ultra compact buying advice needed...

[djtomg]

My goal here is to get a very tiny digicam that I can easily put in my pocket and take to shows and out with friends, so size is a little more important than anything else. I'm sick of missing out on chances to take pics just because I didn't want to haul around my current digi with me becasue it is too big to really fit comfortably into a pocket(sony p72). Money isn't really much of an issue here because I've saved up for this, so I need some help in making the final decision. I thought I had it narrowed down to only the Casio z40 & the Sony T1, but then I made the mistake of looking around just a little bit more and now I can't decide between the following:

-Kyocera sl300r:
Either of these Kyoceras and and the casio are the two that I am leaning towards. This one only has a 1.5" LCD. but it has 118,000 pixels (pretty high high resolution) and should look damned good. I also like the swiveling lens that allows you to take self portraits, or overhead shots easily... It has the most versatile movie mode (640x480, 320x240 @ 30 OR 15 fps) but I don't think I'd be using this feature all that much anyway. The big thing this one has going for it is the swivel design which I think would work well in many situations where I commonly take pics (like at concerts and other shows...) - my only concern about this is that I haven't actually held this one in my hands, and I'm wondering about how easy it is to hold and take pictures with. This one is also the thinnest of the three, although the "footprint" it would leave in my pocket is slightly bigger than the Casio... Iam also a little worried abotu the exposed lens on this one...

-Kyocera sl400r:
This is just the 4Mp version of the sl300r (I don't know how necessary 4MP is beacuse I rarely take shots at that high of a resolution anyway...and hardly ever make prints. But I wonder if the overall image quality here would make it worh the extra cost?) Other than that extra MP, this is identical to the sl300r


-Casio Exilim ex-z40:
This one has nice big 2" LCD on the back (but its only 88,000 pixels, so not all that high res), and has decent image quality. nice compact size though.... can only do movies in 320x240 @ 15fps. Has 21 "Best Shot" modes that are pretty good at picking out the right settings for better image quality... I also like the super long battery life of this one...


-Sony DSC-T1:
This one probably looks the sexiest (HUGE 2.5" LCD - which I'm afraid I would accidentally break)), and has the best image quality out of the 4 I've listed here, but it uses Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo which is quite pricey (about $200 for 512MB vs. $90 for 512MB SD card)... the movie mode is top notch, but I don't know how often I would use it anyway because of the large amounts of memory space it takes up... This one is the 2nd thinnest behind the Kyocera, but again slightly larger than the casio in terms of in-pocket-footprint... Does the screen scratch easily? Does the lens cover slide down accidentally too easily?


thoughts? opinions? advice? anyone who owns any of these 4 cameras, I'm eager for you to share your opinions on them...

any help would be appreciated...

thanks in advance,
tomG

[msinn]

I had the Casio Z3, and traded up to the T1. The low light performance of the Casio is abyssmal. It sounds like your intended use is similar to mine (local concerts, hanging out with friend at restaurants, etc)- if that is the case, the Casio will be mostly useless.

The T1 is nice, but the memory issue is a problem. I was able to find a store with the 256MB cards in stock and bought both of them, haven't ever seen them since. They did have a single 512, but I havent ever seen that since either. Supposedly there is a 1GB card in the works...

[sl668]

If picture quality and cost is not important, but just extreme compact and handy, then the simpliest solution is to throw away your existing mobile phone, and buy a mobile phone equipped with a camera, like the new Nokia mobile phone 6630 that comes with an over 1M pixel camera, operate in 3G, tri-band, should fit your need in most part of the world. It is just the same size as an ordinary mobile phone. That means the extra size of the camera on top of the phone is almost zero. Should be the most compact solution.

[jim_panzee]

Work out how much of your photography will be taken in lowlight conditions, as most if not all pocket sized digital cameras are rubbish with the inbuilt flash, and you may end up with a very expensive door stop.
Jim.