Thinking of a raw capable P&S camera for travel..

[The Stigenator]

I am going to philippines in November for 20 days. I was planning on taking my DSLR and probably will take it with me either case. However I am thinking I'll need a RAW capable P&S camera for the times I dont want to carry the DSLR.

I was looking at the Canon G15/G16 camera's (my DSLR is a Canon, and my speedlights will work with the G15/16 setup). However its about 450 for a G15 and 550 for a G16. I also liked the fast 1.8-2.8 lens on this camera.

What other good p&s RAW capable camera's are out there besides the Canon G series.

Also which lenses should I take to Philippines. I am taking my crop body (either 40D or the Rebel XS). I have the following lenses:
EF 28 f/1.8, EF 35 f/2, EF 40 f/2.8, EF 50 f/1.4, EF 85 f/1.8, EF 100 f2, EF28-135, EF 28-90 (i think on my film camera), Tamron 28-75 f/2.8, EF-S 18-55, EF-S 55-250.

Weight is an issue, so a good general purpose lens would be nice. I keep thinking the Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 and the EF 40, however I am losing the wide on both those. I wish I had a generic 18-135 lens. My shooting partner travels with her generic 18-135 and a prime.

Edit:

Bought the Canon G15 from Best Buy @ $390, YMMV, they are clearancing the product since the G16 has arrived.

 

[fralexandr]

You could always go with the generic 18-55, 55-250 and bring along your favorite prime.

If you're going with a high end point and shoot anyway, you could just bring your favorite prime lens/tamron 28-75 and take daylight pictures mostly with the point and shoot and low light pictures with your prime/tamron 28-75.

canon s110 for $280 adorama ebay store
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Canon-Power...082792?pt=Digital_Cameras&hash=item5af6777de8

The canon s95/100/110 or panasonic lx7 are basically THE backup point and shoot cameras people normally get.
There are certainly better point and shoots out there, but these are portable and relatively cheap (they go on sale relatively frequently) compared to those.

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/2367736880/roundup-enthusiast-zoom-compact-cameras
dpreviews enthusiast zoom compact roundup

 

[The Stigenator]

The panasonic LX7 and teh Fuji X10 looks good for the price ..

 

[iGas]

Last year I went to Vietnam & Cambodia with a 5D mkII + 70-200L IS f/4, 24-105L, 100L, 50mm, and 14mm, as well as my trusty S95 that I took exclusively the year before to Costa Rica & Indonesia.

The camera usage break down was:
50% S95
24% 70-200L (the bulk of the shots are 80-135mm, a couple of the shots were at 200mm)
24% 24-105L (the bulk of the shots are at 24-80mm)
2% 100L
1 shot was taken with the 14mm
0 shot was taken with the 50mm.

Back in the film days, I traveled with 3 prime lenses (and tend to shoot mostly with the 50mm), but now it seems as if I prefer to work with zoom and 80mm focal length seems to be use more often (could be because that I'm taking more pictures of people instead of almost exclusively landscape).

That said, take a look at your photographs and pick 1 lens that you think you will be using the most.If you don't mind having a bit soft images then any P&S will be amazingly portable, and will do just fine for posting on the intarweb.

 

[The Stigenator]

iGas, I did go through my collection in lightroom. 95% of my DSLR pictures that are not concerts and events are shot on the

EFs 18-55, -- 40%
Tamron 28-75 -- 30%
EF 28-135 -- 30%

On the primes
EF 28 - 60% -- Hate the color fringing though.
EF 40 - 30% -- love the light lens.
EF 50 - 10% --> was 100% before i bought other primes.

So what did I do... I found a great deal on the Canon G15 and bought it. Best Buy is clearancing them, different stores have different prices, but I got it for $390 out the door.. YMMV.
I bought it since it works with my canon accessories (flashes, triggers etc). I am keeping it in the system.

By the way I have 8 days to sort out, how was cambodia and vietnam. I have an option to go there by myself from philippines.. should I do it?

 

[iGas]

Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand have some of the best beaches in SE Asia, while VN & Cambodia beaches are second rate at best. I enjoyed some of the places in VN, such as Hue and Da Nang, and love the food that can be found every where in HCMC (Saigon), and I didn't have time to visit Sapa and the surrounding area as in my original itinerary which I'm somewhat regretted because I heard that it is a beautiful area. Cambodia, is interesting specially Siem Reap (Angkor Wat), but there are lots of poverty and roughly 10,000 tourist descent onto Angkor per day in the high season (miles of buses, cabs, and tuk tuk).

IMHO, it definitely worth it to explore on your own in VN or Cambodia.