I am disappointed with the camera performance of my RM500 phone. But what was I expecting. My question now is: Can a RM500 point & shoot camera, used or new deliver better photos than a RM500 phone?

Mind sharing what dissappoints u in the phone's camera performance?
what kind of performace is lacking on the phone?
what kind of improvement are u looking for?
what is a better photo to u?
is it a convenience to bring a camera with u just to take photo & need to reansfer to pc then to phone later on?
have u done ur survey on what cameras u get with rm500 budget?
hows the specification compared to others and ur phone?


if u were to spend more
how far would u willing to spend to get the decent performance/better photo?

Better colour reproduction, less washout flash photography, flash permanently on during photo taking, better auto focus

I don't carry if I need carry an additional device as long as the dedicated camera offers better photos then my phone. I will need to transfer photos to PC regardless whether phone or dedicated camera.

I have not done a survey on cameras I can purchase with RM500

My phone is Nokia 2.1

RM500

Yes. Rm500 for a second hand camera can get a decent point shoot. Like canon S110.

You can’t zoom with a rm500 phone.

thank you for your recommendation. however there doesn't seem to be any recent listings on used S110 online.

You can try the Canon S90, S100 or the S110. Alternatively, the Lumix LX3 or the Olympus XZ-1.

These used to be nice compacts costing RM1.5k a number of years back and would still take better pictures than any new camera you buy with RM500 today..

I do recall that the Canon S series was the unofficial predecessor to the Canon G7X which are great camera.
Thank you for your input.
I will certainly look into it.
There was one listing for a S90 but I dismissed it quickly due to being 9/10 years old. If your statement is true, I'm surprised.

You might want to check out the samples from the cameras for you to decide. Dpreview is a good site to start off

I see. once again, thanks for suggesting suggestion on how to proceed.

have to ask, what about the S95?
and out of the Canon S series, which is known to be the most problematic? Cause I read something in regards to lens error with S100.

S95 is great too, same family. the S90-S110 and Panasonic LX3, LX5 was very popular back then and still produce great images today.

But being very old models, if you buy used, don't expect the battery to last long. Try to research if you can still buy new batteries.

Update. Earlier today, I bought a used S100. I'm not quite ready to determine whether the photos are better than my phone but I would say that the photos taken with the S100 are at least on par.

TBH, there's not much difference between compact cameras and current crop of midrange to flagship phones.

Sensor size is about the same but compact lacks the powerful processor in phones to do things like hdr.

Only RX100/G7X/LX10 type cameras with 1" sensor and above does better.

If u serious want it, need to wait.
Rm500 for p30pro, 3 years later.

RM500 camera secondhand is definitely better than an RM500 phone camera. It is even better than a mid ranger.

The picture will be much sharper and less auto focus issue. Cameras have much better quality sensors and lenses. The only question is, when you go out, will you bring camera with you all the time? I am sure you will remember to bring your phone. Camera, after a while you will be lazy to bring it out everytime unless there is an event.