I left compact cameras after 2MP Olympus C-2100UZ and never really looked back. The optics in this camera segment was just too bad. I only saw it when I got my first 50/1.8
I'm glad I have the photos though. Some photos are way better than none.
Call me a nutcase but I definitely wouldn't mind to have a good P&S to keep on hand at all times (and I don't mean one of those big-sensor, fixed-lens ones like Ricoh GR4 or Nikon Coolpix A... or Leica Q **snicker**). The phone doesn't really cut it for most cases, and I don't want to buy a new one while this one is still working, but there are times I want to photograph something that isn't at point blank range and in super awesome light (and even then, the phone pics are not always looking good). There were some good middle-of-the-road options like the Panasonic LX100 Mark II or Sony RX100 series, but I guess with today's fad, the price for those on the used market has gone through the roof as well...
Maybe I should just stop being lazy, and carry the Z9 + 16-50mm lens in a shoulder bag at all times, but oftentimes I just can't make myself do it.
Maybe a nice digital version of the Olympus XA-2 would be useful pocketable EDC.
I am however kinda used to larger or brighter zooms, and usually I carry EF-S 18-135 IS USM in my bag. With SL1 and SL2 first, later with R50 and now R10. That's summer. During winter, I carry EF-S 17-55/2.8 IS USM. About same size, far shorter, but far brighter.
They generally go for those cameras (film and early digital) that were above average. The later Canon G cameras were surprisingly nice with sensors beyond their time.
Likewise, it’s the film P&S with the Contax/Zeiss lenses and the Olympus ones that go for above-average prices.
artsupreme wrote:
If it's me trying to detach and "go analog", then I'm using something like the Olympus below and shooting film. Or, even a polaroid would work, but definitely not an old P&S. I have several old P&S my drawer, I should probably pull them out and sell them while they are worth something:
I actually used that camera for a while, during a phase when I had moved away from carrying “serious” film gear into the backcountry in the 1990s and before I moved to digital. It was as close to a truly “pocketable” camera as any I have owned — though you’d still need a pretty deep pocket for it. (On trail, I carried mine in a “belt pocket” attached to my backpack’s waist belt.)
I suspect that the fascination with older, less capable P&S gear will be a phase and a relatively brief one, as most “of the moment” things are. For a while it was old 35mm film gear – largely because “kids” (including a couple of mine) could pick it up for cheap in thrift stores.
The idea of small, simple cameras never really quite went away. When I pay attention to what cameras I see in the wild, they include the what we might expect, though the mix is often not what you might expect. I see people using P&S gear (usually digital) even as smartphones became ubiquitous, older low-end DSLR gear, and a much smaller percentage using the stuff that is typically the subject of discussion in these threads.
Nostalgia is a funny thing, our perception changes and often times becomes distorted. I never bought a P&S film camera but later bought a couple Canon G Series and loved them, especially when on vacations. Now, if I'm out and have something that I want to shoot I'll carry a DSLR or just use my cellphone as their features have made them more appealing to me. Younger generations find film or these P&S cameras fascinating or just a novelty.
Personally I've long felt that social media is like a sickness. And based on all the most recent activities it's fostered that has been proven out. Like it or not it's a bit like a virus. I'd applaud any younger person that eschews it.
Someone had a Canon p&s several years ago, might have been one of the older ones mentioned. About the size of a deck of cards or something, 24-600 equivalent optical zoom! Looked pretty cool.
Your Canonet is >$350 in ex at keh, I have an old one I need to sell
I have 2 P& S cameras and love them both. A Canon G5X and a Ricoh GRIIIx. What I love about my Canon is that it has a hotshoe (important to me), the OVF is fantastic and the zoom provides very usable focal lengths.
I want to do some comparative shots at 40 mm with both cameras and if the Canon image quality is close to the Ricoh I might just sell the Ricoh even though it is a very nice camera.
Sorry folks but you just can't beat a good OVF.
I use my point and shoots way more than my canon 5D4/35mm/2.0 combo because it ain't all about IQ..
And I rarely use my phone camera. Only if I have to..
A lot of video games, hope so but I doubt kids are getting off technology. MySpace is apparently around (?!?), fb hasn't been popular for years with the young crowd I suspect, not sure if Snapchat is still popular, ig probably is, TikTok is
AmbientMike wrote:
Someone had a Canon p&s several years ago, might have been one of the older ones mentioned. About the size of a deck of cards or something, 24-600 equivalent optical zoom! Looked pretty cool.
Your Canonet is >$350 in ex at keh, I have an old one I need to sell
Thanks for the keh value, greatly appreciated I would be willing to sell my camera to a forum member for $275 shipped. The last one sold here for $300, a few months ago.
Jim
IlyaSnopchenko wrote:
Call me a nutcase but I definitely wouldn't mind to have a good P&S to keep on hand at all times (and I don't mean one of those big-sensor, fixed-lens ones like Ricoh GR4 or Nikon Coolpix A... or Leica Q **snicker**). The phone doesn't really cut it for most cases, and I don't want to buy a new one while this one is still working, but there are times I want to photograph something that isn't at point blank range and in super awesome light (and even then, the phone pics are not always looking good). There were some good middle-of-the-road options like the Panasonic LX100 Mark II or Sony RX100 series, but I guess with today's fad, the price for those on the used market has gone through the roof as well...
Maybe I should just stop being lazy, and carry the Z9 + 16-50mm lens in a shoulder bag at all times, but oftentimes I just can't make myself do it....Show more →
The Panasonic LX100 is amazing but let down by dreadful QC. My lens has jammed twice and twice I’ve paid to have it repaired. It jammed again!! So it sits loved but unused.
It’s crazy how much these compacts are yet so unreliable- that’s before we start on dust getting sucked onto the sensor.
The irony is it’s always the top end of the P&S that are most flawed. The cheaper lower end all plastic jobbies are usually as tough as old boots, often getting dropped, shoved in pockets, drinks spilt on them etc etc yet they just carry on. The premium line are simply all fur coat and no knickers in my view.
Well, for years I've kept a older digital P&S in hand. I ride bikes pretty much daily and carry it with me on my rides for two main reasons. One I don't see the need to keep constantly upgrading my cellphone so I'm still on a Galaxy S7. Not hard to beat the picture quality of that phone, !. And two, because I ride in a rural areal with lots of wildlife I want reach that I can't get reasonable with a cellphone. For years I carried a Canon G9X MKII even though the reach was lacking a lot of the time. When the lens shroud on the retractable lens got messed up I replaced it with a NOS Nikon S7000 with it's superzoom IQ isn't as good but it gives me a lot of telephoto capability I wouldn't otherwise have.
jamesdak wrote:
Well, for years I've kept a older digital P&S in hand. I ride bikes pretty much daily and carry it with me on my rides for two main reasons. One I don't see the need to keep constantly upgrading my cellphone so I'm still on a Galaxy S7. Not hard to beat the picture quality of that phone, !. And two, because I ride in a rural areal with lots of wildlife I want reach that I can't get reasonable with a cellphone. For years I carried a Canon G9X MKII even though the reach was lacking a lot of the time. When the lens shroud on the retractable lens got messed up I replaced it with a NOS Nikon S7000 with it's superzoom IQ isn't as good but it gives me a lot of telephoto capability I wouldn't otherwise have. ...Show more →
You.ight take a look at the 360 mentioned earlier in the thread. I think someone had the earlier version several years ago, or similar. 600mm ff equivalent about the size of a pack of cigarettes
As a parent of teens, I think there a few reasons these are getting popular and rising in price:
1) When every photo has that same sharp, bright phone look, having something from a "retro" camera sets you apart
2) Film is kind of getting out of reach for most teens. Can be $25=30 a roll by the time you do film+develop+scan. So this is an accessible way to have "old" photos. And honestly, this look is from a time when their parents were younger, so it might as well be a film look to them.
3)The supply dried up so all the demand is for used cameras right now. Everyone stopped making cameras in this category. And for a while you couldn't give these away, so a lot got junked. Not as much supply as you'd think.
4)Fatigue from AI and fake edits. People just want something that takes unprocessed photos.
5)Crummy built-in flash look. Phones can't do it as they don't have real flash. It makes your pictures look like they are from 20-40 years ago. It's a "vibe".
tkbslc wrote:
As a parent of teens, I think there a few reasons these are getting popular and rising in price:
1) When every photo has that same sharp, bright phone look, having something from a "retro" camera sets you apart
2) Film is kind of getting out of reach for most teens. Can be $25=30 a roll by the time you do film+develop+scan. So this is an accessible way to have "old" photos. And honestly, this look is from a time when their parents were younger, so it might as well be a film look to them.
3)The supply dried up so all the demand is for used cameras right now. Everyone stopped making cameras in this category. And for a while you couldn't give these away, so a lot got junked. Not as much supply as you'd think.
4)Fatigue from AI and fake edits. People just want something that takes unprocessed photos.
5)Crummy built-in flash look. Phones can't do it as they don't have real flash. It makes your pictures look like they are from 20-40 years ago. It's a "vibe".
My oldest is 14. She doesn't have social media accounts, but she's plugged in enough to know what's trending. She likes taking pictures with my R6 set to square crop + 50/1.8 wide open + 580EXII aimed straight at the subject. I cringe because I've spent almost 20 years on photography forums reading "get that flash off the camera", but hey, it makes her happy. They're aesthetic, as she'd say.
Mike_5D wrote:
My oldest is 14. She doesn't have social media accounts, but she's plugged in enough to know what's trending. She likes taking pictures with my R6 set to square crop + 50/1.8 wide open + 580EXII aimed straight at the subject. I cringe because I've spent almost 20 years on photography forums reading "get that flash off the camera", but hey, it makes her happy. They're aesthetic, as she'd say.
That “flash gun” style is a thing among a certain kind of photographers and has been for a while. (I kind of think of it as the Weegee look. Look up “weegee” if you don’t know about it.) It suggests old press photography, sort of quickly grabbing a moment.
I get where you are coming from though. While I find some of that work fascinating, it isn’t the way I like to shoot!
I would be willing to sell my camera to a forum member for $275 shipped. The last one sold here for $300, a few months ago. 
