It’s interesting as someone who grew up that saw film’s end within the consumer sphere, the transition to consumer point-and-shoot digital cameras, and then the film resurgence. But I didn’t expect to see the revival of the early point-and-shoot digital camera, or DigiCam as they are now called. I first learned about this new craze through Lucy Lumen’s YouTube channel. I laughed because I used several of these cameras when they were new. I guess I’m old now; I am turning forty this year. So I started to put this together last year to try to pick a single one to do a camera review, but I did not find enough images to make up a whole review. So I thought, why not do a quick overview of each camera? I also noticed that I never used them too long. The camera’s I’ll be discussing in this review are the Canon PowerShot G7, Panasonic Lumix LX3, and the Canon PowerShot A460.
Canon PowerShot A460
The Canon PowerShot A460 is a capable pocket camera; going back now and looking at the images, I’m impressed by the quality of images I got out of the camera. Now, this is one where I only had the camera for a short time before passing it along to another family member. But it was an excellent addition to the kit at PYPS weekends when I didn’t want to bring the digital SLR while clearing the brush or letting someone else use a camera. The A460 is a perfectly capable digicam, compact, good quality and has a reasonably fast lens, f/2.8 at the widest. The images that come out of the camera, especially in bright light, are decent even today.
Specifications
- Make: Canon
- Model: Powershot A460
- Sensor: 1/3 inch 5.0MP, ISO-80 – ISO-400
- Lens: Canon Zoom Lens 5.4-21.6mm 1:2.8-5.8
- Viewfinder: Optical or LCD
Canon PowerShot G7
What drew me into the G7 was the manual controls on the camera itself, knobs and dials instead of buttons. It only made sense for someone who was getting into SLRs and manual cameras. And the G-Line of cameras from Canon were high-end. This thing packed a punch and had the image quality to boot. It was also the first double-digit megapixel camera in my collection. I never used the G7 for long, as it was getting close to the end of my time with Digicam. The G7 worked well for cons as it fits easily in my tactical vests for the Stargate uniform I often wore. But even today, the quality stands up. I know the G2 is a popular digicam, but I’d take the sleek G7 over the G2.
Specifications
- Make: Canon
- Model: PowerShot G7
- Sensor: 1/1.8″ CCD 10MP, ISO-100 – ISO-1600
- Lens: Canon Zoom Lens 7.4-44.4mm 1:2.8-4.8 (35-210mm Eq.)
- Viewfinder: Optical or LCD
Panasonic LX3
The LX3 is the one digicam I don’t have anymore. It sadly lost its life in an accident, but this was a friendly camera. Small, compact, and has licence-built Leica glass. It also outputted some fantastic quality images. For a compact camera, a clean sensor had only a short range on the lens, but it was fast, from f/2 to f/2.8. This digicam is what I would want to carry today, plus it does have 720p 24fps HD video capacity. So for a quick vlogging tool not too bad. The one downside is that it doesn’t shoot RAW. But this is the one I miss the most.
Specifications
- Make: Panasonic
- Model: DMC-LX3
- Sensor: 1/1.63″ 10MP CCD, ISO-80 – ISO-3200
- Lens: Leica DC Vario-Summicron 1:2.0 -2.8/5.1-12.8mm Asph. (24-60mm Eq.)
- Viewfinder: LCD
I’m not one to jump on crazes like this; first of all, I never liked these cameras, to begin with, shown by their revolving door nature. And when compared to some of the results I can get out of my modern digital cameras like the a6000 and D750, picking up one of these would feel like stepping backwards. But honestly, there were some powerful cameras in this era; the two that stand out to me are the Canon G-Series; these offered up some level of manual feel with knobs and dials with solid performance. Similarly, the LX3 was another that I seemed to latch onto with excellent image quality, lens and some level of control. So if you are looking for sound choices, the Canon G-Series or the LX3 are excellent ‘digicams’ to pick up and join in the fun.