Help please want to buy compact digital camera

jonesMUFCforever

Going on holiday soon - got a bridge camera which is heavy and bulky to carry around so have decided to buy a compact digital camera.
Budget - no more than £100

Specs 16 mp or better
5 x zoom to include panoramic setting if possible and a large back screen to see what I am doing!

Last thing I am not technically minded so it has to be easy to work without me having to do much.

Any suggestions please - have had a look at Panasonic Lumix DMC - FS50 is it as good as the ads suggest (around £70 so within budget)?

Going to Vegas soon and hope to see the grand canyon hence the panoramic setting but also want a camera you can just pull from your pocket switch on and shoot.

SouthUKMan

Hi. Your way of thinking sounds just like my way of thinking last summer when I bought a camera for a very special holiday. I can't recall the camera model but I do know it was a Panasonic for £89. I thought it was a good brand, 16 megapixels, 5x zoom, etc all for a great price. I can honestly say I have never been so disappointed with a camera in all my life. It was soooo slow to use. It took ages to try and focus each time, it couldn't focus in the dark (so loads of blurred evening shots) and it took several seconds to save each picture and be ready for the next shot. I was later told that many of the sub £100 models with seemingly high specs (great for marketing and advertising purposes) actually have really poor processing performance. I know that doesn't answer your question, but please don't make the same mistake as me. My memories of a very special holiday were ruined because I thought I was getting a great camera at a budget price. Check out online reviews before you buy and better still go to a shop where you can try the camera out before buying. I really wish I did.

Chrishazle

Have a look at the Nikon Coolpix S6500 in PCWorld - just bought one myself for similar reason to you - daughter's wedding coming up, need something pocket size for the wedding. Camera was IIRC £89, but had to add an SD card, got a 32gig SDHC class 10 card for £20 at the same time.

cattie

Last year I was in the market for a new camera, wanted something simple but not too expensive. Then I saw a recommendation by a poster on MSE relating to refurbished cameras direct from Fujifilm.

I went ahead & ordered on & it arrived next day, I'm over the moon with it, it is brand new, complete with box, all accessories etc. & full guarantee. I believe the cameras sold as refurbished are actually store returns because of being unsold when that line is discontinued or a new model comes out to replace it.

My sister also bought a camera from their on the strength of seeing mine, & said she prefers it by far to her Nikon Coolpix, that had developed a fault.

If you search these boards, you will find a code you can use on the Fuji site to give you 10% off. I'm not sure if it's still valid, but I used it, as did my sis.

victor2

If you're going to Vegas and the Canyon in particular, take the bridge camera, assuming it works and you are familiar with it. Might be bulky, but for somewhere like the canyon, you want pictures that will bring back memories and you can be proud of. If you want to do panoramas, get something like a gorillapod and take a few overlapping ones. Not difficult to find freeware that will stitch them up for you.
Bridge cameras tend to have better optics and more useful features than a pocket one. +1 for the comment above on Fuji - this was from 3 shots taken with a now discontinued Fuji bridge camera a few years ago...

Stompa

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

Specs 16 mp or better

Any particular reason for that?

jonesMUFCforever

Stompa wrote: »

Any particular reason for that?

The higher the pixels the better the pics?
In theory anyway??

Stompa

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

The higher the pixels the better the pics?
In theory anyway??

I think you'll find that's a bit of a misnomer, particularly for a budget compact. The number of pixels would be way down my list of priorities.

victor2

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

The higher the pixels the better the pics?
In theory anyway??

The better the optics and the better the person pressing the shutter release will contribute much more to the picture than the number of pixels. I've seen stunning pictures taken with a 6 megapixel DSLR.

usefulmale

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

The higher the pixels the better the pics?
In theory anyway??

Thats only really an issue if you want to blow the picture up to poster sizes measured in feet.

knightstyle

Got a Cannon Ixus for christmas. really pleased with it. 8x zoom and 16mp so great for cropping and enlarging. Under £100, look at Argos for specs and prices.