[Tom in Delaware]

Minolta Hi-Matic AF2. This is a bombproof P&S with the original Honeywell infrared autofocus system. This early model has manual film transport. The 35mm lens is very sharp. There were several other similar cameras from other manufacturers built around the same Honeywell autofocus system and lens.

[gofour3]

I guy I used to work with gave me his old Pentax Espio 150SL last week as he knows I collect Pentax gear. I have not used it yet but had seen pictures he took with it and they’re very good.

Phil.

[Paleo Pete]

I used a Kodak Star 35 for a while, couple of different models, that did fairly well, and a Pentax IQ zoom that was very good. Can't remember the model #, and it's packed away in a box right now, needs batteries before I can finish up the partial roll of film in it. I found oiuyt when I pulled it out and was going to shoot up the last of the roll...been stored for a while and batteries are gone. I got a couple of rolls developed, it did a good job.

The other instamatics I used were all 110 film. One was a Keystone, with a telephoto flip switch, did well enough I got a print of two friends in a band that I blew up to 8x10 and gave them for Christmas presents. That's a film frame half the size of a postage stamp, and good enough for a nice 8x10. Pretty impressive...

All the other instamatics I've sued were pretty much crap...kodak Brownies, 126 instamatics, I've had a dozen of them, t

[ivanvernon]

In film, I always enjoyed my Olympus Stylus, good shots, very convenient, good to keep from dragging around my Canon F-1 which weighed a ton (actually it still weighs a ton, but I do not use it any more). Image quality was great with the fixed zoom lens. The zoom lens let you get most of the shots you wanted without doing my Pentax prime lens dance -- backup and sight, backup and sight, backup and uh-oh, at the edge of the room . . . take off the 77 mm and put on the 50mm.

In digital, I still have and enjoy a Canon G-12. It is still, I guess, classified as a point-and-shoot if you put the controls on Green Mode and just shoot away. The G-12 also has all the regular shooting modes of an SLR, plus a nice reticulating viewing screen along with a hot shoe to get a little extra light on the subject. You cannot exactly put it in your pocket, unless maybe you are coming out of the cold in a greatcoat. Shooting convenience is treat with the G-12, and image quality is generally quite acceptable so long as you don't start comparing shooting results to those from your K-5 with the 77 mm limited lens. The G-12 is a great party camera for crowded rooms where you are trying to get a wide variety of different shots and cannot more around too freely because of the crowds, and of course for these kinds of event image quality is not the number one priority (assuming you are not the hired photographer!).

[Steve Beswick]

I want to cast my vote for the XA, but I don’t feel right doing so, as it isn’t really a point and shoot. It’s just the size of one.

[nickthetasmaniac]

That's pretty sick. Man they just don't make 'em like they used to. One of these days, someone is going to put a full frame sensor on a digital point-and-shoot, and attach a leica-quality 35mm lens. Then some engineers will build in a JPEG processing engine that bumps the contrast and saturation and we'll be...

...Right back where we were in 1981.

Always fun seeing predictions in old threads that came true (RX1)

[Steve Beswick]

My apologies to the forum: somehow this thread was suggested to me, and I posted on it, not realizing that it is over 6 years old. Yikes!

[ChrisPlatt]

I want to cast my vote for the XA, but I don’t feel right doing so, as it isn’t really a point and shoot. It’s just the size of one.

XA2 and XA3 are less fussy; more point & shoot-like. Nice and pocketable, too!

Chris

[nparsons13]

Well, rats! I was going to vote for the XA2 as well, but mine stopped working. I took the top and bottom off to clean the shutter button contacts, and when I put it back together I got the rewind/self-timer switch crossed up, so it still doesn't work. But when it was working it was a great little camera, easy to carry and fun to shoot.

[ivanvernon]

I like my little Canon G-12.

[ChrisPlatt]

The XA series are great pocket cameras, but they're not well-sealed against pocket lint.
Since I always carry one or something similar I try to keep mine in a form-fitting pouch.

My Minox 35ML has a slim leather two-piece eveready case.
It is fairly common and fits many other Minox 35 models.

I use my pocket 35 cameras far more often than my Pentax and other larger cameras.
"The camera you have with you..."

Chris

[TwoUptons]

When they were new, I thought the IQZoom 928 was a great package, unusual for its zoom range.

Now that film is for playing with, I’ll have to throw in with the XA. It will hyperfocal with the best of them.

That said, I’ve bought three Pentax AF35s, and they’ve all been broken...

But really, I have more fun with cameras a little more manual... my Petris or the Fed... My wife has a Minolta 7 that does great things, too...

-Eric

[Russell W. Barnes]

I have had since new around 1993, a Leica Mini II which I still use. It has flash and auto-focus and self-timer and a Leica Elmar 35mm f3.5 lens and the only fault I can find is that some images are subject to mild vignetting. I tend to keep it in the car glove-box, as it never pays to be without a camera! I was also given, recently, an immaculate 1st-generation Olympus Trip, complete with leather case. It's a lovely, solid little camera and works a treat.

I always hankered after a Minox, but I never got one.

[abruzzi]

I must admit to being slightly baffled by the popularity of compact film point-and-shoot cameras. Reading blogs like 35mmc and similar, there seems to be an obsession to many of these that drives them to some crazy prices. I currently own an Olympus XA and a Pentax IQZoom 70XL. The XA, I can wrap my brain around since I set aperture, and the viewfinder shows me shutter speed and focus. The Pentax is just pray that it focused and on the right thing. No indication of exposure. It just feels so detached from the process. My XA I bought for $50 and the Pentax for $15, mostly as an experiment, but if I want something pocketable I’d much prefer something like my Kodak Retina IIIC. I feel in control of the picture taking with that. Are these crazy priced Contax and Yashica point and shoots a similar experience to what I’m getting with the Pentax IQZoom, or do they give you some feedback?

[ryanM]

I just found my Olympus Stylus Epic with a 35mm f2.8 lens in the closet the other day...I haven't seen that camera in years and it even had film in it. I put a new battery in and fired off the remaining film and the camera works like new.


I always liked using that camera and took it all over the place, got several rolls from my honeymoon and various vacations that are real treasures. It really works well and is easy to one hand itself and the pictures I get from it are really quite nice. Apparently they command high prices now which has me thinking I should sell it on ebay since I have other stuff to buy and the phone has taken over my point and shoot selfie/fixed focal length photography.