Camera Advice please!

maniac886

After searching the internet for the last few days I have decided to buy the Panasonic DMC-FX07 as seen here and was wondering what you guys thought of it please?

I am really looking for a camera that will take good quality pics with an image stabiliser and pretty small.

I am going on hols next month and want to buy a camera that will take high quality pics but not too expensive @ £150 or less?

My friend has one of the more expensive Panasonic cameras and the quality from that is absolutely superb.

Will the above do the job or can you suggest something else?

Thanks:money:

Blowsy

The only thing I'll say on this (so you don't make the same mistake I did with my first digi camera) is:

Decide on what's more important: Size or Picture quality because the general rule of thumb is that you'd can't have both.

I bought a smallish camera first time around with decent (at the time) picture quality/specs but quickly realised that I never wanted to take it out with my because it was too bulky in my pockets.

I've since bought a Casio Exilim which is very thin and the quality of the picture are good enough for day-to-day use and I take it everywhere and end up using it alot more.

The model you've posted looks like a neat size.

moonrakerz

If you are using it for family/holiday 'snaps' don't waste money on anything over 6 megapixels.
I won't bore you with the maths (Google it if you want !), but you won't notice any difference in the picture quality between a 6 and 12 megapixel camera.

All I would say is buy something with a known name.

maniac886

moonrakerz wrote: »

If you are using it for family/holiday 'snaps' don't waste money on anything over 6 megapixels.
I won't bore you with the maths (Google it if you want !), but you won't notice any difference in the picture quality between a 6 and 12 megapixel camera.

All I would say is buy something with a known name.

Would you consider the Panasonic to be good enough?

espresso

maniac886 wrote: »

Would you consider the Panasonic to be good enough?

Depends on your requirements. The Panasonic has more of a wide angle lens i.e. The 3.6x optical zoom lens has a focal length equivalent to 28-102mm in 35mm format, compared to the more standard three times optical zoom lens which has a focal length equivalent to 38 - 114mm in 35mm format i.e. can zoom in closer.

maniac886

I don't think I will be zooming in that much.

The pics will be of buildings/monuments and other stuff.

ManAtHome

Don't go too wide with buildings unless you can keep the camera level - pointing a wide-angle lens up or down gives you "bendy wall syndrome" (try a few practice shots before the hols).

maniac886

ManAtHome wrote: »

Don't go too wide with buildings unless you can keep the camera level - pointing a wide-angle lens up or down gives you "bendy wall syndrome" (try a few practice shots before the hols).

Ah right...is the camera no good for taking pics of buildings??

ManAtHome

Most cameras are ok for buildings, it's just that you get a very different picture using the telephoto end and standing back than you do getting close up and using the wide end.

Give it a try on your house (or any other building) - start over the road/bottom of the garden, then move closer adjusting the zoom to keep the building around the same size, then load into the pooter and compare.

That's the great thing about digital, you can experiment for nothing.

judderman62

maniac886 wrote: »

Would you consider the Panasonic to be good enough?

only you can answer that really - we all have different ideas of what's OK- I am an absolute stickler for quality and find the quality from digital cameras rather disappointing.

I now have a Canon D400 and the quality is good but a lot of images I have seen from digicams have left me distinctly underwhelmed

The image stabilisation is certainly a handy thing to have and from memory Panasonics use Zeiss lenses - welll glass doesn't get any better than Zeiss.

If your standards aren't too critical you will probably be happy with it (can you not maybe trial one at a local dealer then look at the results ?)

If you are fussy like me then you probably need to look at an SLR - they also use considerably larger sensors- this has a significant impact on quality.

take a peek at steves digicams (google for it) - it's a good place for reviews

good luck and hope you find something you will be happy with

judders

judderman62

Here's the link to Steve's Digicams