Best P&S under $300?

First off - I hope that I'm in the correct newsgroup for this question: I'm in
the market for a 35mm point and shoot camera. I can't spend much more than
$300. Most of my photos are of family, friends, etc - just your regular stuff.
I've been using a cheap APS camera the past few years and have gotten really
bored with the poor quality of the photos. I've done some research in the
internet and an leaning toward the Yashica T3, the Leica C2 and the Rollei
Prego. Anyone have any experience with these or other cameras that fit my
budget? Thanks in advance for your help.

First off - I hope that I'm in the correct newsgroup for this question: I'm
in
the market for a 35mm point and shoot camera. I can't spend much more than
$300. Most of my photos are of family, friends, etc - just your regular
stuff.
I've been using a cheap APS camera the past few years and have gotten really
bored with the poor quality of the photos. I've done some research in the
internet and an leaning toward the Yashica T3, the Leica C2 and the Rollei
Prego. Anyone have any experience with these or other cameras that fit my
budget? Thanks in advance for your help.


I guess you are in the right newsgroup if you got bored with APS, and digital
within that budget won't be any better. So yes, you want a good 35mm P&S is
quality is a concern.

I collect P&S, though i tend to like the ones that allow manual control. I'm
not sure if that'd be useful for you, though depth of field is often useful for
portraits. But if you're just doing "the regular stuff" of family and friends
it sounds like you want one with almost complete automation and built in flash.


Consider the following
- olympus stylus epic; it well within budget, sharp fast lens (35mm:f2.8),
compact clamshell design, weatherproof, very simple to use. I personally prefer
it to the Yashica.
- Fuji date zoom f2.8. Zoom from 24 to 50. Very fast lens of f2.8 at 24mm in a
compact; that lens will include more people than any other compact. Extremely
nice features for self-snaps, such as two shutter release buttons, a self-snap
mirror, a self-snap led, a timer, and a remote control that comes with the
camera; this is the camera especially if you wanna include yourself in the
picutre. It won EISA and TIPA awards, only comments i heard were about the
build quality in that its vulnerable to scratches, but i found its build
quality better than the olympus sylus epic which got scratches on now after
only one roll.
- rollei prego 30. I own one (i own the above two too) but i haven't used it
yet. Small, Popular Photography seem to like it. Hard to find. I bought it just
'cos it was hard to find and thought i'd later think whether i'd want to keep
it or not. You may be able to find it on ebay if you're patient.

Or you can go digital. I think $300 will get you a 5 megapixel compact. It may
be enough for your needs.

(Egrfx63) wrote in
:

First off - I hope that I'm in the correct newsgroup for this
question: I'm in the market for a 35mm point and shoot camera. I can't
spend much more than $300. Most of my photos are of family, friends,
etc - just your regular stuff. I've been using a cheap APS camera the
past few years and have gotten really bored with the poor quality of
the photos. I've done some research in the internet and an leaning
toward the Yashica T3, the Leica C2 and the Rollei Prego. Anyone have
any experience with these or other cameras that fit my budget? Thanks
in advance for your help.

The Leica entry level P&S models are really overpriced for what they are.
Since you are looking for a good value, I would stay away from the Leicas
in that price range. Look at the Olympus Stylus Epic under $100, and you
can probably find the Rollei AFM 35 for about that price or slightly more.

--

"Live fast. Die young." (Nikki Sixx)
-Richard Cockburn

Thanks for the suggestions. I will look into them immediately. I want to stay
with film since I'm looking for sharpness and contrast improvement over my
lousy APC. Also, I prefer photos over computer downloads and printing to photo
paper. Please keep the suggestions coming though. Thanks again!

Richard Cockburn wrote in
. 1.4:

Look at the Olympus Stylus Epic under $100, and you
can probably find the Rollei AFM 35 for about that price or slightly
more.

Clarification: I meant that you can find the Rollei AFM 35 for about the
high end of your price range ($300) or slightly more, not priced at under
$100 like the Olympus. The Olympus does a nice job, but has no manual
settings except a spot meter. The Rollei gives you an aperture priority
mode which is VERY helpful.

--
"Live fast. Die young." (Nikki Sixx)

-Richard Cockburn

From: (Egrfx63)
...
First off - I hope that I'm in the correct newsgroup for this question: I'm in
the market for a 35mm point and shoot camera. I can't spend much more than
$300. Most of my photos are of family, friends, etc - just your regular stuff.
I've been using a cheap APS camera the past few years and have gotten really
bored with the poor quality of the photos. I've done some research in the
internet and an leaning toward the Yashica T3, the Leica C2 and the Rollei
Prego. Anyone have any experience with these or other cameras that fit my
budget? Thanks in advance for your help.

I own and recommend the Yashica T4 Zoom, which is now well under $200.
It has a deadly-sharp 28-70mm Zeiss lens, and a typical assortment of
P&S features and foibles. I bought it for my wife, and it functions
well in those untrained hands. In my initial testing, it succeeded
under various conditions, delivering correct focus and exposure.

Due to the slow lens, it does prefer a faster film.

--------

(Rico Tudor) wrote:

I own and recommend the Yashica T4 Zoom, which is now well under $200.
It has a deadly-sharp 28-70mm Zeiss lens, and a typical assortment of
P&S features and foibles. I bought it for my wife, and it functions
well in those untrained hands. In my initial testing, it succeeded
under various conditions, delivering correct focus and exposure.

Due to the slow lens, it does prefer a faster film.


Not only is the lens slow, but it is unsharp at the edges, suffers
from severe vignetting and exhibits significant distortion.

At this price, you cannot expect much of a zoom lens, and putting the
Carl Zeiss name on it doesn't make it any better optically, except to
those who are impressed by brand names,

rico - thanks for the reply. i was actually leaning toward the yashica t4
because of what i have been hearing about the lens. do you have any suggestions
for a p&s for under $300us?

rico - thanks for the reply. i was actually leaning toward the yashica t4
because of what i have been hearing about the lens. do you have any
suggestions
for a p&s for under $300us?

At the risk of intruding uninvited, I don't have a good impression of the lens
on a yashica T4 or a T4 super. Eventhough it's a Carl Zeiss lens there are too
many reports of it not being that good.

This is just one of them
http://arch.ced.berkeley.edu/kap/dis...s/00000ee8.htm

There are many i've encountered. I generally have the impression that the
olympus mju-ii is a better choice for a totally automatic P&S. It's smaller,
weather proof, and i have seen many pictures taken with a mju-ii (stylus epic)
that impressed me. I am yet to see a yashica t4/t5 image that i like.

http://www.pbase.com/cameras/yashica/t4

There you go, you can't blame the "photographer" with an automatic P&S.

Add to this that due to it's (IMHO) overhyped reputation and discontinued
status, and it'll be harder to find at a reasonable price. By reasonable i mean
not inflated for what you get out of it.

I mean, sure, it's okay if you can find it like new for a $100 (max i would pay
for it), but you won't.

Same I would say for the Leica P&S Zooms. By that i mean C1, C2 and C3, and
also that Zsomething. I am yet to see an image taken with those that i like,
they look like totally ordinary P&S results. The leica minilux on the other
hand is superb, but it's quite pricey and somewhat heavy.

If you want outstanding images at an affordable price, consider a Minox 35 GT-E
or GT-S, from eBay. I have both and totally love them. Earlier Minox 35s are
reported to suffer from poor electronics, but the GT-E and GT-S seem fine.
Check out the gallery in this site...

http://www.minoxography.org/

There's one main reason you may worry about purchasing a minox, and that is the
"guess-o-matic" focusing. In theory it is intimidating, in reality it's not
that much of a problem because it doesn't have to be that accurate and the
depth of field especially at 8 and up will cover you. It seems many associate a
minox with landscape and candid photography, but portraits are quite possible,
and i'd say are very rewarding. There are a few portraits on this site that are
quite beautiful.

http://www.minoxography.org/gallery/tim/index.html
http://www.minoxography.org/gallery/pawel/index.html

It's true though that this is more of a photographer's camera, but it's not
really that hard to use, and you could quite possible take some portraits that
you'll dearly treasure. The aperture control which enables you to decide the
depth of field, as someone had already commented, can be VERY helpful for
portraits.

Come to think of it, if you want to spend your $300, why not get a mju-ii (can
be found for $80 new or like new on ebay) and a Minox GT-E or GT-S ($200 could
get you one in like new condition from ebay). This way you'd have best of both.
Use the mju-ii for spontaneous carefree shots, and use the minox for more
considered portraits.

(Sabineellen) wrote:

At the risk of intruding uninvited, I don't have a good impression of the lens
on a yashica T4 or a T4 super. Eventhough it's a Carl Zeiss lens there are too
many reports of it not being that good.

snip

There are many i've encountered. I generally have the impression that the
olympus mju-ii is a better choice for a totally automatic P&S. It's smaller,
weather proof, and i have seen many pictures taken with a mju-ii (stylus epic)
that impressed me. I am yet to see a yashica t4/t5 image that i like.


That's partly due to the customer profile.

People who buy p+s cameras with "Carl Zeiss" lenses are smug and
self-satisfied because they "know" that the brand name will do the job
for them. They don't have to make any effort because "Carl" will
bring home the pictures for them. Then he doesn't!

People who buy the Olympus mju-II (Stylus Epic) have no such
pretensions or unrealistic expectations. They merely get on with the
job of framing and shooting, and produce some great results.

The Carl Zeiss brand worship extends into the digital world where
people buy junk Sony digicams because they have "Carl Zeiss" lenses.
Yet, in every honest comparative evaluation, Sony digicams fall far
short of other brands that lack the "cachet" of a "Carl Zeiss" lens.