Cameras

[judydavis144]

Hi All - I'm touring west to east this summer - mostly the Northern Tier route.  Can anyone recommend a decent camera that's not too heavy or large but will take good scenic shots?? Price within reason.
Thanks!
Judy

[Pat Lamb]

That's a pretty broad question.  Some people do amazing things with cell phone cameras, other people drop a couple grand on an SLR and can barely take snapshots.

For point and shoot, something like the Olympus Stylus Tough series can take a good picture, plus it will work when you drop it (a short distance) or get it damp. 

If you want incredibly good shots, get a camera that can take a circular polarizing filter (so the sky is really blue!) and capture images in RAW format (so you can use gimp or photoshop to try to make it look like it looked when you were there). 

The key, though, is learning how to take a good picture and learning how to use your gear.  A community college course might have helped with the first, and buy something, read the manual a few times, and practice from now until you leave for the second.

[judydavis144]

Thanks!

[Inge]

Depending on your budget the panny Lumix fz 100 is a nice and good compact camera - review https://www.dpreview.com/articles/9693931950/panasonicdmcfz100 and weighs around 350 gr - if I remember correctly. I ,myself have the fz 2500/ 2000 which weighs a fair bit more - almost 1000 gr. . I do like the quality of the fz2500 and have read very good revieuws on the fz100 as well. Actually it would be my camera choice for a 2nd camera.

But what is important is to indicate how much of a photographer are you, how willing are you to learn about camera settings and of course read a lot of info eg on dpreview.

[RonK]

I use and recommend a Sony RX100M3.

[Inge]

Indeed a very good camera - though for my liking not enough reach.

[RonK]

The op asked about a camera that is light, compact and can be used to take good scenic shots. The RX100 M3 fits those requirements perfectly.
Your preferences may be different.

[BikeliciousBabe]

Really liked my Sony RX100II--until the lens mechanism froze and would not extend. Unit was only a few months old and treated with kid gloves. Sent it out for warranty repair. Lens was replaced. Got it back and a seal/o-ring around the lens started to fall out within a week. Be advised that if you live in the northeast (and who knows where else), Sony makes you use a certain camera repair business for warranty repairs. That business has countless nightmare reviews on Yelp and other places, and you pay the return shipping. When I sent my unit back the second time they sent it back with a note saying nothing was wrong with it even though when I sent it 2/3 of the seal/o-ring was clearly dangling from the lens. Who knows what they did (just rip out the seal/o-ring), but the unit has never been the same since the initial warranty repair.

[judydavis144]

Good to know - thanks for the response.

[RonK]

That is unfortunate. You can be unlucky I guess.

We have two RX100's in our household, an M1 and an M3. We've never had any kind of issue with either of them and they take great pics.

You can see some examples in my journals here...Gone Fishin'.