[jeallen01]

My wife has a cheap Canon A1300 P&S (has a viewfinder, of sorts!) but needs something that meets the above criteria - and the panoramic auto-stitching function appears to be a critical factor because she sometimes uses her tablet to get shots because it has that function - so does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

John

PS: the weight issue is also critical because she is quite a small lady and the muscles are not too strong (and she is beginning to suffer from arthritis-type problems with her arms and back) - so about 300 grammes or so would probably be the maximum (my old K-r was a lot too heavy for her!).

[panoguy]

Pretty much anything that says "Sony" on it will meet these criteria. The RX100 series is your best bet for quite good image quality. Sony calls the pano-autostitch "sweep panorama."

[jimr-pdx]

I've used my Samsung NX300 to do such panoramas, it seems to do a good job. The nx3000 and other similar items can do it also. I'm not sure about the NX Mini but wouldn't be surprised if that's on it too; it uses 1" sensor instead of APSc so smaller in all dimensions.

Edit - yes the Mini can do it, but very few lenses for the mini compared to the NX. The 16 and 30mm NX primes are excellent lenses and very small.

[jeallen01]

Many thanks guys - that gives me some places to start (but unfortunately not Pentax-oriented!)

Regards

John

[6BQ5]

Would you be willing to consider a smartphone? It may be an expensive solution but it would meet all your technical requirements for size, weight, and functionality. My older iPhone 5 does a wonderful job creating in-camera panoramic sweeps.

[jeallen01]

Would you be willing to consider a smartphone? It may be an expensive solution but it would meet all your technical requirements for size, weight, and functionality. My older iPhone 5 does a wonderful job creating in-camera panoramic sweeps.

Possibly, but would not want to buy something with a half-eaten piece of fruit on it - literally, "once bitten, twice shy" as far as that brand is concerned!

Other problem is that she would also want something with a fairly long zoom capability - and the only answer with a smartphone would be one of those clip-on units, but not sure how many would work with an Android phone (worth looking into though as I don't want to tie us completely into a locked down OS, so even a Windows phone would probably be out).

OTOH, based on investigations expanding from one of the earlier responses, some version of a Sony NEX or A6000-type body might be possible, especially those with EVFs in addition to the rear screens as she finds a "real" viewfinder a help in bright sunshine - anyone know if any of those (or similar) have wide-range non-interchangeable zooms?