Best small camera? Or IPhone?

MKCP5

DIS Veteran
Joined
Apr 20, 2005
So I love to take photos, and I have a nice camera, but it's a large 35mm. I don't want to lug that around all day, and honestly, this is a dream mom and daughter trip. I want to be IN the moment, not worried about carrying a camera. But I want great photos! I have an IPhone 6, and it takes pretty good pics. I'm so conflicted! Does anyone have a small camera that takes great photos that they love?
 
I take a Canon Powershot Elph 310. It's a few years old...I think the current equivalent would be an Elph 350. Very compact (fits in a small bag or even a pocket with ease), decent number of shooting modes for a point and shoot, decent zoom for such a small camera, and excellent picture quality. I feel I get much better results from this than my iPhone 6. iPhones have decent cameras, but to me, the results are never as good as from a dedicated camera. I hand this camera over to the CM when doing character greetings and the pictures I get are usually very good.
 
We bought a small cool pix camera that has internet capability. Unfortunately, it was so much easier to use my phone to take pics. It was more of a hassle to use the camera. We are just using the phone the next time.
 
I use a Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-HX50V. This camera has an excellent zoom capability and takes beautiful pictures! I have had several of these cameras (older models) and I keep coming back to the same Sony product line when I decide to upgrade my camera.
 
I'm always a little crazy about handing off the iPhone. I appreciate that the cast members are all trained in taking photos, but I'd most likely be the person to drop my iPhone.

I carry a Sony RX-100iii with a form fitting leather case, and a nice long leather strap that makes it easy to hand off to photo taking cast.

The camera is great because I can connect it to the iPhone via wifi and quickly post or send any photos to family and friends.
 
I used to carry a large Canon Digital Rebel while vacationing and also had a smaller "pocket" camera for locations that didn't need the large lenses. But we just got back from a trip to Ireland, Scotland, and England where my wife and I only used our iPhone 6S Plus phones as our cameras. Much to my surprise I loved it. The pictures were very good and it was so simple to carry since I would have the phone with me anyway. While you can't zoom in the way you can with a large lens, I actually think that the low-light pics came out better with the 6S Plus than I could do with either of my regular cameras.

So for our Disney trip next year it will be just the phones!
 
If you are going to get another smaller camera, maybe look into the Stylus Tough waterproof camera. Now I will say that it does not take as bright of pictures as my Sony or even my Galaxy phone, but they have gotten much better than in years past. It is very nice to have to take to the water parks, on water rides like Kali, and on beach/snorkeling trips.
 
I have both a Nikon D3300 and an Olympus TG-3. They were both new to me in late 2014. I took them both on a Disney cruise in 2015. I took only the TG-3 on our excursions. The pictures turned out wonderful. I went to Disneyland to a runDisney event this past fall and I also only took the TG-3 and it worked fine! I'm now considering even just bringing only the TG-3 on our Disneyworld/Unversal trip this August. It has a wrist strap, is small enough to fit in a cargo short pocket, takes video, is waterproof, and has a lot of easy settings for me to use :) There is now a 4th version, the TG-4.
LOVE this camera!
https://www.amazon.com/Olympus-Wate...8&qid=1466183834&sr=1-1&keywords=olympus+tg-4
 
I love my Olympus Tough TG3. It takes fantastic pictures in the water. But have you considered getting the Memory Maker? That way you could be in all of the pictures and not have to worry about it, and likely would have your phone with you to take some candid shots of other fun things.
 

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