Which Digital Camera is in Your Pocket?

[Brian David Melnyk]

a s95, fresh out of the box, kindly brought by a colleague all the way to Mali from the US... with a dead pixel and a hot pixel on the sensor, and two dead pixels on the LCD.
great camera, but wow, this makes me soooo sad!!!

[Buba Kastorski]

two iPhones and Sony TX5 are always with me

[Dave Blackhurst]

FWIW, I snagged on the cheap a Sony WX10 (which strangely is already discontinued according to Sony...) with the latest sensor (16.2Mpixel), it's a good step up from the earlier Sonys, particularly for video in low light. Impressive little camera with full manual features. I'm planning on upgrading a couple other cameras to the equivalent TX and HX series with the same sensor, sufficiently impressed with what Sony squeezed out of these tiny chips/cams!

[Ervin Farkas]

I bought a Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS6 (12x optical Leica lens) for my wife for Christmas, hoping she will leave alone my oldie but goldie Sony F828. She did, but somehow nowadays the little Lumix ends up in my pocket more often than the 828 in my shoulder bag... Incidentally it shoots great 720P video even in suboptimal light, I love this little thing. The folks at Leica still know how to make a good lens... so Japanese cameras for me, but with German glass (the F828 has a Carl Zeiss lens).

[Dave Blackhurst]

It's increasingly difficult to justify dragging out a "big" camera unless there's pay involved. I'm still shocked by how good the Sony WX10 does (60i video, and quite good in low light). I'm still waiting for a deal on one of the latest TX (or HX) series Sonys for myself, while shooting with a TX9... if one doesn't come up soon, I may have to try to snag another WX10!

Considering that these latest P&S cameras from Sony do 60i (and a couple do 60p!), and will also shoot dual mode (you can squeeze off a still at decent rez while shooting video), they are coming darn close to the capabilities of a video camera. and I'd venture would beat something along the line of the sony "7" series cameras from just a couple years back in both image quality and overall performance! Smaller, convenient, and amazingly high quality for both stills and video... scary stuff, especially considering the price points!

[Dylan Couper]

I'm toying with an NEX5 as my new "pocket" (ok, coat pocket) camera for when I need something more than the S95, but don't want to lug a DSLR.

Damn we're getting spoiled with options. :)

[Wayne Reimer]

don't "toy", BUY!!!

I absolutely love my NEX...tremendous image quality, low light performance and REALLY good video. my DSLR's seldom see the light of day any more

[Dylan Couper]

I'll tell ya, the only thing really holding me back at this point (and just barely) is I've got to buy another Canon 5D mkII. Otherwise... yeah.
My only complaint about it is the 16mm pancake lens though. Love the pancake, hate 16mm. 24mm equiv cropped is just a bit too wide, it's not particularily fast, A 35 f2.0 equiv would make this thing a weapon.

[Peer Landa]

Originally Posted by Les Wilson

Canon S95 .... A favorite these days among the Photographer crowd. I've used it's 720p24 as a B-cam in a pinch when I didn't need more than 12 minutes worth.

Is it possible to manually focus during video recoding with the S95, or do you have to set the manual focus prior to recording starts? Also, what functions can be assigned to the lens ring -- manual focus..?

My ex just killed her Canon SD4000IS that she had a love/hate relationship with -- nice HD lowlight videos but constantly went focus hunting on her. So I wonder if the S95 would be better in that regard (i.e., to be able to manually focus while she's shooting).

-- peer

[Paul Owens]

iPhone 4. Always have my phone on me. So long as you don't use the Zoom it takes a great picture.

[C.S. Michael]

I recently picked up a Sony NEX-3 and love it. APS-C sensor with interchangeable lenses, yet small & light as a feather. I have the 16mm & 18-55 lenses, but the 16mm is used most of the time. Looking forward to more E-mount lenses...

[Jordan Nash]

Motorola Droid X.

8MP camera with GPS and Internet upload capability. Also has a web browser aboard in case I get bored while taking pictures. The pictures aren't DSLR level amazing, but it's in my pocket when I need it.

[Chris Hurd]

The Canon Powershot S95, mentioned several times in this thread, will be revved to the S100 in November:

Canon USA Announces PowerShot S100 with Digic 5, GPS at DVInfo.net

[Dylan Couper]

Just jumped on the B&H notify list for that. Still in love with the S95 but S100 sounds great.

[Colin Rowe]

Sony HX9, great stills, awesome 1080/50p video