Classic (Digital) Compacts

[ZDP-189]

I love picking up neglected discontinued cameras in second hand stores.

I've been collecting 80's and 90's premium prime compacts for years. It's how I got into Ricohs. There's something special about the feeling, whether discovering something rare at a yard sale, a memorable camera at a thrift store, or buying a once unaffordable/unobtainable camera in a Shinjuku or Tsimshatsui. I got most of my buying done before others caught on and made out like a bandit. Somehow, my eccentricity has kept me ahead of the curve.

What intrigues me now is the legendary and definitive digital cameras of years past. Right now, few people consider them collectible and prices are dirt cheap. The moment cameras become discontinued, their prices tumble and if their specs fall behind, they may actually end up in a landfill.

My first digital camera was a Casio QV-10A, which still sits on my shelf above the PC. It was one of the very first referred to as a "LCD digital camera". Most people on the street had never seen a digital camera. The pros called them "Still video cameras". It was very memorable. It shot 320 x 240 resolution and used two sets of AA batteries every 36 shots or so. I loved it. I bought my wife a Sony DSC-U20 or something after I broke her Mju film camera by dropping it on a wind turbine blade. The camera was about the size of a mini Mars bar and made lovely images. We got an early digital IXUS when that died. It was a lot better and you could really get good daylight prints from it. Then I made the step up to DSLRs and more or less forgot about digital compacts. I certainly didn't buy anything exciting. Some people did. They spent more than my 400D kit cost on compacts. I thought that crazy.

Now I have come full circle. I look back at those 'crazy' compacts and suddenly they look interesting. Especially for a few tens of US dollars each, which they often sell for. A GRD is barely $130. Let's look back and list some digital compact cameras that we owned, lusted after, or long discontinued cameras that now look pretty attractive at today's second hand prices.

Some examples:

Sony Mavica and Sony Digital Mavica MVC-FD5. The original and (at the time the best LOL)

Nikon Coolpix 950, a people's camera that popularised digital in the late 1990's

Canon PowerShot G7 - suddenly every DSLR enthusiast wanted a compact again.

Epson R-D1, gave Leica a wake-up call.

Fuji F10/11/30/31 and the Super EXR sensor. That was the high ISO king for at least a couple of years. The gold standard.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3. Needs no introduction (partly because it was only recently superceeded).

Contax U4R/i4R/SL-300RT. All desireable, and sadly all still pricey.

Ricoh GRD and GX100. Obviously!

What am I missing?

[CHICHORNIO]

Leica Digilux 1.

[thelps]

Panasonic LC1 or the one with the Lecia badge.
Olympus C5050 - f1.8 without any lens barrel distortion tricks.

[setvak]

Kodak Easyshare P880 - together with Nikon Coolpix 8400 pioneering 24mm zoom lens on non-DSLR cameras. Kodak P880, among other offering a 10s interval in time-lapse mode, was probably the best non-DSLR camera Kodak has ever made (by its lens quality and superior color reproduction), and it was a shame that Kodak later discontinued this line of cameras. It was the Kodak P880 which brought me later on to Ricoh GX100 - I wonder how many GX100 owners followed the same way ...

Martin

[thelps]

Sigma SD10 started our awareness of the special properties of the Foveon sensor.
DP1/2 have a cult following with their unique imagery. Certainly the DP2 optics is awesome, better IMO than the DP1 so I reserve a spot for the DP2

[CHICHORNIO]

I reserve a spot for the DP2

Yeah, DP2s it´s a serious contentant! Working up to 100 ISO in daylight, it´s a dream come true!

[ZDP-189]

Sigma SD10 started our awareness of the special properties of the Foveon sensor.
DP1/2 have a cult following with their unique imagery. Certainly the DP2 optics is awesome, better IMO than the DP1 so I reserve a spot for the DP2

I have an SD9, the first Sigma with a Foveon X3 sensor. It made beautiful colourful thumbnail-sized images.

[thelps]

I reserve a spot for the DP2

Yeah, DP2s it´s a serious contentant! Working up to 100 ISO in daylight, it´s a dream come true!

I fully concur with this sentiment, past ISO 100 its noise gets a tad worse (still usable) but begins to make the sensor/camera pointless, other image makers can probably close in on it.
But at ISO 100 and daylight I doubt it can be beat for the money.

[ZDP-189]

I reserve a spot for the DP2

Yeah, DP2s it´s a serious contentant! Working up to 100 ISO in daylight, it´s a dream come true!

I fully concur with this sentiment, past ISO 100 its noise gets a tad worse (still usable) but begins to make the sensor/camera pointless, other image makers can probably close in on it.
But at ISO 100 and daylight I doubt it can be beat for the money.

Wow, that's saying a lot. Sigma says the DP2S has a $940.00 MSRP which is significantly more than a Canon EOS 600D (Rebel T3i) and 18-55mm IS II.

[sparcx]

For me the Konica Revio KD 420Z ist a digital compact classic because it was my first digital compact with acceptable fast shutter lag. Still own it a take it with me some times because it is very small.