pmdave
Jan-08-2005, 05:51 PM
Howdy folks, I'm getting serious about a compact digital camera. My requirements are:easy fit in shirt pocket, durable & reliable, lense protection, AA battery power (not rechargeable pack), minimum of 3 mp, minimum of 3x optical zoom, and fast operation.
I currently have an Olympus C3000 Zoom, plus a smaller Olympus. The 3000 is fine for general images when I want to set up the full system, but when I'm traveling I either have my camera in my shirt pocket, or I'll miss the shot. I prefer expendable batteries (I like Energizer lithiums) because I don't want to pack a charger to foreign countries, and I've always found rechargeables to lose power if not used frequently.
What I find increasingly frustrating with my current digitals is snail-like operation. One or two seconds to get it turned on and the lense out, then one or two seconds to set up the shooting details, and two to four seconds to get the shot focused, taken, and recorded. I'd like something that fires up in a half second, push the button and have it recycled in a max of one second, and turned off in another half second. You know, like an autofocus pocket film camera.
In the past I've been partial to Olympus, but I don't see anything in the Olympus lineup that meets my needs, and I've found the sliding lense covers on the shirtpocket cameras are often fiddly, and operation very slow. Of course Nikon has a good reputation, but the one model I looked at used a special Nikon rechargeable battery.
At the moment, I'm seriously considering the Canon Powershot A95. It uses four AA batteries, which means enough power to use the LCD viewer frequently. I've tried one at the store, and it seems to meet my requirements. Curiously, the A95 has a 1cm shorter focusing range than the 4MP A85, and apparently a slightly different focusing system.
So, any advice about Canon? Other brands that would meet my needs?
pmdave:scratch
I currently have an Olympus C3000 Zoom, plus a smaller Olympus. The 3000 is fine for general images when I want to set up the full system, but when I'm traveling I either have my camera in my shirt pocket, or I'll miss the shot. I prefer expendable batteries (I like Energizer lithiums) because I don't want to pack a charger to foreign countries, and I've always found rechargeables to lose power if not used frequently.
What I find increasingly frustrating with my current digitals is snail-like operation. One or two seconds to get it turned on and the lense out, then one or two seconds to set up the shooting details, and two to four seconds to get the shot focused, taken, and recorded. I'd like something that fires up in a half second, push the button and have it recycled in a max of one second, and turned off in another half second. You know, like an autofocus pocket film camera.
In the past I've been partial to Olympus, but I don't see anything in the Olympus lineup that meets my needs, and I've found the sliding lense covers on the shirtpocket cameras are often fiddly, and operation very slow. Of course Nikon has a good reputation, but the one model I looked at used a special Nikon rechargeable battery.
At the moment, I'm seriously considering the Canon Powershot A95. It uses four AA batteries, which means enough power to use the LCD viewer frequently. I've tried one at the store, and it seems to meet my requirements. Curiously, the A95 has a 1cm shorter focusing range than the 4MP A85, and apparently a slightly different focusing system.
So, any advice about Canon? Other brands that would meet my needs?
pmdave:scratch