Why I don’t take a compact camera on holiday any more

I’m in the habit of carrying around a compact camera when on holiday, out for a walk and when attending events. It sits unobtrusively in a case on my belt and gets used frequently.

I recently invited to take a group photo to put on a website and realised that I had left my camera at home. I asked if I could borrow a camera and was presented with a phone, the same model as the one in my pocket. The photo was perfectly adequate.

I plan to carry on carrying around my compact camera but I will experiment with the phone and find out what the limitations are.

I still take a proper camera when I know I need to take photos. Even my 9-year-old Canon Ixus 900 has 10 megapixels, more than my iPhone 6’s 8 megapixels, and it has a proper optical zoom. Smartphones are great when you need to take a photo unexpectedly or on a night out, but are no good for photographing distant objects.

I always take a compact camera phone with me on holiday or days away. As I travel alone I have to always ask someone to take a photograph of me (especially with something of interest in the background). I am certainly not going to hand my £300+ smartphone out to a complete stranger in case they run off with it. Anyway the insurance wouldn’t cover it and the inconvenience of having it stolen or dropped by someone else is just too much to think about. I haven’t yet got a selfie stick but would certainly buy one if it made my life easier. When I return from a holiday or days away I upload the entire shoot from both my camera and my smartphone. It is interesting to see how different photos of the same scene are from each device.

We always take a compact for those quick photos and a DSLR for when we feel more creative. Taking photos on a phone is just not the same. A friend recently had to show us her holiday photos on her phone and it was a real chore looking at them.

We also have 3 batteries for each camera so never run out of juice. We always buy 2 spare manufacturers batteries when we buy a new camera and they seem to last quite well. Buying batteries when a camera is a few years old is fraught with getting genuine ones when High Street camera shops are getting rarer.

Canon Powershot S100. Great little camera, with a good menu full of options. Wide angle lens plus 5x zoom, and respectably good at macro shots. What camera phone can do that? Mind, the newer S120 has added wi fi, so you can send out your photos quickly as well. Besides, it is as solid as a brick and tiny as well.

For years I have carried a compact camera when I’m on holiday and often if I go out for the day. It’s a small one that fits in a compact leather pouch that sits neatly on my belt. Unfortunately the camera met its demise and I need a replacement. At present I’m using my phone (not as easy to use and less versatile) or a better camera that’s too large to carry round for any length of time.

My prime requirement is to find a small compact camera with a strong case that fits on a belt. I don’t want to spend more than £150 because I just want to take snapshots and have a better camera if needed. I spoke to Which? Member Services to try to find out which compact cameras come with cases, but they could not help. I then spoke to Panasonic, the manufacturer of my now defunct Lumix DMC-FX35 camera and they could not tell me which models could be supplied with cases. Since I still have the Lumix case I might visit a camera shop and try to find one that would fit, but there don’t seem to be many shops with cameras on display round here.

If anyone has any suggestions I would be grateful. I’m looking for a camera with a close fitting case that will fit on a belt and not a larger one that will take spare batteries and cards.