Digital Camera's - Recommendations

Bossyboots

I have spent ages this morning researching this as I have also decided to switch to digital, having borrowed one last week.

I am looking at the Sony DSC-H2 or 5 or the Canon Powershot 3. There seems to be an endless amount of cameras out there and the prices vary wildly. I don't understand how a camera can vary by as much as £100 or more from one place to another, even allowing for internet sale sites being cheaper.

We are going out to Jessops to have a look at the cameras as the size is a consideration as well as the quality. If we get anything constructive out of that I will post back.

zzzLazyDaisy

I have a canon s70. I paid £199 for it on e-bay (new) as the S80 had just come out. You can still get them and the price is very competitive. It is small enough to fit in a handbag or pocket. It takes Li-on batteries and comes with a battery charger. I picked a spare (non-canon) Li-on up for £8, but rarely need to use it as the battery holds its charge for ages - it is not unusual for me to shoot off 300 photos and the only time the battery has let me down is when I forgot to charge it up from the previous time!

It comes with a small CF card, but I picked up a1gb card for around £20, and it stores all the pics I need and more besides using raw format (highest resolution)

What is really good about it is that it is one of the very few compact cameras to have a wide angled lens. This means you can take group shots without having to stand on the other side of the room, and when taking photos of interiors you can get much more of the room in (if you've seen some of the poor shots on estate agent brochures, you'll know what I mean)

It has a 3x optical zoom, but this isn't a problem because the resolution is so good that you can zoom in and crop on the pc and then enlarge the cropped photo with no pixelation. For example, I took a picture of my garden pond, then cropped a damsel fly sitting on the leaf of a marginal plant, then blew that up to 10 x 8, with no loss of clarity.

This camera was recommended to me by a professional photographer who likes to keep a compact in his pocket for the times when he needs to react quickly. I am really very pleased with it, and would definitely recommend it.

Bossyboots

village_life wrote:

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

It only seems to have a short zoom. Having missed out on a really good picture last week because of only having a 3x zoom, this is something I am not going to compromise on.

wolfman

Bossyboots wrote:

It only seems to have a short zoom. Having missed out on a really good picture last week because of only having a 3x zoom, this is something I am not going to compromise on.

True. It's 4x though which is impressive for a super compact. It's the price you pay though for a smaller size camera.

Bossyboots

I have settled on the Canon S3. It was a bit heavier than I was looking for but having been to a proper camera shop as well as the high street names and played with lots of cameras (sorry to all those helpful if unknowledgeable assistants who won't be getting a sale from me but thanks for your time) this for me was the best of the bunch although I have had to compromise on the size of the screen display for other plusses.

I liked the Sony H5 but it is too inflexible in relation to memory cards and was a bit too light, making it hard to keep steady, particularly with one hand.

I also veered towards a Panasonic in the camera shop but actually didn't like the camera at all once I started using it.