gracehowler

We use a Panasonic point & shoot, but it does not include a "viewfinder" . A simple line of sight viewfinder can be an asset when the sun glare is wrong or you are in a hurry to get a shot.
R&J

DropBarFan

My gripe about point & shoot cameras is the cost & poor reliability. I've had two die at ~3 years even with light use & no harsh conditions. Reviews seem to indicate that is common. Phones have packed more features for the same price as previously, but cameras don't seem to have followed that pattern very much. Getting all the desirable features in a P&S seems to get quite pricey.

Happy Feet

That was one reason I chose the tough series camera. I had had a couple of P&S's with extending lens/shutters jam up and knew I wanted a camera that could get wet or accidentally drop etc... In a benign setting there are probably better systems but probably not that can take the abuse.

djb

my oldish Nikon pt and shoot with extending lens, self closing lens cap thingee has been sticky for ages, and certainly this is nothing new with these type of pt and shoots going back to the first film equivalents. Nature of the beast, and you just have to careful with them, especially about sand etc.
A few years ago, I bought one of those waterproof, shockproof pt and shoots, a fuji perhaps, and these type of cameras certainly are great for the reasons you brought up.
This specific one was reasonably priced, has reasonable picture quality, and fantastic for being able to be in a jersey pocket or whatever and never having to worry about it, but its always a compromise image quality wise isnt it?
There are waterproof cell phone nowadays, and I am honestly always astounded by cell phone camera quality increases in the last bunch of years--that said, I still like holding a real camera shaped thing with an actual shutter button, especially for "on bike" shots for the strap and small grip "holdability" thing---but again, the compactness and multi use aspect of a cell phone certainly has advantages, so I look at it as balancing out costs and perhaps specific trip charactersitics, ie still like a longer zoom camera for a long trip, and not risking dropping my cell taking a photo, losing breaking phone that you'll be using as a phone/internet access etc....

I admit that given that I have a couple of reasonable pt and shoots to choose from, and have no urge to spend big bucks on a new cell phone with a much much better camera, I'd be hard pressed to decide which way to go if I had to really choose and make a decision now...

blacknbluebikes 

Late 70's -> late 90's Lots of SLR work. Lots.
Continued to shoot w/ SLR, started toying w DSLR around 2001. Almost 20 years of digital now.
Still kept point-&-shoot around for rest of family (current favorite Nikon Coolpix S9900, highly recommended).
Now, just migrated from iPhone XS to iPhone 11 Pro. Whoa. Wait a minute.
The results on the 11 Pro are beyond fantastic - and it's all in the post-processing. This camera does automatically what would take me 20 minutes in Lightroom. I've always been of somewhat mixed opinion regarding phone cameras, but not anymore. The software behind the camera is a total game changer for me. I get pics on my phone now that were impossible 2yrs ago without significant post-processing work. Oh, and yeah, it does great video. Oh, and yeah, it's waterproof. Oh, and yeah, it also does about 100 other things. I can even call people and talk to them with it. Unfortunately, it does tell my wife where I am all the time...

Doug64

This is the big trade-off with phones and some P&Ss:

What phone or camera you use just depends a lot on what you do with your photos. I just sent out 6 high resolution photos that have a total file size of 50 MB. They are from a camera with an APS-C sensor. My wife's Galaxy S9 takes beautiful pictures, especially in low light, but they don't produce large high quality prints well, and are not usually acceptable for publication.

Happy Feet

Just an update.

Bought the fish eye lens for the TG-4 over Christmas https://www.henrys.com/77739-OLYMPUS...hoCjfUQAvD_BwE and have been playing around with it for a couple of weeks. Really like the increased field of view and the way it bends the trees when shooting vertical.

On the bike I keep the camera in this inexpensive water bottle feed bag from MEC.

djb

Good use of it. Just remember not to over use it, or at least be aware of your editing, even if you do play with it a lot at first. Its easy to over do a wide angle when it's a new toy. I remember when i got my 20mm 2.8 I'm sure I over used it, same with my 17-35.
but it certainly has its place, and as your shots show, it gives a neat "being there" view that cab work really well.

Happy Feet

A little while ago (well.. after Moab for sure) I decided I wanted to do more wide angle stuff so that's why I bought the lens

A cool feature of the TG-4 is the converter that threads onto the fish eye (or telephoto) and twists on and off the camera body. It is very quick to go from fisheye to standard, shoot and then snap the lens back on.
besides on the bike, I use my camera while hiking and trail running and can easily carry it in my hand with the fish eye on.

Here are a couple of shots I took on a 20 km run showing the difference in field of view between standard and fish eye. Look at the background mountain and/or count the trees.
One thing I need to work on is getting the horizon in the center for the landscape oriented shots to reduce the distortion.







And a couple more artsy shots

john m flores 

If improved photo quality is truly your goal, then don't get a new camera/phone - stop, use two hands to stabilize the camera, and take a moment to think about your composition. A poor photographer with a good camera is still a poor photographer.