Point and shoot rec needed

[PeterAit]

Asking for my wife, who is quite knowledgeable about photography but is not interested in seeking the best IQ, making large prints, RAW files, or the like. She wants a light, compact point-and-shoot that in addition to the various auto modes they all have will also offer manual focus and manual ISO and exposure setting. She uses a Coolpix 820 now and likes most things about it except the lack of manual capabilities. Does any such camera exist?

[Jeremy Roussak]

The Sony RX100 will do most of what you want, but not (AFAIK) manual focus. I suspect you'll struggle to get that on a point-and-shoot.

Jeremy

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

Do not know about other p&s, but on my Canon G10, manual focus is achieved by fly-by-wire, lever-pushing method,  which is hardly the precision and feel of the traditional manual focus (i.e., turning the focus ring on the lens).

[Jeremy Roussak]

Sony RX100/B pdf User Guide
Using [DMF]/[Manual Focus]
Adjust the focus by turning the Control Ring

Very well read, Isaac, if less than well understood.

You turn the ring, a sensor detects that it's been turned and a motor adjusts the focus. It's precisely as Slobodan suspected: "fly by wire", by turning rather than pushing but with every bit of the same sensitivity and control.

Jeremy

[Paulo Bizarro]

How about this recent one? Seems like a good option:

http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/olympus_sh_1_review/

[Isaac]

Very well read, Isaac, if less than well understood.

You turn the ring, a sensor detects that it's been turned and a motor adjusts the focus. It's precisely as Slobodan suspected: "fly by wire", by turning rather than pushing but with every bit of the same sensitivity and control.

Have you used MF on the Sony RX100? (Yesterday you didn't know RX100 had MF.)

I haven't used the Sony RX100, so I'll accept Michael Reichmann's hands-on report --

"The camera offers … and the lens surround ring has proper focusing action. Together these mean that one can easily see the point of focus, confirm its accuracy and then reach it efficiently."