Doxory?

Mark has decided I'm taking a lot of pictures at the limits of my camera (telephoto range and low-light are the big ones, even with 10x optical zoom.) But convenient portability wins - my best pictures are from situations where I wouldn't have *had* a DSLR on me...

After playing with a similar-formfactor Olympus SP-550UZ for a day or two, I'm much more sure that I'd have real problems with a full sized camera, given the issues I'm having with this one :-) We'll see how it goes; it was also interesting to see that several people with SLR experience recommended I stick with this smaller camera. There will be lots of examples on flickr shortly...

Asked 2 years ago

My choice: Get the new, shiny, Canon S5-IS? It's bulkier than the Optio S4, but I can probably work with that...

lakmiseiru
If you get something big you probably still won't lug it around - plus it's likely more expensive and hence more worries about theft. Stick with the portable one you have - you said it best, "my best pictures are from situations where I wouldn't have *had* a DSLR on me..." All the folks I know who take photos as a major hobby (but not as their primary line of work) only carry their big cameras when they're planning on using them, and given that you take pictures unplanned it seems silly to have a big one and leave it at home all the time.
kyrandil
I was very happy with my S30, rather unhappy with my S70; which are both largish for a point-n-shoot. It's *barely* pocketable; but that was my criterion (as close as I can get to an SLR and still pocket)
jtu
It is hard to argue with convenient portability.
aletta
unless you can soak the additional expense of the big one getting broken sometimes.

ntn, jesse, peggusus, dbrunton, Ian, seph, milo, kevinr, perturbed, photon, shikoku88henro, jmorzins, Zadar, madcaptenor, paigep, karl

Change my habits ("real" photographers manage, right?) and get something big?

raloxifiend, kettlefish, trs, Richie, tibbetts

If you make a stupid choice because a website tells you to, it's your own damn fault.