The compact camera: a neglected genre 3 February 2022

 

All photos Canon Powershot G1X.3

The rise and rise of smartphones has swept the great majority of compact cameras out of the marketplace. For snapshooters a phone cam with its instant connectivity and ease of use is the best way to record life events.

But there are disadvantages.

Nobody can get a proper grip on one and none has a viewfinder so photography in sunlight involves a fair bit of guesswork.  They operate in fully automatic mode all the time. This is fine for most snapshooters but for the photographer who wants to take control over the capture process yet still wants to travel light a well designed compact has considerable appeal.

A compact can be a proper camera and a few of them actually are just that.

The number of compacts available for sale in Australia in the early part of 2022 has been adversely affected by falling sales and the computer chip and component worldwide shortage. Camera makers will presumably put what components they can get into their better selling models.

Let’s see what is available new.  For this exercise I will not consider models without a built in electronic viewfinder. My experience in sunny Australia is that these models are frequently unusable outdoors.  This removes the otherwise excellent Ricoh GR.3 and GR.3X from consideration.

There are also some “leftover” as-yet-unsold previous generation models scattered among the various vendors.

I have bought, owned and used most of the cameras listed below.

All of them can capture Raw images, another advantage of a real camera.

Canon

G5X.2  This uses the ubiquitous Sony 15.9mm sensor. It has good handling and good image quality in a very compact package. I rate this the best of the pop-up EVF models. Unfortunately that very same pop-up-pull-out-push-back-push-down EVF with no proper eyecup irritated me so much I sold this one on.

G1X.3  This is my current compact and my top recommendation of all the compacts in this list. It is a proper camera with most of the features of a mid range mirrorless interchangeable lens camera or DSLR.  The specs include a Canon APSC sensor, a proper EVF over the optical axis with a proper eyepiece and eyecup, fully articulated screen, small but decent handle, proper thumbrest, a decent set of controls and Canon dual pixel AF system which is very good.

Fujifilm

X100V   This is quintessential Fujifilm. Quirky, idiosyncratic and considered by some nice to look at. Some love it, some hate it. There is no middle ground. The thing is not quite finished either, well not by Fujifilm anyway. Not if you want a filter or a lens hood on the lens, or a handle or thumb rest. It makes good pictures with its APSC sensor overlaid by the Fuji X-Trans filter layer but  I found the  camera’s operational idiosyncrasies a constant distraction from the picture taking process.

Nikon

Nikon was never much good at compacts and now appears to have left this market sector altogether. Probably a sensible move for Nikon.

Leica

For the price of a decent used small car you can have your very own Leica Q2 in one of its pretentious styling manifestations.  This is one I have not bought, owned or used. Veblen goods are not really my thing. But on a practical level I do wonder about the eyepiece-without-a-proper-eyecup upper left on the back of the body. I have used plenty of cameras with this type of  EVF viewfinder setup and found they were all uncomfortable and all let in stray light to the detriment of usability.  There appears to be no option for an accessory eyecup either.

Panasonic Lumix

The Lumix sub brand still has a few compacts in the catalogue. Just to confuse potential buyers some of these cameras get a different name for each global region. I use the Australian market names.

Each of these four models has a fixed, always ready EVF which is nice. Not so nice is that those EVFs  are very small with an inadequate eyecup. I find myself squinting a lot with these EVFs in an often unsuccessful effort to get a clear view of the subject and exclude extraneous light.

TZ95  This one uses the very small 7.6mm sensor with too many pixels fronted by a  mediocre superzoom lens. It  looks good on paper but in practice is disappointing.

TZ110  This uses the 15.9mm sensor which should make for good image quality but the lens is not up to the quality of the sensor. The handle is slippery too. Disappointing.

TZ220  This one is like the TZ110 but with a greater zoom range which if anything tends to exacerbate the problems which are essentially the same as those of the TZ110.

LX100.2 (also sold as Leica D-Lux 7)  These models use a cropped 21.5mm micro four thirds sensor providing several different aspect ratios.  I used several of these including the Mk1 version over a period of several years but eventually gave up on this model. The main problems I found are inconsistent lens quality and  inconsistent autofocus accuracy. 

Sony

RX100 Mk 5a, 6, 7. The original Sony RX100 compact was a  groundbreaking device when it was released in 2012 using the Sony 15.9mm sensor. The original and subsequent updates  really did provide MILC/DSLR level image quality in an amazingly small body. But all the RX100 variants are so small they are difficult to hold and awkward to operate. I had two of them over the years but never really enjoyed the experience of using these cameras. Too much usability has been sacrificed on the altar of smallness.

My verdict

There is really only one camera here that I own, use and can recommend.  

That is the Canon G1X.3.  This model is not perfect but for my money it puts together the most convincing package of current compact camera offerings.

Alternatives

In principle a small MILC with a good quality collapsing kit lens should be a viable option for compact camera photography.

I notice several vendors include the Canon EOS M50.2 with the 15-45mm kit lens in their compact camera listings. Unfortunately the EF-M 15-45mm kit lens is subject to sample variation and even the best ones are not much good.

Another option might be one of the Sony A6xxx models with the Sony E 16-50mm PZ kit lens. Unfortunately the Sony E kit lens appears to have an even worse reputation than the Canon EF-M one if that is possible.

I had a  Nikon Z50 with the Z DX 16-50mm kit lens for a time. I find the camera and lens deliver very good image quality and the combination is effective for many types of photography. The lens is nice and sharp. I rate this a better option than either the Canon or Sony kits above.

I sold the Z50 for two reasons. First I am not confident about  Nikon’s commitment to the mirrorless DX system. Second, the sensor on the Z50 attracts dust like I have never seen before, requiring frequent wet cleaning.

The future

Crystal ball time.

Clearly the compact camera’s heyday is over.

There is little evidence available to us consumers that camera makers  are engaged in further evolution of the compact camera.

My crystal ball suggests that the compact camera of the future will be a small MILC with a  kit lens. It will probably have a full frame sensor with a 24-70mm f4.5-6.3 collapsing zoom which had better be of good quality or the point of the exercise will be lost. There will be the option to mount a compact prime lens.

It will be larger than the G1X.3 but this extra size can offer the potential for better image quality, performance and ergonomics.

We already have, or had until Sony stopped taking orders for it citing component supply problems,  the Sony A7C with the collapsing 28-60mm f4-5.6 lens which is close to the mark and if nothing else can show a way forward for the full frame compact MILC concept.

 As usual we shall see.