do you think these models would compare to say a Galaxy S5? I know they are budget compared to the RX100 but just wondering how they would perform.

Sony DSCWX350
PowerShot SX620 HS

Schizo · 3 May 2018 at 18:22

I'm biased towards phones taking better photos than a dedicated camera do I will always go for a camera over a phone.
I'm not up with what's good in the point and shoot range (apart from the Rx 100 range) but I'm sure if you type in best point and shoot for £200 it will come up with a good one for you.

chickadee · 3 May 2018 at 19:41

Schizo said:
I'm biased towards phones taking better photos than a dedicated camera do I will always go for a camera over a phone.
I'm not up with what's good in the point and shoot range (apart from the Rx 100 range) but I'm sure if you type in best point and shoot for £200 it will come up with a good one for you.

I have and it seems to be plagued with opinions that dont seem to have any experience, i see a million and one comments saying cameras are dead and if yo dont get a DSLR just use your phone but logicly a camera should take better photos right? I mean its their one and only job, larger in size and a much larger lense area.....i have a hard time seeing any real data/evidence for these opinions.

Schizo · 3 May 2018 at 19:50

I am in the same frame of mind as you,a camera is designed for one thing only and thats to take photos,they seem to selling phones with the main thing is the camera.

Have a look at these camera,the canon looks a great buy and i would get one myself actually...https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/buying-guides/the-best-cheap-cameras

Begbie · 3 May 2018 at 20:05

I have the RX100 and whilst it takes better photos than my S7 by a fair margain at times.

But most of the time I just use my phone because of the ease, and that the S7 photos are still great.

chickadee · 3 May 2018 at 20:25

Begbie said:
I have the RX100 and whilst it takes better photos than my S7 by a fair margain at times.

But most of the time I just use my phone because of the ease, and that the S7 photos are still great.

That is an option, i mean i found my Samsung S5 3 years ago laying inside a cheese and tomato pizza.......its old, was free and its still good but i wonder if getting maybe a generation old samsung instead of a camera would be a better option since i will probably need a new phone sooner or later anyway....its such a hard choice nowadays, 10 years ago it was simple and we had thousands of point and shoots but now its very very narrow, in my range there are 3-4 cameras......

Begbie · 3 May 2018 at 20:44

chickadee said:
That is an option, i mean i found my Samsung S5 3 years ago laying inside a cheese and tomato pizza.......its old, was free and its still good but i wonder if getting maybe a generation old samsung instead of a camera would be a better option since i will probably need a new phone sooner or later anyway....its such a hard choice nowadays, 10 years ago it was simple and we had thousands of point and shoots but now its very very narrow, in my range there are 3-4 cameras......

The RX100 is excellent, it really really is.

But a good phone is also excellent, also the added advantage of editing and sending to family/friends within seconds. Huge cloud storage.

Plus your phone is ALWAYS on you.

sHo0sH · 4 May 2018 at 09:26

chickadee said:
That is an option, i mean i found my Samsung S5 3 years ago laying inside a cheese and tomato pizza.......its old, was free and its still good but i wonder if getting maybe a generation old samsung instead of a camera would be a better option since i will probably need a new phone sooner or later anyway....its such a hard choice nowadays, 10 years ago it was simple and we had thousands of point and shoots but now its very very narrow, in my range there are 3-4 cameras......

What are you going to do with the pictures? If it's look at them on a computer screen or share on facebook, then a Samsung Galaxy S8 would more than suffice, as long as the majority of the pictures are in normal daylight - the camera really is pretty decent.

If you're planning on creating some prints or want to take some shots of a night time then a pocket camera like the RX100 would be the better option.

a1ex2001 · 4 May 2018 at 16:04

If you really want it to fit in a normal pocket just get one of the latest smart phones they have incredible cameras and for 90% of people they do more than enough if you don't mind a little more bulk that the sony rx100 is a brillint piece of kit that will take better pictures particularly in challenging conditions!

Combat squirrel · 4 May 2018 at 23:16

If you want great price to performance around £175-200 a canon G7x is great!