In this article I want to help you find out which camera is perfect for slefie shooting. Smartphone camera won’t be included here, only conventional digital cameras. As the selfie shooting (self-portrait or group shots) get more and more popular everyday, camera manufacturer find the urge to update their new models with features that will make it easier to shoot selfies. If it’s so easy to do with a smartphone camera, because a phone camera has a front camera and a large display to view yourself, their shouldn’t be a problem to make some tweaking to make it work with digital cameras.
Here’s a list, which is in my opinion, included the most interesting cameras that make it easy to shoot selfies. I will also add my personal recommendation, and see if we can find out which is the best selfie digital camera.
Samsung NX Mini for Selfies
The Samsung NX mini is an interchangeable lens mirrorless camera. It might not appeal to people that aren’t into a camera that lacks a fixed lens. Having said that, the NX mini does have some interesting features that makes the NX mini perfect for shooting selfies. This includes a large 3-inch Flip up screen. You can initialize the self-shooting timer that takes 2 seconds,by either touching the screen or winking. The camera then will do the rest.
The screen tilts 180-degrees upwards, but it’s 460.8K-dots resolution is not on par with what’s on the market. You can find cameras with 920K or higher resolution. Yet, the NX mini is an excellent selfie camera for those who demand a bit more control over the creative function and exposure. You have 16,000 sec maximum shutter speed, ability to attach interchangeable lenses, the camera has a relatively large 20.5MP 1″ sensor, Wi-Fi and NFC wireless connectivity that makes it easy to share your selfies on the go. It’s also a very compact camera that you can put in your pocket, as long as you use the 9mm, it might fit a back pocket of your jeans.
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Recommended for: advanced photographers looking for a compact camera with interchangeable lenses.
Sony RX100 III for Selfies
The Sony Cyber-shot RX100 III is one of the best, if not The best compact camera on the market as of the time of writing. A few of its main advantages are the camera compact/pocketable size, which means that you can put it in your pocket and take it everywhere you go. Second, it features a 1″ 20M.1MP Back-illuminated (BSI) sensor and has excellent low-light performance. It utilizes a bright f/1.8-2.8 Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* lens with 2.9x optical zoom. It’s also an amazing camera for videos as well. One of the other great features of this camera is a built-in Electronic viewfinder, and I’m sure that many of you will enjoy using it.
Of course we are here to talk about the selfie features of the camera. The RX100 III features a 180-degrees slefie-friendly rotating LCD display (can also tilt down 45 degrees), which make it very easy to shoot selfies. Furthermore, shooting selfies is easier with a wide-angle lens, so Sony also upgrade the lens from its predecessor, the RX100M2, to feature a 24mm wide-angle lens instead of a 28mm one. This Carl Zeiss less also built in the highest standards, and therefore it lacks the heavy distortions that some 24mm lenses on other cameras suffer from. With a wider lens, you’ll be able to capture an image of yourself and with your friends, that without needing to put the camera far away from you. The lens will be able to capture more of the surroundings, so it’s also great for interiors, architectural and landscape shots as well!
The RX100 III also features a Wi-Fi and NFC wireless connectivity, so it’s easy to transfer and share images using your mobile phone (e.g. Samsung Galaxy S5, HTC One, Apple iPhone 5S) or tablet device.
So with the RX100 III, you can get the best picture with your favorite celebrity and know that you get a high quality selfie that you can share with the whole wide world.
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Recommended for: Everyone who’s after the best pocketable fixed-lens compact camera, great low-light capabilities, and a built-in electronic viewfinder.
Samsung NX3000 for Selfies
There NX3000 is another mirrorless interchangeable lens camera from Samsung, belongs to the same NX series as the NX mini. This retro-style camera has the same 180-degree 460.8K-dots tilting LCD display but the screen is not touch-sensitive. The main advantages of this camera are: a large APS-C (23.5 x 15.7mm) size sensor,offers great high ISO performance. You can use this camera to send images to up to four devices using the Group Share feature. The camera camera does feature WiFi and NFC connectivity, so all the wireless features that apply to the NX mini also applies here.
Remember, this camera doesn’t come with a fixed lens. You’ll have to but it with a lens of your choice. There are two kits, the more expensive one with the 16-50mm OIS Power zoom lens and SEF-8 flash, and the second one with the 20-50mm lens and the SEF-8 flash.
It will appeal to those who are looking for a selfie digital camera, but one that has advance features for more serious photographers. The NX3000 lacks a built-in pop-up flash, but as I mentioned, it comes with a small external flash that you can mount on top of the camera. It shoot Full HD videos at 30 frames per second and has a decent battery life of 370 shots.
All in all, a good entry-level mirrorless camera with stylish design and very good image quality.
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Recommended for: Advanced photographers looking for a budget-friendly entry-level mirrorless camera.
Canon PowerShot G1 X Mark II for Selfies
Although not as compact as the Sony RX100 III, the Canon G1 X Mark II has gotten many great reviews and favorable among travelers looking for a premium point-and-shoot camera. The G1 X Mark II is also a great camera for selfies, but not just. The camera features a 18.70x14mm 1.5″ 12.8MP CMOS sensor. This sensor is larger than the 1″ (13.2×8.80 mm) found on the Sony RX100 III. Sony kept the resolution low in order to make this camer an excellent low-light shooter, and it’s indeed very impressive in that aspect.
The camera is packed with great features, including a fast Digic 6 image processor, Wi-Fi + NFC, 24-120mm f/2.0-3.9 image stabilizes lens with two control rings for controlling the manual focus and camera settings. The wide angle lens certainly make it easier for composing selfies and the 9-blade aperture promotes a stunning blurred background effect that will further compliment your self-portrait or groufies shots.
At the back of the camera their is a 3.0″ 1040K-dots 180-degree (up) / 34-degree (down) tilting touchscreen. This is also a high quality display that was designed to minimize reflections and glare and can be viewed from wide angles.
No doubt that the Canon G1 X Mark II with all its advanced capabilities and performance, will appeal to many photographers looking for a high-end compact camera. If the size doesn’t bother you that much, in returns you’ll get a great camera for self-portrait shots and general photography all together. On the downside, it lacks manual focus in video, video quality is not on par with the competition, it has a poor battery life and wireless binding is not that easy to set up.
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Recommended for: Everyone who is looking for a high-end compact camera with lots of controls, very good optics and lots of customization options.
Casio Exilim EX-100 for Selfies
The Casio Exilim EX-100 is a real gem and might gone unnoticed by those who Googling only the leading company names, and considering the fact that it is available only in Japan as of the time of writing. You can see that although this camera is relatively new, it lacks online reviews. This camera has lots of useful features, among them are: a 28-300 mm 10.7x optical zoom lens with constant F2.8 aperture. So although the wide-angle is not as wide as 24mm, you get a large zoom with a very fast lens that makes it much easier shooting in low-light across the entire zoom range.
The EX-100 features a large 3.5″ 920K-dots tilting (up: 180, down: 55) display that makes it easy to shoot selfies and also very enjoyable to view your photos and vieos once captures on the screen itself. Unlike the other cameras that I’ve mentioned here, the EX-100 features a 12.1MP 1/1.7-inch BSI sensor, which is significantly smaller (7.60×6.70mm) than the 1″ (13.2×8.80mm) of the RX100 III and much smaller than the 1.5″ (18.70×14 mm) of the G1 X Mark II. Having said that, the constant aperture lens will make you use high ISO less than a slow optical zoom lens.
The EX-100 also have Wi-Fi connectivity, 1/20,000 sec maximum shutter speed, full manual control over the exposure, built-in pop-up flash, lots of bracketing functions, RAW shooting and 1080p30 Full HD video recording. Overall a great compact digital camera that is very good for selfies and macro shooting, but also for those need the high zoom range without using interchangeable lenses.
Recommended for: Everyone looking for an advanced compact camera, which is fast and responsive and one that has a large optical zoom and very good low-light capabilities. As of the time of writing, this camera is currently only available in Japan.
Sum Up
So there you have it, 5 cameras, both mirrorless and compact point-and-shoot. Each camera has its own arsenal of unique features. I personally find the Sony RX100 III to be the best in the group for selfie shooting and for general photography. My reasons are: pocketable / portable camera body, 24mm wide-angle Carl Zeiss fast aperture lens, very good low-light performance, 5 cm macro range, 180-degree WhiteMagic 1228K-dots high resolution 3″ tilting display, built-in viewfinder and excellent video quality using the Sony XAVC (50 Mbps) video coded and Wi-Fi + NFC wireless connectivity.
You just can’t beat this arsenal of features. Yes, the RX100 III has its shortcoming, but all in all, if you are looking for a selfie digital camera, you want it to be as portable as possible, like your smartphone device. So not just that the RX100 III is small, it also packs one of the most impressive features we’ve seen on any compact camera to-date. I highly recommend the Rx100 III for those of you who are looking for a digital camera that can shoot great selfie photos, but also those of you who want a superb overall walkaround lens.
The other cameras also are respectable options. Some are less portable than others, but each one has its own unique strengths and weaknesses. My second pick is the Samsung NX mini, that comes with its own selfie-friendly freatures, it’s small and elegant and offers the photographer the ability to mount one of Samsung’s NX-M lenses. There aren’t many right now, two the last time I checked. However, I’m sure that Samsung will extend this selection pretty soon. The “selfie” screen is great, and the camera is very responsive and have lots of built-in customization controls. If you don’t mind with the interchangeable lens system, or actually prefer it, you’ll love this baby.
My pick is the Sony RX100 III, which is a superb travel #selfie camera, what’s yours?