As an older, disabled, hobbyist, I have become increasing interested in getting a high quality, pocket sized camera, but due to my fixed income and rather low hobby budget, I have not yet made a decision and plunked down the cash. I have been saving for quite some time for this type of purchase, but really need to get the most out of it as it may well be the camera I finish out my photographic endeavors with along side my Pentax K3. Anyway, I have done a lot of online research and it's obvious that what I really want is the Sony RX100 MK-VII, but the sticker shock is painful to say the least! Even good used models are near $1000.00 and that's if you can even find one. I might be able to settle for the RX100 VR, but it too is still pricey for me and even harder to find used or refurbished. So, I am now leaning toward a Canon G5X MK-II or possibly even a G7X MK-III. I'd rather have the G5X primarily due to the pop up viewfinder, but these still go for around $900.00 new and I have yet to find a used one up for sale. The G7X doesn't have a viewfinder, but I can find them for sale used at a reasonable price (around $450.00) However, the auto focus on both Canon models is not their current phase detect system and I've read some reviews that mentioned focus issues with the G7X. This brings me right back to the Sony Models that clearly have the superior focus systems, I just can't seem to spend that kind of money on one, at least not yet. Frankly, I'd really like to keep my budget under $700.00 and I'm not against buying refurbished or used if the unit is in great shape and it saves me some money. Therefore, I have also recently reviewed some of the Panasonic and Fuji models and they seem to have a lot of bang for the bucks, with some Panasonic models being well within my price range. However, the reviews aren't all that great and I keep thinking that the Sony is the one I really want. So, unless the group here can show me a really good option within my current price range, I guess I'm going to have to keep saving or sell something and even then it's going to be very hard for me to plunk down the cash needed for the Sony RX100 either new or used (I bought my last 3 DLSR's for less than that combined). Anyone got any good suggestions on alternatives? I'd especially like to hear about experiences with the Panasonic models from folks that have actually used them. Thanks for any input here and good luck and good shooting to all.

Alcohol is a generic term for a whole class of organic compounds. Many alcohols would be unsuited to sensor cleaning. The term is also used to refer to ethanol - the alcohol we drink.



You won't be able to get pure ethanol, but pure isopropanol should be available & is actual a better option.
I believe 'rubbing alcohol' refers to a lower purity iso-propanol.

Working in a lab I can get hold of chemicals quite easily, but even here pure ethanol is difficult, 99.8% is relatively available but needs customs wavers etc. (IIRC 99.9% was over £200 a litre)

99.9% iso-propanol (with a tight residue specification) is under £10 for 2.5 litres from one of my suppliers.

I had a HD crash this summer and replaced with SSD and Win 10. I also replaced PS elements to 2020. Now all of my pics are squatty, things that are suppose to be round are now oval. I have tried every resolution in my monitor settings and it does change some but does not cure. I have shots with a different camera and get same results. Any thoughts? As is really turns me off to do any processing. I don't believe it is Elements either as when I just open a file from card reader it is out of round. Any help is appreciated!

Tonight is clear and I am doing some night sky photography. Its 37 degrees, so have taken the camera and filter outside for 20 minutes to allow temperature equilibration to avoid fogging. Set up the camera, took a half hour sequence of shots, no problem with fogging. Added a screw-on light pollution filter and within 10 minutes, the filter, not the camera lens, is badly fogged up on the surface facing the lens. What do you think the solution might be? The filter is the Hoya Starscape filter. It does a great job of reducing light pollution.

My overall method for a number of subjects and including the ISO bearings is to throw my Nikon and Leica cameras in the dishwasher for a good deep cleaning. Of course care must be taken as these are valuable and sensitive machines/computers. They MUST be placed on the top shelf lest they be sprayed with more than the recommended amount of water. Also be careful to push the Sani Clean button to make sure the valuable parts inside the camera are clean and not just the outside. I have found this works equally well for lenses too.

A reminder though that since these items have been in water for cleaning a liberal spraying of WD-40 is recommended after the items come out of the dishwasher. No need to douse them though. A good spraying up into the camera to disperse the water from the sensor is enough to keep it going forever. Then a gentle spraying on all of the outside and then wipe off with a towel. Good to go. Those ISO bearings will last forever with this treatment.

Dennis