compact or CSC suggestions for Christmas gift
Discussion
I'm thinking of getting my girlfriend a camera for Christmas. She has a toddler and spends a great deal of time taking him out and about, and like many young parents of the day, documenting his activities with an iPhone and often uploading to Facebook for family to see. When we go out together I usually have my Canon 5DS and 24-70L attached - she absolutely loves the resulting photos which often get shared with her family. She seems to quite enjoy handling my camera and isn't intimidated by it, providing its setup for point and shoot operation.
I thought it would be nice if I could find something that she would pick to use over her smartphone... something which produces discernibly much better image quality but which in practical terms, she wouldn't be put off carrying in her bag on a daily basis and which could transfer photos to her phone and upload fairly easily (I have never used Wifi/NFC so not sure how effective this is).
Budget wise I am thinking in the region of £500-700, ideally something with a large-ish sensor, fast-ish 24-70 equivalent length and which is easy to use. I wouldn't rule out a 35mm equivalent fixed lens as this is going to be similar to the iPhone presumably. As mentioned some sort of Wifi or smartphone integration would be great or I would suspect the phone would end up coming back out which would defeat the object.
One obvious candidate is the RX-100 IV which can be had new for £600-odd and seems to get raved about on here. I also had a Lumix LX5 in the past and am interested in the LX-100 but it is a few years old and would appear to be due an imminent replacement. The LX-15 looks good too. Canon's offerings don't seem to be particularly well rated. I have heard good things about some of the Fuji's like the X70 and X100T. Any other suggestions or is there a CSC at this price point which would be worthwhile?
Above all if she doesn't particularly gel with it, I might end up using it myself, so it would be good to have something that is a worthy complimentary device to my own full frame DSLR hence looking for something enthusiast rather than consumer level.
I thought it would be nice if I could find something that she would pick to use over her smartphone... something which produces discernibly much better image quality but which in practical terms, she wouldn't be put off carrying in her bag on a daily basis and which could transfer photos to her phone and upload fairly easily (I have never used Wifi/NFC so not sure how effective this is).
Budget wise I am thinking in the region of £500-700, ideally something with a large-ish sensor, fast-ish 24-70 equivalent length and which is easy to use. I wouldn't rule out a 35mm equivalent fixed lens as this is going to be similar to the iPhone presumably. As mentioned some sort of Wifi or smartphone integration would be great or I would suspect the phone would end up coming back out which would defeat the object.
One obvious candidate is the RX-100 IV which can be had new for £600-odd and seems to get raved about on here. I also had a Lumix LX5 in the past and am interested in the LX-100 but it is a few years old and would appear to be due an imminent replacement. The LX-15 looks good too. Canon's offerings don't seem to be particularly well rated. I have heard good things about some of the Fuji's like the X70 and X100T. Any other suggestions or is there a CSC at this price point which would be worthwhile?
Above all if she doesn't particularly gel with it, I might end up using it myself, so it would be good to have something that is a worthy complimentary device to my own full frame DSLR hence looking for something enthusiast rather than consumer level.
Edited by theboss on Sunday 11th December 11:25
If it's CSC you're looking at then Olympus OM D ticks the boxes.
You can find a deals from around £400 and it includes a skinny pancake with equiv to 28-84mm. Has onboard WiFi for immediate transfer to your phone/tablet. Light and smallish, feels really well made. Has a smaller brother in the Olympus Pen if you need less function and no EV.
It's micro four thirds so a massive range of (very impressive) lens. It could replace your DSLR, too.
You can find a deals from around £400 and it includes a skinny pancake with equiv to 28-84mm. Has onboard WiFi for immediate transfer to your phone/tablet. Light and smallish, feels really well made. Has a smaller brother in the Olympus Pen if you need less function and no EV.
It's micro four thirds so a massive range of (very impressive) lens. It could replace your DSLR, too.
Edited by MrOrange on Monday 12th December 00:42
Sony RX100 MK3 or MK4, Panasonic Lumix TZ100 or Canon G7X would be my choices for a Christmas gift.
I have a Sony RX100 MK3 and am well chuffed with the build quality which feels like it has been machined out of a solid billet, and the image quality which is outstanding, though think the menu system needs sorting out because it is a horrible mess which incidentally I have grudgingly adapted to. Rather disappointingly Sony don't seem to give a sh*te about making any firmware changes to previous models to improve the experience which is a shame, so 8/10 for image quality and 1/10 for future updates. In its favour it is very pocketable and has an 'Auto' mode.
The Panasonic model is good but it is slightly bigger, the Canon is slightly smaller. If the camera is being thrown in your girlfriend's handbag then I don't think the differences in sizes between these cameras is relevant. Pick whichever camera you think is best - then post your final decision on here
I have a Sony RX100 MK3 and am well chuffed with the build quality which feels like it has been machined out of a solid billet, and the image quality which is outstanding, though think the menu system needs sorting out because it is a horrible mess which incidentally I have grudgingly adapted to. Rather disappointingly Sony don't seem to give a sh*te about making any firmware changes to previous models to improve the experience which is a shame, so 8/10 for image quality and 1/10 for future updates. In its favour it is very pocketable and has an 'Auto' mode.
The Panasonic model is good but it is slightly bigger, the Canon is slightly smaller. If the camera is being thrown in your girlfriend's handbag then I don't think the differences in sizes between these cameras is relevant. Pick whichever camera you think is best - then post your final decision on here
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