I'm looking for a point-and-shoot compact digital camera that will let me take pictures in 16:9 format. So far I've only found one: Panasonic DMC-LX3. What are some other good models?
I own a Canon Powershot A590, which shoots in standard widescreen format. You can configure that camera to shoot just about any picture any way you want it. I highly, highly recommend it. J.
You mean 16:9 widescreen, I take it? And does the viewfinder adjust according to what format you're shooting in? (so that you can know what the 16:9 safe area is)
Yep. 16:9 is the standard. 16:10 is the exception. Yes. When you press gently on the button (without pressing all the way down), you'll see black bars at the top and bottom showing what will not appear in the picture. The final result is this: Oh, and to add, the quality and resolution is much better than this, I simply reduced quality and filesize for easy upload. J.
I use the Kodak EasyShare v1253. It takes photos in 16:9 widescreen as standard (a couple of resolutions are only supported in 4:3 format though). The important thing for me was the startup time - roughly 2-3 seconds (compared to an old 5MP Concord I had that took 19 seconds, not including flash charging time ). It has a WYSIWYG viewfinder LCD screen - so if you're shooting in 4:3, only middle of the screen is used, while 16:9 uses all of it. So you don't need to position the camera for any kind of exclusion zone. And it has a variety of preset scene settings, so things like focus on foreground/middleground/background, night-time, concert lighting, etc, can all be dealt with just by selecting the right scene (literally two button presses). It can do up to 12Megapixel pictures and HD video with pretty good sound quality. (It's not crystal clear HD, but it's a vast improvement over previous SD models). The battery life is quite impressive - I couldn't give you an estimate for how long one full charge lasts, but I got over 250 pictures out of it before I needed to charge it up. The only problem I had with it is the first one I bought had a defective temperature sensor, so it wouldn't turn on because it thought it was too hot. I'm not sure whether that was just my camera, or a problem more widespread across the range (I've not seen much evidence to support that), but I got it exchanged no problem under the warranty at the shop where I bought it. For just straightforward pointing and shooting, I'd definitely recommend this, though depending on your budget, maybe one of the lower priced Kodaks might be suitable? I think a good deal of them now shoot in 16:9 format...