Samsung EX2F still a great compact? Other thoughts?

[Luke.]

Afternoon all.

I really know very little about cameras and tend to use my Galaxy S4 for most day to day stuff.

Need something a little better and just about to buy a Samsung EXF2. Love the wifi aspect of it. But before I go for it just wanted to see what other options I could be missing out on. Looking to spend around £250. Cheers all.

Said Samsung:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Digital-Compact-Sm...

[MysteryLemon]

Seems to fall into a lot of comparisons with the likes of the lx-7 / xz-2 or RX100 etc. From what I've seen, it performs poorly where image quality is concerned but I've not had hands on experience with it, just comparing in reviews.

I recently purchased an Olympus XZ-2. Lovely solid bit of kit but been totally underwhelmed by it. It produces nice quality images but don't expect DSLR quality. Much better than your average compact though. My main gripe with it is poor autofocus. It's accurate, just struggles in anything but bright daylight. Hunts a lot, especially at the tele end of the lens. It's got an AF assist lamp but it doesn't help much. Also has a flash, but the situations where you might need a flash, the auto focus wont lock... Seems a widely reported problem with these (although you wont find it mentioned in ANY reviews...). Olympus seem to be playing dumb on it though and people that have returned them for repair have had them back saying they can't find an issue.

It also underexposes a lot and the white balance is pretty poor in low light. All of the focusing modes (when its light enough to lock) are pretty useless except for the S-AF mode. C-AF is too slow to react when your subject comes closer or moves away and the tracking mode, whilst very handy, is also too slow to react. It follows subjects around on the screen great, but actually focusing on them is stupidly slow. Very annoying considering the s-AF mode is almost instant, when it isn't hunting because its too dim...

My recomendation? Get an LX-7.

Edited by MysteryLemon on Saturday 19th October 16:09

[Luke.]

Thanks for the reply. Much appreciated. Actually vearing towards the Lumix DMC-TZ40 now as seems a good all rounder and had the wifi bits and bobs Im after.

[Mr Will]

I suggest you add the Canon S110/S120 to your list as well. It's easy to overlook as it just looks like a point and shoot but it's a genuine LX7/XZ-2/etc competitor.