Digital Camera's - Recommendations

village_life

The time has come to replace my Fujifilm A303 digital camera, and I am trying to evaluate what are the best options available at the moment. - I am wondering if anyone has any particular recommendations on a replacement

I am looking to spend up to £300 and my 'requirements' are as follows:

• 5m pixels or more
• strong optical zoom (4x or greater would be nice)
• advanced photo options (e.g. night mode, sports etc, audio/video capture would be nice)

happy to hear anyones recommendations - there was a Sony one I liked the look of due to its size etc, but I am open to any recommendations - I'd also prefer it to be compact, so digital SLR isnt really an option for me.

volks400

http://www.casioextra.com/products.asp?category=15&action=ShowProdlist&Section=Offer

i saw this website posted by one of the members here a while ago. im thinkin of buying these slim ones. hope this helps

f1charlie

Enter your requirements here (although price range is in $) and that will help to give you a shortlist:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare.asp

Charlie

village_life

hi ts_aly2000

thanks for the recommendation.... looking at it though i am not sure i want to walk round like a tourist all the time - ideally i would like a small form camera that fits in the pocket (though i know i lose something on the lens/zoom quality by doing that)

my basic drivers for replacing my A303 are as follows:

its only 3m megapixel, so i want to get a bit more up to date.
it has only a small zoom (3x i think) and when your on holiday etc its nice to have a longer zoom option
its functions are very basic - take picture/take video/view picture - i am after something that gives me more options for sports events or landscapes or whatever.....

f1charlie

Nice camera, but I think the OP is looking for a compact.

Charlie

Ooops... beat me to it

f1charlie

How about the Panasonic TZ-1, 5MP, 10x optical zoom, £207 here (black or silver):

http://www.cameras2u.com/products/details.cfm?PRODUCT=DMCTZ1BB

Review here:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonictz1/

Charlie

village_life

f1charlie

that is more like the kinda thing i'd be looking for i think - 10x zoom is good, but causes some other problems in terms of image quality @ higher end, and also the sizing......

now, what i need is somewhere below this, perhaps sacrificing the zoom a bit (5x would be appropriate for most of my needs), but making up for some of the TZ-1's apparant failings, such as the flash quality and the battery life

i realise what i am asking for probably doesnt exist for my budget ;-) - i'm in no rush to buy though so i want to make sure i get the best camera i possibly can for my money....

other

f1charlie wrote:

How about the Panasonic TZ-1, 5MP, 10x optical zoom, £207 here (black or silver):

http://www.cameras2u.com/products/details.cfm?PRODUCT=DMCTZ1BB

Review here:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonictz1/

Charlie

Conclusion - Cons

*Noise - and heavy noise reduction - make ISO 200+ usable only for small prints
*Noise visible in shadow areas even at ISO 80
*No manual control of shutter speed or aperture

not great for sports then which will need good performance at higher ISO

did you want manual control, or is a selection of "pre-sets" ok?

but still the conclusion is that the 10x zoom is really handy in use


The sony DSC-H series are the super zooms, but again they are not compact.
Also for consideration is the Canon Powershot S3 (and S2)

The Canon S80 does wideangle but only 3.6x zoom

Sony v3 and canon g6 are pretty much discontinued but are good for manual control and good quality pics, only 4x zoom tho.

village_life

i am happy with pre-set controls.... i dont know an awful lot about taking good photos, and while i am willing to learn - i dont think i'd be very good anyway so a series of options would be fine......

still open to recommendation of the best all round compact camera in my budget........

wolfman

I'd either go for something like the Canon Ixus 800:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-IXUS-Digital-Camera-Optical/dp/B000EW7570/sr=8-1/qid=1159177195/ref=sr_1_1/202-5099992-3907052?ie=UTF8&s=electronics
which has recently dropped in price, so it's a good time to buy one.

Or one of the Canon Powershot "A" range, like the A620:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-PowerShot-Digital-Camera-Optical/dp/B000B5KFHM/sr=8-1/qid=1159177296/ref=pd_ka_1/202-5099992-3907052?ie=UTF8&s=electronics

I've personally got a Casio EX-Z850 which is a very good camera. It lacks the optical zoom you're looking for though. Lots of manual features, more so than any other super compact (hence why I bought it), but you need to set it up correctly otherwise shots can come out over saturated and a bit harsh (pixelated when you zoom in). Get it right though and the shots are fantastic. Any of these three would be a good choice and all get excellet reviews where ever you go.

village_life

I like the look of the IXUS800 model - anyone got anything to say on that one?