Bog Roll ::

Last year I thought about buying a new Camera. At the start of this year my S110 died and because of Canon playing secret squirrel with their file formats I decided not to buy anything at the time. Then COVID-19 happened and this year has been a right off.

At the moment I have an old Canon A480 and my mother-in-law's old Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3. Now I've turned off all the beeps and annoying defaults the Panasonic with it's longer zoom lens optical image stabilisation is a bit more useful than the Canon, but neither are a patch on my old S110 or the modern G series alternatives.

Putting aside the problems with the CR3 file format for the moment there are a number of options:

• Buy a new lens assembly for the S110 and repair it myself. Spare parts used to be easy to obtain, but as the S110/S120 is quite old now they aren't as cheap anymore or common.
• Buy another S110/S120, their price has gone up since they were discontinued but they are still about, or find a good condition one second hand.
• Buy the Canon G9 X Mk II (€430), which has a larger sensor, better electronics, and is better in every respect for a similar sized package but the zoom range has been greatly reduced to get it all to fit in the same space.
• Next in the Canon range is the G7 X Mk III, which has the same sensor, slightly better electronics, is slightly larger and has a slightly longer zoom range, but the price creeps up quite a bit more (€730).
• Finally in the range (worth considering) is the G5 X Mk III, which has the same sensor and electronics as the G7, but a longer zoom range (the same as the S110) but is much larger and more expensive... (€855).

Price aside, the G9 is the smallest and easiest to carry around, especially while hiking or travelling. It has a large high quality sensor, but very limited zoom range. The G5 trades a better zoom range for size, so I get the same zoom as I started with in S110, much better optics and electronics, but not so small anymore...

At the moment I want a new camera, but I don't need a new camera, and with house work to be done, I can't really justify frivolous purchases like this...

posted 18:15 :: /kit :: permalink :: ^