Which compact camera should I buy? (Beginner)

[Gertyke]

Hi!

I'm a beginner regarding photography but I LOVE taking pictures of everything, even small details. But I'm looking for a new compact camera, I know a compact camera doesn't always get you a great shot, but you can take great pictures with it. Currently I have a Nikon Coolpix S6300. I've also got a Canon EOS 30D, and I love the pictures I take with this one but it's too heavy to carry around with me when visiting Disneyland Paris (I'm from Belgium) or other parks. Now I have some requirements for a new compact camera but I don't know where to start looking

- Quick shutter speed (my Nikon takes ages to take a picture directly after the first one, it's annoying)
- WiFi (I'm going to WDW next year and I don't want to lug my laptop with me, I'm already bringin my ipad and iphone, a facebook option can be nice)
- Option to buy a second battery (I don't want to run out of battery in the middle of the day)
- Good for evening/night pictures too (parades, fireworks)

So if someone can help me make a choice that would be very helpful! My native language is Dutch so I'm sorry if I used wrong expressions . And if this is the wrong board to post this, can someone point me in the right direction?

Thankx!

 

[elmoandzoey]

How much is your budget? Seeing that you are from Belgium (goedemiddag, Germany here ) there are some options in cameras that are available to you that are not available in the US - and vice versa of course. Prices also cannot be compared to US prices. Some cameras are cheaper in Europe some are more expensive.

 

[Gertyke]

I guess my budget is 200-300 euros... more if it's really a good deal. I'm not looking for a cheap 100EUR camera, but also not for the expensive 800-1000 EUR or more... (250-350$)
Goedemiddag

Oh and my dad is going to the US in september, so I want recommendations from both Europe and the US I can ask him to bring me one

 

[elmoandzoey]

The Sony Alpha 5000 is at the top end of your budget (~300 with a kit lens).

What's puzzling me a bit atm is the wifi feature you want to have. Most cameras that are available over here that I know of are either compacts in the 150€ range which I think you won't be happy with (comparable to your Nikon) or they'd be way over your budget.

If you have the option of buying in the US, there might be other cameras to look at. You just have to remember that you won't have any warranty and you can only bring back 430€ worth of products tax free in total. If you go over, you will have to pay taxes and duties so in the end it may not even be cheaper anymore.

 

[photo_chick]

I'm not going to give specific recommendations because there are so many options out there. Check out dpreview.com because they do have some great buying guides that can help narrow it down for you. It does sound like you have some specific features you're looking for, so that should make your search easier.

I speak English and a tiny bit of Spanish and I taught in a school last year with several classes where the kids spoke Spanish and very little English, so I know how frustrating it can be to not be able to find the right phrase or term in another language. Just to help you in your search because it can get confusing if you're saying something that means something different than what you're talking about... the quick shutter speed. You're not really talking about shutter speed there. Shutter speed is how long the shutter stays open when you take a picture. If it's a delay from when you push the button until it takes the picture, that's shutter lag. If it's that the camera cannot take pictures pictures successively in a row fast enough (like you're trying got shoot 5 frames and it takes one, you wait, it takes another, you wait... etc) that's related to burst rate. It sounds like you're talking about burst rate. Look for faster burst rate (higher FPS or frames per second) if that's what you want. I know, it seems a little nit picky, but using exactly what you're looking for in a review or what to ask for when seeking recommendations can help find the right camera for you.

To get good evening or night pictures of a parade look for two things... good high ISO performance and a wide aperture. To get good pictures of fireworks you need a tripod and the ability to control settings manually.

And it may have improved since my trip last summer, but my experience with Disney wifi has been less than stellar. So consider what you'll do if wifi is unavailable or extremely slow. Also wifi on a camera really drains the batteries fast, so be prepared for that.

 

[jec6613]

You're right at the entry price range of the Interchangeable Lens Cameras, or ILCs, which have lenses that are removable. The biggest brands in this space; Nikon, Canon, and Sony; all have very compelling models at the entry level, and I'm sure you'd be more than happy with any of them.

If you're starting to get serious about photography though, I'd do your research on which system you want to be invested in - they all have advantages and disadvantages, and once you've bought into a system, particularly if you have several lenses, it's very costly to move to another system.

 

[elmoandzoey]

Jec, the OP said above he already has a Canon 30D. He is trying to replace his pocket camera, not the DSLR system he is currently using.

Gertyke, have you thought about really needing the wifi option? That's pretty much the limiting factor in your price class if you really want an upgrade from your Nikon.

 

[Gertyke]

Thank you all for the replies (I'm sorry for not answering sooner, I lost track of the forums)
The wifi option is a needed option as I'm not going to be taking my laptop with me to WDW (I'm already taking my iphone, ipad and camera, thats enough electronics) and I know you can put your SD card in a special slot on your ipad (I have that extension) but I'd rather be able to put them online directly (or send them to my phone through wifi directly because I'm a person that wants to share immediatly if you get what I mean? I want to upload my pictures whenever I have wifi, and not first run back to the rooms and connect all my equipment...

 

[elmoandzoey]

If you really can't pass on the wifi option, then I think you will not be happy in your budget if you are not happy with your Nikon to begin with. The only upgrade from what you have would be the Sony Alpha 5000 and even that is pushing the upper limit of your budget. Everything else with a wifi option will be just like your Nikon but with the added wifi. I think you will need to up your budget a bit for the wifi option and an upgrade from your Nikon.

I am also gonna repeat what photo_chick said - if the only reason for wifi is because you want to utilize the WDW in park wifi to upload and store your photos then you will be greatly disappointed because that will not be possible using their public park wifi. If you want to backup using your own wifi and/or ad-hoc network between the camera and a laptop then that will be fine but relying on any public wifi, especially WDW's, won't work in 95% of the time. Camera wifi is meant to share an occassional photo via public wifi (which would work) but for storing and making backups of loads of pictures you will need to connect the camera to a fast wifi (e.g. non-shared private network; even hotel wifi could be pushing it!) or ad-hoc wifi (direct wifi connection to your equipment). I think you might have a bit of misconception here how you can use wifi on a camera.

 

[Gertyke]

Oh no I think it came out wrong. I want the wifi function just to post the occasional picture when I have public wifi not to store my pictures of backup them...
Sorry if that came out wrong then...

I found a Samsung WB35F and a Samsung WB1100 I don't know if anyone has experience with these?
Or a Panasonic Lumix TZ60 ?

 

[jec6613]

You can add Wi-Fi to any camera after the fact:

http://www.eyefi.com/

 

[elmoandzoey]

You can add Wi-Fi to any camera after the fact:

http://www.eyefi.com/

True. Forgot about that. It comes with the limitation though that if you want to share a photo to e.g. instagram, you can't do it directly from the camera. You'll need a phone or tablet as a mediator.

Gertyke, my mom has the Samsung WB35. If you do not like your Coolpix, you won't be satisfied with the Samsung either. None of these Samsung cameras you listed will be any better than what you have. The WB35 will be even a step down, if you ask me. All they have that your Nikon doesn't is the Wifi. If you can live with what your Nikon has to offer and just want to add wifi, then Jec's suggestion with the Eyefi card will have the same effect and it'll be cheaper.

Any camera without a viewfinder will have some sort of delay between taking a picture and reshowing liveview on the display on the camera. "Cheaper" cameras will be more prone to this than "expensive" ones. I think that was your first pet peeve that you listed and wanted to get rid off with a quick shutter speed. It's not the shutter speed that is the problem here, it's the missing viewfinder. You will find that problem on all the cameras you listed. The Samsung WB35 is very annoying in that regard. I refuse to take pictures with it because of that very same reason.

Now the Lumix is a different question. But then, it's also more than double the price of the WB35 here. It comes with a EVF (electronic viewfinder) which should decrease the problem you have with your Nikon drastically. I don't know if you have seen that camera on sale or something but its retail price is usually well above your price range. If it's on sale and within your price range, it's definitely a better camera than the Samsung ones or the Nikon. Personally, the photo person in me would still rather get the Sony Alpha 5000 in that price range (at the moment, the Sony is almost 80€ cheaper than the Lumix) because it offers a lot more photographic freedom than the Lumix (see here for quick comparison: http://snapsort.com/compare/Panasonic-Lumix-DMC-TZ60-vs-Sony-Alpha-A5000). The Lumix wins in regards to more knick knacks than the Alpha but for me the flip out screen, interchangable lenses and longer battery life.

Maybe someone else can comment how the sensors on those two compare because I am not familiar with the sensor in the Lumix.

 

[jec6613]

EVF versus back screen make very little difference, the difference is in processing power. DSLRs lack an EVF or screen normally, so they can be very responsive, but if you want responsive in something compact, you should look at a Nikon 1 camera. It's essentially DSLR-like responsiveness in something that's relatively pocketable.

 

[elmoandzoey]

I think I may have worded what I was trying to say a bit awkward. Because essentally what I wanted to say is pretty much what you just said: missing viewfinder means longer timeframe until the screen becomes available again for taking the next picture.

I was trying to point out that that timeframe (which the OP called shutter lag) is shorter in higher end cameras. Like I mentioned above, my mother has the WB35 and the "shutter lag" (I will just keep on calling it that because I can't think of a better word) is horrible. My EOS M which has no viewfinder either has a pretty negligible "shutter lag" in that the camera is ready to take the next picture almost instantly whereas the samsung seems to take an eternity.

And the Nikon 1 is a nice system but the cheapest system is almost double of what the OP wants to spend starting at about ~420 to 450€.

 

[Gertyke]

Thank you all for the help I'm going to have to read everything a couple of times before I get it exactly
The Panasonic Lumix TZ60 costs around 299euro's (325$) around here zo it's in the upper half of my budget but still reasonable

It will still take some time for me to make my mind up

 

[jec6613]

I think I may have worded what I was trying to say a bit awkward. Because essentally what I wanted to say is pretty much what you just said: missing viewfinder means longer timeframe until the screen becomes available again for taking the next picture.

I was trying to point out that that timeframe (which the OP called shutter lag) is shorter in higher end cameras. Like I mentioned above, my mother has the WB35 and the "shutter lag" (I will just keep on calling it that because I can't think of a better word) is horrible. My EOS M which has no viewfinder either has a pretty negligible "shutter lag" in that the camera is ready to take the next picture almost instantly whereas the samsung seems to take an eternity.

And the Nikon 1 is a nice system but the cheapest system is almost double of what the OP wants to spend starting at about ~420 to 450€.

Shutter lag is the correct term for the time from first pressing the shutter to the first curtain open and taking an in-focus picture. Shot to shot time is the shortest time from shot to shot while in single advance mode. The Nikon 1 has a shutter lag of about 5 ms and shot to shot time of 10ms, most DSLRs are around 15 ms shutter lag, and shot to shot time on a DSLR varies but is usually 10-20 ms.

EVFs can also have the image pop up again after you take a picture, just like the screen on the back does. The most important than you can do to reduce the shot to shot time is turn off image review, so the image doesn't pop up on the screen or EVF after you take it. Doing that on any camera drastically speeds things up, even your existing Nikon.

 

[jec6613]

True. Forgot about that. It comes with the limitation though that if you want to share a photo to e.g. instagram, you can't do it directly from the camera. You'll need a phone or tablet as a mediator.

This is true with pretty much any camera Wi-Fi, unless you have one of the few Android powered cameras (A few Samsung and at least one Nikon, the S800c). You pay a penalty though: massive battery drain on the Android cameras.