What's your back-up P&S camera ?

[cruiserlan2000]

just curious and would like to get people's opinion. to those who owned K10 or K100, what's your back-up P&S if ever you have one? i know that sometimes places you're going to dictates the kind of camera you're going to bring. if it's a friend's party i wouldn't imagine myself bringing my K100 with the 0-300 attached to it. but if the party's in a park then i will. do you always carry your dslr everywhere you go. just wondering........

thanks,
crusierlan2000

[foxglove]

I've got an Olympus Stylus 300 that I use for field work. It's small and water resistant (not waterproof, unfortunately) which makes it handy for taking quick snaps while doing stuff in streams. I'm pretty pleased with the quality, I've had one shot enlarged to 8x10 and it looks great. Sadly lacking in manual controls, however.

Julie

[Dana G]

DIGITAL CAMERAS

Main cameram- Pentax K10D

Backup camera - Pentax *st D

Car camera - Oympus E-20

Toy camera - small Olympus point and shoot 3.1 megapixels

FILM CAMERAS

Small format - Pentax MX with winder (2)

Medium Format - Mamaiya RB67

Large format - TOYO 45C

[kafreddy]

I have had lots of p&Ss'.

Coolpix990 - RIP - Dropped.

Canon a60 - RIP - Stollen / unknown. But some people I work with think I left it inside a 2 million gallon water storage tank.

Canon A530 - RIP - Dropped as part of "operation drop camera" to get a replacement gift card from a big box store that offer replacement / protection plans. Shhh dont tell anyone.

Canon S3is - Not dead yet. Good camera, super long lens, Image stabilization is very good, but the camera is really noisy on anything higher than 200 iso and its a little bit to big for the pocket on most slacks. Its on Eeekbay right now.
Item number: 260099037492

The Cooolpix was the best by far.

[foxglove]

Your dropped cameras reminded me - I've whacked the Oly Stylus on a rock twice, both times by forgetting I'd put the lanyard around my wrist and reaching out to steady myself. It survived both, with just a couple dents. I also seem to have squashed it at some point, which messed up the on/off switch. See this thread for the repairs, if you're interested in what a P&S looks like inside: Dismantling an Oly Stylus 300
It's one tough little camera. If it were made of flimsy plastic, it wouldn've have lasted two months in my hands. Or should that be out of my hands?

Julie

[bdphoto]

I have a Canon SD 700 IS.

Pocketable 6.1 MP with image stabilization, so it's a good companion to my K100D.
It's still pretty new, so I haven't banged it around yet, but I'm pretty happy with the image quality.

[WildSioux]

Before I had any D-SLR's I had a Canon Powershot A70. Then I got the Canon 20D and used the A70 as a backup until I sold it.

Now that I have the K10D, my fiance and I had a Canon Powershot A710 IS, but that was lost at a hockey game. I just ordered a Fuji F30 last night and that will be her camera to use and mine for when I don't want to haul around the K10D.

Suprisingly, the Powershot A70 took better photos than the A710. 3.2mp vs. 7mp = more noise.

[hanamai]

The only digital camera I owned before the K10D, was my Canon PowerShot A510, and I guess that is my back-up camera. It's been through a lot and helped me learn a lot about photography (of course, DSLRs are a completely new world!).

[WMBP]

Nobody here using a Pentax Optio (fixed-lens compact) camera? Are they no good?

Santa gave my daughter a little Nikon Coolpix L4 last Christmas. She doesn't seem too interested in it, so I'm thinking of asking her if I could "carry it around for her." ;-)

One of the things I like about the K10D over the K100D is that it's a bit less noisy, I guess because of it being so tightly sealed. But the shutter noise is still too noticeable when everything is very quiet, like during a church service.

Will

[Kami]

I've been using a Canon G3 for a few years as a back up. I love this camera but it is not small. Some features that I really like are
(1) hotshoe + 380 EX combo (2) RAW (3) fast f/2.0 lens

I've been on the hunt for something smaller and lighter. I'm currently trying out an Olympus SP-350. It has the hotshoe, RAW, and a slightly slower lens. Shot to shot times are slow though.

Right now there is a huge hole in the mid to upper end P&S marketplace. Canon tried to fill it with the G7 and Nikon is trying to do it with the P5000. Maybe Pentax can come through with the P&S aimed at the enthusiast who wants RAW, a hotshoe, the combination of a fast lens and SR, and low noise

[Finn]

I have an Optio S5i, which I love. It is small and has very good image quality for a P&S. In fact, it was one of the reasons I looked at Pentax when buying a DSLR. It hasn't seen much use in the past few months, but I doubt I'll sell it -- they're a dime a dozen on eBay right now. I keep it tucked away just in case I'm ever without my K100D...which is practically never...

[Mr. The Guy]

Originally Posted by cruiserlan2000

if it's a friend's party i wouldn't imagine myself bringing my K100 with the 0-300 attached to it

Buy one or more of the pancake lenses with a K1*0D or used DL* DS*. A used body with a DA40 shouldn't cost much more, or probably even less than a new, sub-par, disposable P&S. Then, get the next Pentax body which will be even smaller than any existing body and plop the DA40 on it.

[Teko]

I sold my Panasonic FZ-20 not too long ago, kind of miss it...

Sometimes I bring my gf's Canon A540, really great small camera...

[BrianK]

Main Camera is K10D
Backup when on longer trips is I*st
Pocket camera always on my belt is Canon A700
I also drop the Pentax Optio S4 in my bag once in a while as it is so small it is not noticed by people. It also captures very good audio in movie mode.

[palmor]

I have an old Sony DSC-S75 as my "pocket" cam. At the time it was pretty small and had great IQ but its a little big for a pocket cam these days.

I'd actually like something smaller for those times when your out with friends but everytime I think about it I realize I'd rather spend the money on lenses for my Pentax

John