Well, well, point and shoot!

I've a wedding coming up soon (not mine!) so rather than take the bulky gear I decided to treat myself to a couple of cheap autofocus point and shoots from fleabay.

I managed to pick up a Ricoh RZ-3000, surprisingly solid, good quality with many features and a nice smooth zoom and also a Minolta AF-E. Both are working and were less than £5. (I also picked up a Ricoh FF9 for the wifes handbag!)

I was looking at the Nikon AFL35 and Canon AF35M but the prices seemed to be a bit OTT for what I needed.

OK I can't control the apertures etc.,the lenses may not be the fastest but the cameras are quite sophisticated with a nice 80's whirr from the motors!

Film loading is so simple and to have motorised advance and re wind is a blessing, although slightly noisy.

Not sure of the "compact" size though !

I can see these cameras being with me a lot.

I have a soft spot for plastic compacts. Some of them deliver great results and all of them provide interesting ones.

The Canon that you mentioned is quite noisy. I'm carrying around the Nikon these days.

I was given a box of point and shoots, Olympus, Nikon, Pentax, and Vivitair. I even glued a Series V adaptor the front of the Nikon lens for a lens hood and light yellow filter for black and white or a UV haze for color. The Nikon takes very good pictures, I really like the Pentax IQ 140, has a nice reach, but the lens telescopes out so I cant add a filter or lens hood. The Olympus has the clam shell case so it very easy to carry. I keep a point and shoot in my various bags, 35mm, MF and LR kits.

There's a time and a place for point and shoots. Add me to the list of folks who understand that too.

I have two Leica PSs and I advise anyone to use non zoom models.