Our memory cards are packed with your best point-and-shoot nominations and we’ve rounded up the five most popular. Now it’s time to find a winner. Compose, focus, vote.
Sony RX100 Series
That was my travel purchase too. I spent months laboring over the decision and the only cameras that can honestly compete are the Panasonic LX100 and the Fuji X100 series. The Fuji is a good bit more expensive, larger, and fixed focal length (but I do love those colors) ... the LX100 handles better but is completely unpocketable. And I could have justified either compromise if I could find more than a TINY number of situations where either of them could actually take a better photo than the RX100. Despite its smaller sensor and not-quite-as-fast lens, the stupid RX100 spits out photos that range from “damn near as good” to “damn, that’s actually better.” - -zerodb
Canon S120
Durability and Cost: Canon S120 - These are tanks. Here is a photo of mine after pulling it out of the mud puddle I dropped it in. I washed it off, cleaned it up, and Im still using it as my primary video camera. I use a DSLR mainly, which is why I don’t shoot photos with it, or else I would. Its just something you can always have in your pocket, even with your keys. - Sean Hodgins
Panasonic LUMIX DMC-ZS50
Just got this and I love it. Took a killer photo of the supermoon eclipse last night, hand-held at 30x. - GBMax
Great zooms, decent controls, shoots fast, wifi and GPS on-board. In bright situations, it has an LVF so you don’t have to guess at what you’re shooting. Great go-anywhere camera. It’s the camera I now keep in my briefcase. I used to carry 3-4 cameras and a half-dozen lenses everywhere I went on vacation. Took a trip to the Dominican Republic this past March and only brought my little ZS40. I never missed a beat. I have other Lumix gear (and Nikon, Olympus, FujiFilm, Canon, etc.), but the ZS40 is the one I almost always have with me all the time. - ninjagin
Canon G7X
Kind of like the Canon S120, but the G7X has a much larger image sensor. Also has great image quality; versatile manual controls.
Ricoh GR
The GR is incredibly fast with its snap focus settings, features great low-light performance, is so quiet it’s practically silent, and it has a terrific fixed lens. It’s a perfect street photography camera and is extremely customizable. I get the shot I expect to get, without even looking through the viewfinder and just pressing the shutter as I walk around, the majority of the time — and that accounts for lighting, color, motion, and composition. It’s a joy to use. The image here shows the flash, which reminds me that this camera has one; I’ve never used it nor have I needed to. - 50ShadesOfJimGray
Bonus: Fujifilm Instax Mini 8 Instant Film Camera
It, and polaroid style cameras like it, offer something that is genuinely not duplicated by a piece of gear you already have - namely, the instant picture. The tiny form factor of the Mini 8 and its credit card sized photos are cute as hell and fit perfectly in a wallet, and it’s a fantastic ice breaker anywhere you use it. People genuinely enjoy getting their pictures taken with these, and they make a great basis for albums or scrapbooking. They’re also inexpensive, sturdy and fantastic for kids interested in photography. - TorchyBlane