[pula58]

My old Canon A95 powershot has been ever faithful, but it's low resolution (5Meg) and tendency to wash out bright areas is making me want to try something new. I had my eyes on the Fujifilm X30 because it had a viewfinder and good battery life. But Fuji has discontinued it, and now the prices for the remaining ones have shot up. I really would like the viewfinder feature, but I feel adverse to the pop-up viewfinders (like the Sony RXII, IV and V). I also don't want the large zoom abilities of the Lumix. So, looking for 4 to 5X zoom, full time viewfinder, but compact, and good battery life. Also, a lens with wide max aperture for good low-light photos. For a while I thought perhaps the Canon G5X, but battery life is reported to be poor, and so is image quality (non-sharp photos). Any ideas? I thought I might get the Olympus Tough TG-4. Even though it does not have the viewfinder I could possibly bide my time with it until a good viewfinder camera comes into the marketplace?

[mike]

Budget? Some of those requested features will cost you

[pula58]

No more than $750 or so.

[NacMacFeegle]

[Wazzu_camper]

If you are interested in interchangeable lens cameras, a used a6000 with a couple of lenses would be hard to beat. Pick up a few aftermarket batteries and you are good to go. You can also charge it via USB so any of those cellphone power chargers will charge it in your camera bag if you so desire.

[nordique]

$750? That's way up there! At my age, doing three hikes a week, year-round, for the last eight years, it's hard to me to avoid falls and stumbles--so I prefer a relatively less-costly compact point-and-shoot, super-zoom, light camera, like my current Nikon P520 (the most recent in a long series of point and shoot cameras). I have big hands--unlike that guy with REALLY small hands--so I can't deal with small cameras. Since I'm always hiking with a group, supposedly in the lead, I need to take photos quickly, since no one stops for me. If I'm in the lead, and pull over to take a photo, I am right off the back, and have to catch up! Within the next week or so, weather-permitting, my Flickr site will go over 50,000 photos, most of them from hikes, and, in another few weeks, my Flickr views will go over 5.5 million: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nordique/ And, yes, it's REALLY great to be retired--and able to hike three days a week and rock climb three days a week! I only had to work full-time, for 43 years....

[pula58]

I ended-up buying a Canon G15 (used) from KEH. *Good price *Reputable company * has optical viewfinder * small enough and light enough Obviously this camera has a small sensor compared to todays 1" size (Sony RX100, Canon G7X, etc) but it'll be miles better than my Canon Powershot A95 that I have been using for more than 10 years! I am interested in the Canon G5X, but have heard that they are coming out with a mark II version fairly soon, and so this G15 will keep me going until then, or, if I like it, indefinitely. The camera should arrive in a few days. I am excited!

[Wazzu_camper]

I'm sure you will be pretty happy with that camera. A long time ago I had G7 and really enjoyed it. Kind of a P&S on steroids. Hard to beat in terms of portability. Enjoy!

[pula58]

It arrives today...will let you know how it goes!