As a reasonably serious amateur photographer I often get asked "what camera should I get". Its such an open question that its impossible to answer and I usually respond with "How much do you want to spend", followed by "What do you want to do with it."
It seems these days that Smartphones are being sold on the basis of what wonderful cameras they have - debatable. Certainly convenient but to get what I consider a reasonable image you need to spend a lot more than a good dedicated camera. Of course there is more that a Smartphone can do. I believe you can actually make phone calls to speak to someone!
So I offer no real advice but just a few considerations:-
1. I find cameras with only a rear LCD to frame the shot hard to use compared to a real viewfinder - especially in bright light. So if possible find one with a dedicated viewfinder.
2. How big/small are your hands? I have large hands and have tried some cameras that are difficult to use. So if possible try before you buy.
3. How much control do you want over your camera? Most have a myriad of functions of which most casual users never bother to use. If you put it on the Auto function that's fine but if you need more control how easy is it to select different functions. Nothing worse than fiddling about trying to find the right setting only to find the moment has gone.
4. Once you've taken the shots how much work are you prepared to put into organising and processing the images? This question is prompted by the reference to in built GPS functions.
There are too many cameras on the market to be sure about whether or not GPS is in built. A quick search does seem to suggest that the GPS function is now passed to a Smartphone and you need to connect the camera to that. Having it in built will embed the coordinates directly into the image but you'll still need to externally reverse geocode them - i.e find out the location on a map for instance.
If some of the online photo storage sites do this and you're comfortable with sharing the images with the likes of Google, Apple or Microsoft then that's fine. Otherwise you'll have to do this your self and there are programs that can do this. It means sitting in front a a screen for some time to do it though - something I don't have a problem with.
For years I carried a seperate GPS tracker just for this function. It just recorded the track log and I merged the track log with the image files later. These days you can get a track log with a Smartphone.
Now though I have a dSLR with inbuilt GPS. It's not overly harsh on battery usage but then the advice I would give, regardless of GPS, is always to carry spare batteries. Usually I only turn on the GPS in certain circumstances.
My dSLR does have in built Wifi but its painfully slow to use and set up that I seldom use it. If I need to connect to another device I tether it using a USB cable. My grandaughter has a dSLR with Bluetooth function - equally fiddly to use but then maybe newer cameras are better.
I use my Smartphone as a back up device. I connect my camera or card reader to it via a USB cable and download the images to the Smartphone.. I also use the Smartphone as an external monitor when connected to the camera. It mounts onto the hot shoe and means I can take low level shots without getting down on my hands and knees. Actually getting down is easy - the reverse not so.
So good luck with whatever you choose. Its good that these days buying on line means you can try before you commit and send it back if required.
Thanks for the thoughts Sam.
As I said, I already have a DSLR. But, good as they are. It is confined to a draw as I dont wish to transport it and keep swapping lenses.
I also have a Samsung compact which was praised when it came out, But it is a bit too big, really heavy and very very slow to come to life. But good pictures. Both cameras need putting on Ebay.
So what I am looking for is:
An improvement on my iPhone 10.
Small and light enough to fit in the pocket.
Quick to use.
Great picture quality.
Good movie ability.
Stabilisation.
WiFi
Bluetooth
GPS
I don't envisage using it to a great extent. So I do not want to pay a fortune. There are some amazing compacts for a lot of money. But I can’t justify that sort of outlay. That is for serious photographers, (But they should have a DSLR)!
Re GPS. Pictures I have taken over the past 10 years or so can be sorted completely automatically by a number of photo managing software packages and on cloud services. I know I can manually add coordinates, and possibly merge the data from a logger or a phone. But these are not tasks I want to do.
If anyone cares to examine any of the pictures I have posted, they will be able to see the coordinates in the metadata. (unless the forum software removes this). But it does not concern me, I would remove it if it did.
I am now of the conclusion that I cannot get what I want with regards to GPS. And the cameras that can do GPS via a smartphone are recent and too dear. It seems that manufactures by enlarge dropped it about 8 years ago, but are recently re-introducing it via the smartphone.
So, I feel I need to forget the idea, or go for the Sony RX100 (M4) @£251
To put that in context, a mark 5 is £559, Mark 6 £587, Mark 7 £770. (£1049 in Currys). And strangely, the mark 3 is £335. Making the mark 4 a decent buy.
John