Need a small camera

Unfortunately my G9 has died and is not economical to repair, so I am thinking of a replacement.

What I am looking for is a camera for very occasional use that is fairly small (smaller than a G series) and goes to at least 28mm (equiv) at the short end - 24mm would be nicer. I am not too worried about the telephoto end of the spectrum but 100mm + would be fine. I also want decent IQ.

Now the hard bit - it must be cheap! It will rarely be used so there is no point in spending much money (Canon already have several 10's of thousands of my money!) so I am thinking that a used IXUS model would be the way to go?

Whilst I am very familiar with Canon/Nikon etc pro gear, compacts are a bit of a mystery to me. So I am after some pointers as to good models to look out for, don't worry too much about price as it is up to me to find one cheap(!) it is more a case of which cameras to look out for. Other makes are fine by me, I only mentioned the IXUS range because I have used them a while ago and liked them.

Thanks in advance.

How much control do you want? Once you drop below the G series, you start losing controls pretty quickly. And related to IQ, how smaller of a sensor (or other criteria)? For me, that's when I start using my smartphone. Giving up on quality in challenging light, but does pretty well otherwise.

I'd go with the Elph 110 HS. It's pretty much the perfect camera for what you described - it's my go to point and shoot for aerial and ultra lightweight.

It's a bit of an older camera with no manual control, but CHDK does wonders for manual control.

It's got a 16 MP CMOS sensor with 24-120 equiv zoom and f/2.7 max aperture at the wide end which helps a ton. Images are good, not great, and you do need CHDK to get .dng RAW off of the sensor, but what do you expect for a 1/2.3"sensor?

It's also about 135 grams (half or less of the weight of a RX100 series) and you can get them used on eBay for like $60.

Unfortunately, Canon has never directly replaced this camera, so it might be sticking around in my kit for a while - I even bought a spare pink one on Craigslist because it was so cheap I can use it if mine ever craps out (or if I want to stick it on my quad and not be worried about crashing it)

I want full control (Manual is my normal mode) but I don't think that I am going to get the control that I want in a compact - I can live with that.

I want the biggest sensor that I can get - but that just isn't going to happen.

So it is just down to a good solid, well made, compact with not too many MP, that is not the latest model.

The 24-120 focal range looks spot on to me and the overall design looks nice. Pity about the 16 MP sensor, 6 MP would have been nice - but that is just not going to happen these days!

That looks like a nice fit for my needs, unfortunately they seem to be a bit more pricey over here in the UK - but I will keep an eye out for one.

Thanks for your input.

Take a look at the Canon S120, truely pocketable P&S that gives you full manual control along with TV, AV & other creative modes. 24-120mm lens, 12mp sensor (from memory), shoots RAW, and gives good battery life. Glad I picked one up to carry.

Never owned the S90, S95, or S100 predecessors but they might be worth looking at too. I'm pretty sure there's a S95 in the buy 'n sell folder.

johnf3f wrote in post #18255466
I want full control (Manual is my normal mode) but I don't think that I am going to get the control that I want in a compact - I can live with that.

I want the biggest sensor that I can get - but that just isn't going to happen.

So it is just down to a good solid, well made, compact with not too many MP, that is not the latest model.

As someone who grew up in the days of film with SLRs that had meters which required match-needle effort on the part of the user, and who had a new G2 as my very first digital camera, I have found that the Canon S95 is a terrific alternative for me when I travel on business and have no desire to lug a dSLR kit around for the occasional photo. Its manual adjustment of exposure is just fine, although the controls are admittedly a bit more 'fumbly' than a dSLR with full time dedicated controls.

In fact there may be an S95 for sale on POTN right now still.

Thanks Wilt.

The ones here were all in the USA, however there is a nice looking one going on E Bay over here so I have placed a bid.

It looks like just the job for what I want - thanks again.

Well the S95 is on it's way! Well it will be tomorrow.....