Good Inexpensive Pocket Camera
 

My two daughters just broke my 7 year old Cannon pocket camera... I want to buy a new camera for them and also use to take outdoor shots when hiking and biking. Any recommendations?

Thanks in advance

Vivitar seems a low priced Brand. But it seems most people use their Phones ..


Or did you mean Film Cameras?

You can buy exquisite older Canon cameras on Ebay 'dozen for a dime', i.e. one for each of you. My favorite is A620, but some other also taking AA batteries, are good too.

Your phone.

Not everyone carries a $200/month phone. My 3 phones for $30/month are useless for taking puctures.

Good and inexpensive can't be used in the same statement when talking cameras. I have a $200 Canon pocket point and shoot and even at $200, it takes horrid quality photos. Automatic anything won't take good photos. I have a nice wide strap on my manual control superzoom Fuji that I just throw over my head on the opposite shoulder and twist it to rest on my back if I ride with it. I took the Canon last time so I could carry it in a pocket and didn't get a single good shot because I couldn't set anything and even ISO100 left the images noisy and soft.

My phone costs me $25 a month. Phones now take pics about as good as a low end point and click from a few years back. Which is to say adequate. So pretty much the same as any pocket camera.

This does not agree with my experience. In my work setting we need at times to take a picture of the same subject, for record keeping, each with his own device. When we compare those pictures side-by-side, my nearly decade old point-and-shoot Canon takes way better pictures than anybody's few-hundred $ contemporary phones.

I have a Canon Powershot A510 from 2005 that I keep around to take photos with. While a "point-and-shoot" it's got a 4x optical zoom and full manual mode, with controls for ISO, f-stop, shutter speed, and manual focus. I can take pictures in near darkness with these exposure controls. it's "only" 3 megapixels but I have printed 8x10s from it that look excellent (megapixels are the most overrated and unimportant characteristic of a digital camera).

This is a macro shot I took the other night, under dim artificial light. There is a little bit of blur because I didn't use a tripod and used a slow shutter speed. There aren't many phone cams that are capable of taking a picture with this kind of exposure and focus (note the blurred background, a.k.a, "bokeh").

You can pick up one of these on ebay for < $20.

http://i.imgur.com/VLqKR24.jpg

My main digital camera is an A630 which shoots nearly as well as film but it is not pocket sized, I picked up a Sony Cybershot 14.1 at the pawn shop for $10.00 and it takes pictures that are nearly as good but often needs more colour / exposure correction and it fits well in a pocket or pouch.

http://www.infoshowbh.com.br/imagens...4c4fe511e.jpeg

Canon cameras have excellent lenses and some of the best digital sensors... my 8mp A630 takes better pictures than any other digital device I have and has tons of features and a full manual mode which makes it very capable at night or in very low light.

I have a Canon A3400 IS which is several years old. It takes decent pics and has a bit of manual control. It is small and I would call it a pocket camera. I bought it so that I could have a relatively inexpensive pocket camera to take on a bike. There are quite a few "keeper" older model cameras that you should be able to find on ebay or craigslist.

Quality is pretty dependent on what your experience with cameras are. I don't have a high quality dSLR, but I am into photography. I use an old superzoom I bought in 2007. Even this, I am not happy about the quality but I can control everything manually, it has a better sensor than pocket point and shoots, and has the most important thing, a viewfinder rather than holding a camera stupidly out at arms length looking at an LCD screen.

You may or may not notice quality issues depending on your experience.

Below is my bike with the wife's Canon A4000, horrid quality in my opinion. Paid $200 for this camera. I can force ISO, but can't change anything else. Can't even read the lettering on the tires nor see the links in the chain. Image is over exposed as well, couldn't do anything about that.

Link to large size

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...20IMG_1099.jpg

This is my Fuji superzoom. Again, paid $200 for it. Quality isn't up to my standard, but I can't afford a couple thousand $$$$ for a camera, so it has to do. Has some chromatic aberration, but I could set the exposure correctly.

Link to large size

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...20DSCF4930.jpg

You may or may not see the difference. I carried the Canon once in my pocket on the bike. I won't bother with that again. I'd rather have my camera hanging across my shoulder sitting on my back if I want to go out on a photographic adventure on my bike.

The best phones on the market these days take barely adequate photos. I HAVE moved to having my phone as the carry-around camera, but only with the newest phone, a Nexus 5 with an image stabilized camera. The previous one, an HTC One X, wasn't good enough and I used a point and shoot.

Even the Nexus 5 isn't as good as a 5 year old cheap Canon camera. I'd look for an A series on eBay, one of the ones that use AA batteries. Watch out for ones with lens errors - one common failure mode is that if the camera is turned on and the lens is held in place (not allowed to move) it can strip gears inside the lens. This is common among cameras but with the Canon A series it seemed like it was the only common failure mode.

I've always been a Nikon user, from early my early film cameras (FM2 anyone?) on, but have not issues admitting Canon makes superior P&S cameras. The A series are borderline too large to slip into a pocket, but are otherwise exemplary. If you are really trying to keep your budget in check, their SX160 is end-of-life, but still available on Amazon for about $135, looks like a good choice, and is powered by AA's. Its replacement, the SX170 has a newer, rechargeable, LiIon battery, similar specs, and excellent reviews for about $150.

Panasonic and Fujifilm (love the optics, and overall image quality on my X-e1, albeit, not in any way pocketable) make some interesting toys too, although a little higher up the food chain.

I'm a Nikon DSLR guy as well, but my recent point & shoots have been Canon. As has been mentioned, if you shop around you can get some great deals on discontinued models. For example, around the holidays there were several rebate deals on the camera I ended up getting, the PowerShot S110. This is very pocketable, durable, excellent image quality for a small sensor, and what I really wanted, the ability to shoot in RAW. The deal I went with is similar to what Canon is currently offering: BuyDig.com

After rebate, and selling the packaged printer, my out-of-pocket for the camera was $25. The S110 is currently selling by itself for ~$250.

If shooting RAW isn't a requirement and/or you want something just a bit smaller yet, the Canon PowerShot ELPH 310 is another older, excellent model. I got this for my wife for Christmas for $100.

Good luck, happy shooting!

I just picked up this canon powershot elph 130 and I've been happy with it. It gets good reviews online for a reason:

Robot Check

ELPH 310 and 130 and many other Canon cameras can be controlled with the open source CHDK software that yields RAW as an option even when that option is not there originally.