http://www.photo.net/philg/digiphotos/200311-mexico-city/ contains some snapshots from the recent trip to Mexico City. I’m trying to travel light these days, which means no laptop and no camera. For this trip I borrowed a Casio Exilim EX-Z3, a truly tiny 3 MP camera. As you can see the results are fairly dismal. I attribute the poor results to the lack of a decent viewfinder in point and shoot cameras. You can’t see what you’re photographing. The little viewfinder window is tiny on the Casio and highly inaccurate. You don’t know whether or not the camera has focussed properly. Plus of course there are a lot of weird modes in which you can get the camera.
On the plus side the Casio is only about the size of a Palm organizer and barely heavier so you truly can take it with you everywhere. I don’t think I’ll buy one, though. The smallest Canons are larger but seem less compromised as photographic machines.
The photos seem OK to me. They’re certainly better than the usual bunch of crappy, out-of-focus snapshots that I end up with after a trip.
Incidentally, what’s with the new habit of leaving necessities at home (laptop and camera)? This seems quite out of character.
Are you going to continue the around-the-world trip?
I am using a Pentax S which is of the same size as the Casio (Casio uses the same Pentax lens). For the most part, I am OK with the quality for travel, family moments, documentation, etc. Have a look at a few photos that I posted recently using Pentax S.
http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=344719
No laptop, no camera, sounds fine in places like New York, Mexico City, Paris, Florence … it’ll be interesting to see how this keeps working out as your trip progresses. And by “it’ll be interesting”, I’m not trying to imply disaster, I’m honestly curious. I’ve only been to urban areas of the First and Second World, and rural areas of the First World, myself.
I would look at either Canon S400 or S50. 400 is smaller, but S50 is sensational. I have the S40, but just got the 50 for a friend. Not that much bigger, and great optics and results.
Buzz
Thanks for the Pics! Brings back memories. I hope your Mexican vacation was as delightful as mine.
hi philip:
Those pics look pretty good to me for a p&s camera. Have those pics being edited/manipulated besides their sizes, or they come straight from the camera?
The photos are straight from the camera. I don’t have time to edit photos! If you click on the thumbnails and then click on the “original file from camera” you can get the full 3 MP resolution file from the SD card.
AK: I’m not 100% sure whether I’ll do a round-the-world trip this winter/spring. I might simply fly down to South America two or three times. No jet lag. Convenient connections on American Airlines (through MIA). The language issue looms large, though. When I’m traveling solo I prefer to be in a place where I can talk to the locals easily (I can survive in French, Italian, German, or Spanish, but not hold a serious conversation).
Buzz, I totally agree I just got the S50 and the pictures… unbelievable!
Phil,
Have been thinking about the Exilim since they are truly tiny & also they seem to be the most responsive digitalcams out there (shutter lag is a deal killer when taking snaps of people). Your pics look fine–you may have sold a few of these cameras with your anti-Exilim post.
Was there an SD card? I thought that was a limitation on the Casios.
For real pics, emulsion still rules, of course.
The total gadgeteer should probably buy one of the mini Clies with the laptop form factor …which include a camera at least as shitty as the Exilim…hey, what is it, the camera for Exiles?
I want a Diasporim!
I have the original 2MP Exilim. It’s awesome! Definitely the smallest camera I’ve seen (and it’s flat, which is more pocket-compatible than the chunky candybar cameras like the Sony U series). Amazingly quick picture taking — about a second instead of the 6 seconds I was used to on my previous camera, the S200. It does use SD — I have a 256MB card in mine.
I have a little more info about the camera on my site at http://www.str8bloggin.com/ Also you can see some more totally unprofessional photos I took with it. (I’m not really interested in picture quality per se; as long as the subject of the photo is somewhat visible I’m a happy camper. I’ve gotten so many good shots that I wouldn’t have gotten without such a small camera due to it being bulky to carry around.)
Have you truely given up bringing a camera with you on trips? It sounds like the “camera” you brought would not really qualify and this is from the man who started photo.net. Is it old age or have you finally decided that the burden of being a photographer and carrying lots of heavy camera gear is not worth the title any more. Say it isn’t so…
No camera? Amazing! I was always thinking myself a wimp that I was travelling the world with only a P&S while you were “feeling the burn” with the big hardware and getting the pictures to prove it. I agree with Chris – is this a trend or a blip?