Valhalla Island

Soon I’ll be heading overseas where I’ll spend a bit of time traveling on my own. While I don’t take many photos at home, I’ll be keeping up a a Tumblr log and I’d like to document the journey with more than words. Looking for a suitable piece of electronics like a camera is difficult - this is what I’m looking for.

Essentials

• Compact size
• Takes normal batteries, not a proprietary rechargeable battery
• Big screen - 2.5 inch or bigger
• A good flash
• SD card expansion
• Speed in taking photos, processing and charging the flash
• Less than $500 AUD

Things that would be nice but aren’t essential

• Shockproof or waterproofing
• Some sort of manual controls, specifically shutter priority
• Optical zoom
• Video with sound recording
• Exceptional photo quality - beyond what you might call “good”
• Night mode
• Burst mode
• An aesthetically pleasing body
• Optical viewfinder
• Time lapse

What I don’t care about

• Number of megapixels
• Digital zoom - worthless
• Ability to add or change lenses
• Brand

Our current family camera is a Canon Powershot A700 which apart from it’s size, fits the bill well but for me, size is important, I want to be able to carry it in my pocket. I feel that if I can carry a camera in my pocket with me the photos I take will be more natural rather than the “I have my camera, I should be taking a lot of photos” mentality.

This Sony looks impressive but it’s missing some of the functionality I’d really like. I’ll be spending a lot of time at Dpreview. If anyone has a suggestion, a camera they use and love or even have problems with, I’d love to know.