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New travel camera

motocamper

New member
Greetings
Our Canon G-10 is showing signs of age and some scratched in the lens with 4 years old with about 50,000 miles. The wife is the camera operator while we ride. We are looking for a replacement.
What camera do you ride with and why did you choose it?
Thanks Tony
 
I was impressed with Voni's pictures and asked her what she used. Her camera, as of last year was a Panasonic Lumix with a 16X Zoom.
I decided to go with a Lumix also, but picked a cheaper 10X Zoom.
My camera is a Panasonic Lumix DMC-SZ1 Red that I bought from Amazon on sale for $120. http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-Lum...&qid=1361671939&sr=8-5&keywords=lumix+dmc-sz1 Right now the Black sells for $126 on Amazon.
I bought it because the reviews were good and the price was cheap enough, if I lost it or dropped it off the bike, I would not cry.
I've had it for about a year and I'm pleased with the picture quality and ease of use.
The 3" LCD screen is easy to view outside and the small camera body makes it nice to carry in a pocket.

719b%2BCEx%2BFL._SL1500_.jpg
 
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As you can see I truly love the Panasonic Lumix ZS10 and take it everywhere. It's pretty tough and when I noted dust caused a discolored spot inside, the warranty covered fixing it for free!

Voni
sMiling
 
There are many truly great compact cameras available. I, too, carry a Panasonic Lumix and captured a shot in Colorado last summer that made a beautiful, high quality 13X19" print. With the small cameras I feel safe carrying it on a lanyard around my neck, with the camera under my riding jacket. There's no searching for it when a picture opportunity arises. You really can't go wrong with any of the major brands.
 
None of the majors make bad cameras but some are better than others, even at a given price range.

You need to decide what is important. megapixels, sensor sensitivity, zoom capability, image stabilization, or other bells and whistles like face detection, lots of settings, etc.

Panasonic is using all glass Leica lenses with long zoom ranges. My DMC ZS9 has a 16 power optical zoom and image stabilization which work very well. I have a 20"x30" print on canvas which is excellent and hanging in the living room. This is because of the quality of the lens.
 
Greetings
Our Canon G-10 is showing signs of age and some scratched in the lens with 4 years old with about 50,000 miles. The wife is the camera operator while we ride. We are looking for a replacement.
What camera do you ride with and why did you choose it?
Thanks Tony

Oh boy, another "you should buy what I bought" thread. :laugh

My G10 was a great camera until a friend gave it the drop test on concrete -- it didn't pass. I'm a big fan of the high zoom Sony's and have owned 3 or 4, but all the brands have good offerings. This form factor is extremely versatile, much more so than the p&s cameras since the high zooms can do up to 50x optical zoom.

Latest camera for me is the Canon D5 Mk III. If my ole lady would get on the back of the bike, she'd have to learn how to use it.

I still have a G11, don't like it quite as much as the G10, but it's a keeper.
 
I've owned many digitals and used them for many purposes- upgrade periodically as technology moves on and improves capabilities. Truth is you can make good photos with almost anything so what matters is what you will really carry and use- and that comes down to what you like. The first reasonably priced digital cameras that smoked anything a 35 mm film camera could do appeared around 2003 and there have been huge improvments across the whole range of digital gear since then.

Various technical specs contribute to camera strengths. Great lens are needed for big prints- but bigger sensors also help as much or more. But better lenses and bigger sensors mean higher cost and more weight/size. There is a universe of difference in the capability of an SLR with full size sensor and a point and shoot with a dinky one- but if you don't have that SLR handy when you want it, it would be worthless- and of course it can easily be 10X heavier and more expensive than a p/s.

In between the extremes, I tend to like superzooms for versatility. My current superzoom is a Lumix DMC-FZ200 bought for the fast telephoto reach of its Leica f 2.8 (at all focal lengths) lens. I own a drawer full of little, now obsolete Sony p/s cameras in metal bodies that I use for many purposes as well as current Nikon SLR gear for stuff that requires it.

I'd suggest that if you don't do photos for publications, that mostly you share stuff with friends over the web, do only periodic large prints and can tolerate something larger than a p/s but that is still light and don't do much low light/non-flash work, the superzoom category is where you should be looking- there are many possible choices other than mine in a wide range of prices.

A good place to read about selected models is dpreview.com. Anything they rate silver or gold- or highly in any category- in the past few years or use as a benchmark for comparison is good gear...
 
I went with the Olympus Tough TG-1. There are several choices in the Tough lineup. Shockproof, dustproof and waterproof. Fast F/2 lens and bult-in zoom. The zoom is all internal. Those superzooms can get out of whack somewhat easily. Perfect for handling the M/C vibrations issue. And very small, it fits in any jacket pocket, no need to store it in the saddlebag.
 
I'd suggest that unless you're careless, bike vibrations aren't an issue. I carry cameras in the tank bag with some sort of minimal case for dirt protection and have never had a problem. Wouldn't just throw an unprotected one in a side case any more than I'd do that with a computer.
Biggest hazard to any camera is a drop which can instantly kill a screen viewfinder or lens focus mechanism. As partial insurance I only carry stuff that also has a built in viewfinder so I'm not screen dependent for framing...
Except for the smallest p/s types, everything has a strap, also.
 
I have several small digital cameras and favor a JVC PIC510 over a Pentax and 2 Kodak's. The 510 is waterproof to 3m, uses a 32g SD card, and takes high quality stills and video with sound if desired. If you enlarge your photo's the more mega-pixels the better (at least 10).

RIDE SAFE
 
I never said to just carelessly throw it in a bike's bag. There's been stories of riders having their camera's body screws loosening just from vibrations. And people do drop cameras, especially with gloved hands interfering with your tactile sense of feel. Sure, your camera may be safe in your tank bag, but what happens when you take it out and drop it? That's why I chose what I chose.
 
Time for a new tankbag camera...after 4 years and many on the road/moving shots, the odds caught up with me the other day and I dropped my Olympus Tough on a rough backroad...not so tough at 50MPH:( Took me a while to locate the ejected battery and memory card...the door hinge snapped on impact.
The image quality was starting to degrade for whatever reason anyways.

Helen has a Panasonic Lumix after Voni suggested it, bit I don't think she will hand it over. Maybe another Tough as it was easy to operate for me while moving and was pretty rugged.
 
Last year I bought a Nikon S01 & love it.

Very small
Simple
No batteries has a charger
takes great pictures
$100 delivered

recommended by a professional photographer
 

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I had sticker shock yesterday looking at what's out there currently. Since I have the possibility of dropping it with my riding pics, want a pricepoint that will not have me freaking out IF it happens again. That weatherproof Lumix is close as is that Nikon.

Helen handed me an older Sony with a flip open/on feature for now...with a warning:laugh Her Lumix is hands off!
 
That Sony IS a nice camera, with lots of features, but I wouldn't spend $650 or thereabouts for a camera I bring on a motorcycle.

True enough, but Lowepro makes a nice, compact, padded, bag for it:

http://bagfinder.lowepro.com/lp/results

So carried in the tank bag, it's "double padded".

Actually, the Lumix is so light (158 g.) that I usually bring it along as well. I carry it in my jacket chest pocket, and don't even know it's there.
 
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