Yesterday I found myself at the point of life where a photographer feels tired of carrying DSLR gear with him “wherever he goes”. I have decided to buy a decent compact camera which I can use for traveling and street photography. Mentally, it is not an easy step down for me. Physically, it should be a step up in terms of convenience, flexibility, as well as security.

I used to own a point-n-shoot before. Ten+ years ago I had a lot of fun with my first digital photo camera Nikon Coolpix 4300 and its two attachable/exchangeable tele and wide lenses! By the way, these NYC photos have been taken with that p&s camera.

I am shopping for the best point-and-shoot photo camera within $500 price range. I have been looking at compact cameras for several years, but haven’t found one that could replace my travel buddy Nikon D700 with 24-70mm/f2.8 lens. Today I am giving up. I can’t replace Nikkor’s best midrange zoom with a point & shoot camera… cause it’s impossible! I have to accept the fact that quality of p&s’ photos cannot be as good as DSLR’s. So I just need to find a compact camera that would satisfy my “lowered expectations”.

These days the vast majority of $300-$400 compact cameras have the same tech specs: the same size of sensor, range of shutter speeds, image stabilization, full 1080p HD video, panorama mode, presets for different lighting conditions, etc. However, I am looking for a compact photo camera I can control, a camera with a fast glass lens (F2.0 or faster), high ISO, burst shooting, and a few other features I have in mind. At this time my choices are pretty much narrowed down to three pocketable cameras:

NIKON Coolpix P310 (click on image to see full specs)

NIKON Coolpix P310

NIKON Coolpix P310

CANON PowerShot S100 (click on image to see full specs)

CANON PowerShot S100

CANON PowerShot S100

PANASONIC LUMIX DMC LX5 or new LX7 (click on image to see full specs)

PANASONIC LUMIX DMC LX7

PANASONIC LUMIX DMC LX7

See my comparison chart below (advantages are highlighted in bold). In my opinion, all these are great point and shoot cameras by specs. I just need to decide what feature is the most important to me- resolution 16Mpix vs 10Mpix or zoom 120mm vs 90mm, etc.

NIKON Coolpix P310 CANON PowerShot S100 LUMIX DMC LX5/LX7
$329 ($229 on SALE) $379 LX5 $319.95 / LX7 $499
16.1 Mpix CMOS
NO RAW		 12.1 Mpix CMOS
RAW		 10.1/10.1Mpix MOS
RAW / RAW
24–100mm (4.3-17.9mm)
f/1.8-4.9
Zoom Opt. 4.2x (Dig. 2x)		 24–120mm (5.2-26 mm)
f/2.0-5.9
Zoom Opt. 5x (Dig. 4x)		 24-90mm 5.1-19.2/4.7-17.7
f/2.0-3.3 / f/1.4(W)-2.3(T)
3.8x Dig.4x / 3.8x Dig.7.5x
Shutter: 4 – 1/2000 sec Shutter: 15 – 1/2000 sec Shutter: 250- 1/20000 sec
5 frames/sec (16 Mpx) 8 frames/sec (12 Mpx) 5/ 11 frames/sec (10 Mpx)
Sensor Size 1/2.3″ Sensor Size 1/1.7″ 1/1.63″ CCD / 1/1.7″ MOS
Height: 2.3in. (58.3mm)
Width: 4.1in. (103.0mm)
Depth: 1.3in. (32.0mm)		 Height: 2.34in. (59.4mm)
Width: 3.9in. (99.6mm)
Depth: 1.1in. (26.7mm)		 Height: 2.3in. (58.3mm)
Width: 4.1in. (103.0mm)
Depth: 1.3in. (32.0mm)
6.9oz (196g) w card&batt. 6.1oz (173g) 0.51lb(230g) / 0.59lb(269g)
ISO 100-3200 ISO 80-6400 ISO 80-12800
Design: Like Design: Okay Design: Very Like

As of today, I would go with Panasonic Lumix DMC LX7. However, it would be nice to compare actual high-resolution images taken by these three cameras, preferably, in the same lighting conditions. If you got one of these babies and are willing to share a few hi-res images, please contact me via contact form here. Also feel free to have your say in comments below. I will be glad to hear any suggestions. Thank you!