Digital camera help please

martyp

Hi all,
I've decided that I'm going to give up using mobile phones to take nice photos and buy a small compact digital camera. I'm majorly clueless though and they all look so similar and I really can't tell what is a bargain or not.
I haven't really set an exact price limit but I find the following features appealing:
High number of Megapixels (e.g. 10/12/14)
Good optical zoom (seen one camera at 8X)
HD video recording
Big digital display

I like to take both close up pictures of tiny things (e.g. flowers/insects) and also maybe far off things like birds or planes...
Sainsburys had a camera with 8X optical zoon for £189 with all the above features but thought that probably wasn't a real bargain...?

If someone can suggest anything out there I would really appreciate it as I'd like to get something before a concert in a couple of months (seated far away from the band too!)

many thanks

lee634

Take a look here

buyitall

This looks a good deal:
http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/panasonic-lumix-tz10-12-1mp-12xzoom/736389

tonynw

Buy a panasonic TZ6 or a TZ7 or TZ8 or TZ10 the TZ6 you should get at a reasonable price and the cameras perform superb and are fantastic for macro shots.

tonynw

electrodent

My one piece of advice would be to ignore megapixels, or at least keep it to the bottom of your priorities. They're used more as a marketing tool to sell compact cameras. My old 5 megapixel bridging camera took better photos than any of my friend's 10+ megapixel compact cameras. Probably more important is something you've already picked up on and that's an optical zoom.

Most (if not all) compact cameras will have a macro (close up) setting, so I wouldn't worry about that. You'll find it difficult photographing some birds and planes with any reasonably priced compact camera. I struggle to get good photos of birds in my garden with my DSLR. I would get better shots if I could afford the £1k telephoto lens to go with the camera...

Anyway, I can't advise on bargains, but if you want quality in a compact camera it's hard to go wrong with canon. They do excellent compact cameras. Re post above, the newer Panasonic cameras are also very good.