Need suggestions for a new camera

[Mark44]

TL;DR Summary

I'm looking to upgrade my 10+ year old Canon camera that first came on the market almost 20 years ago.

I have a small point-and-shoot camera, Canon Powershot A560, that's getting a bit long in the tooth. It doesn't seem to want to store the date and time any longer, despite taking the batteries out and putting them back in (I use the NiCad batteries designed for cameras, which last longer), and doing a low-level format of the memory card. Other than this, it still takes reasonably good pictures, but I'm thinking the date/time problem might be a precursor of something else going wrong down the road.

Here are some of the specs on my camera: 7.1 Megapixel, 4X optical zoom.

I've had this camera for maybe 10 years. I wish I would have sprung for the extra few bucks to get the IS (image stabilization) model, but oh, well. Most of the pictures I take are on backpack trips, so I'm looking for something small and light. I've looked at lots of new cameras that fit the bill for being small and light, with a lot more resolution and zoom, but most of them don't have the separate look-through-the-camera viewfinder. I've looked at a bunch of Canon and Panasonic cameras, but most of them have just the screen on the back. I like being able to look through the camera to compose a shot, because I don't feel I can do this as well with just the screen. Also, a significant fraction of the reviews I've seen talk about serious shortcomings of these cameras in terms of reliability and lack of customer support for repairs, especially the Panasonic models.

Some of you are much more savvy about cameras than I am. Can you recommend a small point-and-shoot camera, with some of the features that more recent cameras have. I'm especially looking for something that has a viewfinder that you look through. And I'm definitely not looking for a smart phone -- many of the places I go, a cell phone is useless for communication.

TIA

 

[jedishrfu]

My wife got a panasonic lumix zs100 for travel. It wirked well for her.

Theres was an issue with some button that was switching the camera into multishoot mode that drove her to distraction as she thought someone had changed the modes intentionally. The camera store agent taught her how to reset it and fix the pictures taken ie select the best one of the sequence and things are cool now.

Optical zoom was less than her canon sx6 but that's also a more full featured camera. She switched because of some odd image artifacts which the caera store couldn't explain and we had to send it for repair and that's when we got the lumix.

Check the lumix out.

Also have you considered a GoPro? I have one and liked using it on our arizona trips. I mostly take video though.

 

[Mark44]

Also have you considered a GoPro?

No, not at all. I'm not interested in shooting videos. I'll look into the ZS 100, although the percentage of very negative reviews (11% with 1 star out of 5) is a real concern.

 

[jedishrfu]

My apologies, my memory was off. I checked and we got a Panasonic Lumix ZS200.

https://www.google.com/search?q=pan...rome..69i57.7895j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Reviews seem to be the gamut of responses. I usually look for specific problems with the camera to investigate further.

My wife liked it but is now considering going back to Canon. As I mentioned earlier her Canon started to act up and no one knew what the problem was. The camera was replaced and actually upgraded by Canon from a sx5 to sx6 presumably because it was no longer being repaired. The sx5 had vertical line issues under certain lighting and the sx6 had these artifacts that resembled out of focus dust particles under low light with flash that appeared a bright spots with halos but there wasn't any dust.

I guess that's why I like video more. The GoPro can take single pictures either while taking video or not. It can also do burst mode. I had one issue when the camera locked up during a shoot and I had to do a battery reset. Later I discovered that somehow it decided to do continuous burst mode as I had a 100 or so images of the same scene. After that I was more cautious of pressing buttons and switching modes quickly and it worked fine maybe it just was the remoteness of the Grand Canyon :-)

 

[pbuk]

I'm especially looking for something that has a viewfinder that you look through. And I'm definitely not looking for a smart phone -- many of the places I go, a cell phone is useless for communication.

A true optical viewfinder that you can look through is now a rarity on a point and shoot camera having been replaced with the 'electronic view finder' (EVF) where you look through a lens at an image on a tiny screen, or often no viewfinder at all, just the big screen.

If you really want an optical viewfinder in a compact camera then I think you will be looking at a beautiful piece of engineering like the Leica Q2 or Fujifilm X100V; these are not cheap.

 

[Anand Sivaram]

My suggestion is to consider a point and shoot camera with inbuilt WiFi as it would be much easy to take the photos to a mobile phone without the need for a computer, card reader or a USB cable. Also, you could use the mobile phone as a remote control equivalent.

 

[Tom.G]

The A560 Date and Time uses a separate battery, a CR1220. See page 106 of the Advanced User Guide:
http://gdlp01.c-wss.com/gds/2/0900001212/01/PSA560CUGad_ENg.pdf
Cheers,
Tom

 

[FactChecker]

A true optical viewfinder that you can look through is now a rarity on a point and shoot camera having been replaced with the 'electronic view finder' (EVF) where you look through a lens at an image on a tiny screen, or often no viewfinder at all, just the big screen.

I have a new camera without a viewfinder. It has trouble with reflective glare of my own face on the image screen. I plan to look for a camera with a viewfinder. As far as I know, I don't care if it is viewing the scene directly or looking at a digital screen, but I think that seeing the digital image would better represent the final digital photo.

 

[Mark44]

My suggestion is to consider a point and shoot camera with inbuilt WiFi as it would be much easy to take the photos to a mobile phone without the need for a computer, card reader or a USB cable. Also, you could use the mobile phone as a remote control equivalent.

I don't want and don't need a camera with WiFi. I'm perfectly happy to upload the images directly to my computer via a USB cable. And believe it or not, my cellphone is of 2002 vintage or so -- it doesn't have a camera and is completely off most of the time.

The A560 Date and Time uses a separate battery, a CR1220. See page 106 of the Advanced User Guide:
http://gdlp01.c-wss.com/gds/2/0900001212/01/PSA560CUGad_ENg.pdf

That's really good to know! I'll bet the problem is that the CR1220 has gone dead on me. I'll replace it and see if that fixes things.

I have a new camera without a viewfinder. It has trouble with reflective glare of my own face on the image screen.

Yes, and that's exactly why I wanted a camera with a viewfinder.

 

[lekh2003]

Dunno what your budget is but the compact camera market is absolutely fascinating these days.

If you want to branch out to some new technology, you can look at some cameras from Canon's mirrorless DSLR series that is around the same size as their point and shoots at this stage. Perhaps the Canon M50. Amazing mirrorless camera, and its not fixed lens so perhaps you can look into getting a few different lenses. They have electronic viewfinders, so you'll get the same experience.

Theres also of course the original Canon point and shoot PowerShot, which right now is incredibly compact and versatile. Here's their latest model. It's actually quite amazing, and it is probably the cutting edge in point and shoots.

However, if those are a bit out of your budget, you can look at the Panasonic Lumix ZS70, however the viewfinder is a bit small which might be uncomfortable.

 

[Mark44]

Dunno what your budget is but the compact camera market is absolutely fascinating these days.

If you want to branch out to some new technology, you can look at some cameras from Canon's mirrorless DSLR series that is around the same size as their point and shoots at this stage. Perhaps the Canon M50. Amazing mirrorless camera, and its not fixed lens so perhaps you can look into getting a few different lenses. They have electronic viewfinders, so you'll get the same experience.

Nice camera, but a bit bulkier and heavier than what I'm looking for. My main use for the camera is on backpack trips. As such, I want something light, so I'm not looking for anything with removable lenses.

Theres also of course the original Canon point and shoot PowerShot, which right now is incredibly compact and versatile. Here's their latest model. It's actually quite amazing, and it is probably the cutting edge in point and shoots.

Very nice, but at just under $1000 USD, it's more than what I want to spend. My current camera cost about $200 ten years ago or so, so I figure an equivalent one should run me somewhere around $400 or so.

However, if those are a bit out of your budget, you can look at the Panasonic Lumix ZS70, however the viewfinder is a bit small which might be uncomfortable.

I've looked into several Panasonic models, but the reviews I've seen on Amazon make me very leery. For many of the Panasonic cameras, anywhere from 15% to almost 20% of the reviews are very negative, with many saying that the service is terrible or that the camera failed not long after getting it out of the box. The reviews for the Canon Powershot models wasn't a whole lot better.

For the time being, I'm going to stick with my ancient Canon Powershot A560, with an eye toward upgrading it sometime in the next couple of years.