Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

I found this one http://www.reghardware.com/2011/11/30/hasselblad_h4_d_200ms_medium_format_multishot_camera/

Well at least it has a viewfinder, lol!

Maybe next year ...  ;D

ch(  Drat I can only afford the body!!!  ... and if I did have the money I wouldn't!

Davie  8)

Just came across this again looking for an old post, but if anyone's interested I went for the Fuji X10 in the end. A few quirks but overall it's a great camera and I would recommend it.

The updated model, the X20, is out now.

Steve

After spending a lifetime behind (small, medium and large format) cameras, I finally purchased a smaller digital camera.  It is a KodakZ712 model, 7 meg unit, with up to 12x digital zoom.  It has all the bells and whistles that I can change if I desire, but most of the time, I let the camera do all the work.  All too often I see amateur photographers carrying around cameras far more expensive than necessary.  I use mine to take nude photos of friends and of myself.  Nothing exotic,  just a simple camera that is fun to use and small enough to carry.

I buy compact robust cameras which are not too expensive to junk if I kill them.
That way I can take them everywhere with me in my pockets without having to worry about them.

I think I usually manage to get reasonable pictures with them - even at night.

I have a couple of cameras, an old Olympus, but sometimes this is too bulky to carry around and use apart from a pre-set-up shot.  Recently I have been using a small compact Fugi XP which is not only easy to use but is also dustproof and waterproof so it's ideal for using on the beach as well as in other locations.  Having said that though, the camera on my Samsung mobile phone takes photographs equally as good as any I take with either of the cameras but perhaps that's because I'm not a very good photographer! 

the idea of having a camera ready is to take photographs where ever you may be.  as long as what you take is to your satisfaction, that is all that matters.  though the years as a professional photographer, I have used high end  cameras and have produced some fine quality images.  But, if you put these same cameras in the hands of am amateur photographer, more than likely they will be disappointed in the results due to inexperience with the camera.  Whereas if you just give them a simple camera they will be more than happy with the results.  If you are happy with the results with any camera you have handy, that is all that is necessary.

I use a Canon, I have a D40 DSLR which is quite bulky but I like the results I get. However I also have a G9 crossover camera. It has a screen and a viewfinder so you can switch between the two.

I'd recommend doing some research, I use a site called ephotozine.com, they have great reviews and galleries, so you can get loads of advice.
Hope you find a good camera, best of luck.

Jo

I have what is now a rather old Olympus TZ10 which got good reviews in it's day. It has a viewfinder which I find preferable to trying to use the screen in virtually any sort of half-decent light. However, the downside is that though it is classified as a compact camera it is still quite heavy and chunky and thus not the sort of thing that you would carry around with you daily by default.

Personally, I have a preference for candid photography. I've done the amateur landscape and posed subject photography as a youngster but recording events and most particularly the people who pass through my life is more interesting to me now. Looking at beautiful but empty landscapes is always done better by others in any event, who are prepared to put the time, patience and expense into it that I am not.

Therefore, I am looking for a camera that is really, really compact but that still takes a decent picture, has a decent lens and that is actually practical to carry and use at all times. I'm not really looking for much, am I? I've been looking, but only casually, because I don't think there is anything out there in the market that yet meets or even compromises suitably over those pretty conflicting requirements. If anyone else is interested and I find something of note, I will be only too glad to pass it on.

How should one carry a camera conveniently when naked? Could do with a marsupial pouch of some sort but homo sapiens hasn't evolved that way, even though it sometimes looks like it!