Will the 'Point and Shoot' camera bubble ever pop?

[Alan Edward Klein]

The thing with P&S cameras is that they allow access to film images for people who just want nice film images, with an all in one compact convenience, and not having to think too much about it.
It is a fun carefree way of shooting, and anything that encourages people to use film is a good thing.
The downsides are lack of control (apertures, speeds etc).

Just another tool.

I have a Nikon N6006. It has all the standard settings. PASM. But when I travelled on vacation, I kept it on P most of the time and it did fine. So, I operated it like a P&S. So what? In most cases it;s smarter than me.

 

[jtk]

My absolute best P&S was Leica IIF (no self timer, making it better than IIIF). Nikon 35/2.8 lens of course. P&S. No battery, optional fiddling with focus .

 

[drmoss_ca]

Still have the Trip 35 that was my first serious camera (ie not an Instamatic). Still use it, but I'm amazed by the quality some people can squeeze out of it. Monica Weller on Flickr makes rather good photos that are far sharper than a zone focus camera ought to be! Have a look: https://www.flickr.com/photos/copperknob2011/with/51782845029/

 

[Huss]

Still have the Trip 35 that was my first serious camera (ie not an Instamatic). Still use it, but I'm amazed by the quality some people can squeeze out of it. Monica Weller on Flickr makes rather good photos that are far sharper than a zone focus camera ought to be! Have a look: https://www.flickr.com/photos/copperknob2011/with/51782845029/

Thanks for the link, those are remarkably good. Some shockingly so, given the fact it is a zone focus camera, 40mm lens, she is close up to many of her subjects, the lighting is dim so a large aperture would be used, and yet the focus is perfect!

 

[drmoss_ca]

It was her photos that inspired me to make a handheld rangefinder card for the Trip 35. It certainly helps, but even so, I don't have her unerring instinct for the right distance setting. Forgive the iPhone photo:

You can ignore the hyperfocal distances for various apertures, and look at the top of the card. I hold the card in my right hand with my arm fully extended. Using my left eye only, I place the zero at the top left corner on the subject, then swap eyes (closing the left and opening the right) and I read off the distance of the subject from it's new place along the distance scale which is in meters. It works!

 

[flavio81]

It was her photos that inspired me to make a handheld rangefinder card for the Trip 35. It certainly helps, but even so, I don't have her unerring instinct for the right distance setting. Forgive the iPhone photo:

You can ignore the hyperfocal distances for various apertures, and look at the top of the card. I hold the card in my right hand with my arm fully extended. Using my left eye only, I place the zero at the top left corner on the subject, then swap eyes (closing the left and opening the right) and I read off the distance of the subject from it's new place along the distance scale which is in meters. It works!

Wow, this is genius!!!

 

[Helge]

Wow, this is genius!!!

It’s even more genious to calibrate the fold wrinkles on your index finger and use the thumb as the reference.

Problem with these kind of solutions is that precision drops off up close, where precise focus is most critical.

Use your outstretched arms instead.

 

[Radost]

They were not optically inferior except to Leica and Hasselblad. The optics were very good for what the cameras originally costs and the cameras were convenient and easy to use. Nothing to complain about.

I guess I was not as clear.
I never understood why people spend insane amount of money on PAS.
No Point and shoot is worth $1000 to $4000. Especially considering there is pretty much no service.
a trip 35 for $50 - $100 is fun. But everything over is FOR ME a waste of money.
I got a Minolta/Leitz CL with 40mm F2 minolta Rokkor II for way less than many of the high end PAS cameras.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I guess I was not as clear.
I never understood why people spend insane amount of money on PAS.
No Point and shoot is worth $1000 to $4000. Especially considering there is pretty much no service.

Now I see your point.

 

[pentaxuser]

Nice shot of the dog with a P&S, Huss. The only problem is that it isn't a dog. It's Lee van Cleef as Jack Colby waiting for the noon train to arrive in Hadleyville I'd recognise those slit eyes anywhere

pentaxuser

 

[Wallendo]

Some of these cameras go for what seems to be too much money.

On the other hand, these cameras are one price devices that just plain work.

Most beginners don’t want to deal with learning which lenses go with which bodies and which features are supported with each combo. Those who need more features or control can upgrade later.

 

[Paul Howell]

I guess I was not as clear.
I never understood why people spend insane amount of money on PAS.
No Point and shoot is worth $1000 to $4000. Especially considering there is pretty much no service.
a trip 35 for $50 - $100 is fun. But everything over is FOR ME a waste of money.
I got a Minolta/Leitz CL with 40mm F2 minolta Rokkor II for way less than many of the high end PAS cameras.

Agree, the most I've spent is around $40 for a Pentax WR and another $25 for a Minolta Weathermatic, most I got for free when a coworker passed on a box of point and shoots his father had collected. My last buy the Chinion 35 was $15.00.

 

[Huss]

Most of them the batteries are more expensive than the camera!

 

[Helge]

Why someone doesn’t start to produce a modern Mju II or Nikon L35AF is beyond me.
There would surely be a market. These cameras fly of the “shelves” for the same money they cost originally.
People would be willing to pay more for a new one.

 

[Huss]

There is one problem I have with P&S cameras. They all are noisy. Every single one of them that i have tried - from Contax to whatever the cheapest one I had..

And so for discrete photography they pretty much only allow you one shot before you are noticed and have to move on. In situations like that, cameras with mechanical wind on are much quieter. Some excellent tiny compact ones are the Ricoh FF1, Chinon Bellami, Rollei 35 etc. Zone focus and pretty much silent to use.
If noise isn't an issue - and most times it isn't - regular P&S cameras are great.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

There is one problem I have with P&S cameras. They all are noisy. Every single one of them that i have tried - from Contax to whatever the cheapest one I had..

And so for discrete photography they pretty much only allow you one shot before you are noticed and have to move on. In situations like that, cameras with mechanical wind on are much quieter. Some excellent tiny compact ones are the Ricoh FF1, Chinon Bellami, Rollei 35 etc. Zone focus and pretty much silent to use.
If noise isn't an issue - and most times it isn't - regular P&S cameras are great.

Aren't they quieter than 35mm SLRs?

 

[Alan Johnson]

Pricewise, from google books popular photography the store price of a Yashica T4 when it was introduced in 1992 was $299.
By an inflation calculator that is $594 in Jan 2022. The ebay.com price for one described as mint in Jan 2022 is $600.

 

[Sirius Glass]

There is one problem I have with P&S cameras. They all are noisy. Every single one of them that i have tried - from Contax to whatever the cheapest one I had..

And so for discrete photography they pretty much only allow you one shot before you are noticed and have to move on. In situations like that, cameras with mechanical wind on are much quieter. Some excellent tiny compact ones are the Ricoh FF1, Chinon Bellami, Rollei 35 etc. Zone focus and pretty much silent to use.
If noise isn't an issue - and most times it isn't - regular P&S cameras are great.

Aren't they quieter than 35mm SLRs?

Yes. Shoot a 4"x5" with a focal plane shutter, a Hasselblad or Bronica and everything else will sound quieter.

 

[Paul Howell]

There is one problem I have with P&S cameras. They all are noisy. Every single one of them that i have tried - from Contax to whatever the cheapest one I had..

And so for discrete photography they pretty much only allow you one shot before you are noticed and have to move on. In situations like that, cameras with mechanical wind on are much quieter. Some excellent tiny compact ones are the Ricoh FF1, Chinon Bellami, Rollei 35 etc. Zone focus and pretty much silent to use.
If noise isn't an issue - and most times it isn't - regular P&S cameras are great.

Konica Hextar has a silent mode, the ones I've handled are really quite, depending on how one defines Point and Shoot, Vivitar ES 35, manual advance, shutter speed preferred, leaf shutter, really quite. My early entry lever first generation level cameras Chinon, Vivitar Canon are noisy, really loud film advance for such small cameras. Midlevel Konica Zup and Minolta Weathermatic not too bad.

 

[Craig75]

There is one problem I have with P&S cameras. They all are noisy. Every single one of them that i have tried - from Contax to whatever the cheapest one I had..

And so for discrete photography they pretty much only allow you one shot before you are noticed and have to move on. In situations like that, cameras with mechanical wind on are much quieter. Some excellent tiny compact ones are the Ricoh FF1, Chinon Bellami, Rollei 35 etc. Zone focus and pretty much silent to use.
If noise isn't an issue - and most times it isn't - regular P&S cameras are great.

I like a manual wind on compact and olympus xa2 is my all time favourite but minolta tc is very quiet. Absolute beast of a machine.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

My RB67 has a really pleasant Ker-Klunk.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I like to hear a good loud Ker-Klunk or TH-WACK in the morning. Or any time day or night.

 

[Huss]

If a P&S makes a Ker-Klunk sound, you know it's just died. TH-WACK? your girlfriend just hit you on the head with it.

 

[Sirius Glass]

If a P&S makes a Ker-Klunk sound, you know it's just died. TH-WACK? your girlfriend just hit you on the head with it.

She would never TH-WACK me.

 

[warden]

Will the 'Point and Shoot' camera bubble ever pop?

I sure hope not.