Which compact camera?

command

Hi,

Which compact camera would you recommend with a budget of about £200?

Thanks.

EssexExile

Panasonic TZ number whatever they're up to.

Gillor

If you can stretch your budget a little, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ80 at around £249.00 has had an excellent write-up in Which?

buglawton

I have the TZ60 (called DMC-ZS40 In other countries).
Think it was the last in the series to have GPS. Its main asset compared to a mobile phone camera is the powerful zoom lens.
You can transfer files to phone on the go via wifi.

knightstyle

Having had several compact cameras I feel the most annoying thing about the sub £200 ones is the delay when I want to take that perfect shot.
So rather than going for a 30X zoom I would look for speed from first pressing the button to taking the shot. Plus how easy is it to switch between flash modes, some do not allow the flash to operate manually.

Honey_Badger

At your budget point I’d look at an RX100, John Lewis have them at £279 and if you buy before 6th January Sony are offering £70 cash back.

https://www.johnlewis.com/sony-cyber-shot-dsc-rx100-compact-camera-hd-1080p-20-2mp-3-6x-optical-zoom-3-inch-lcd-screen-black/p231683057

The RX100 has the largest sensor of the cameras mentioned so far together with a good lens.

movilogo

How compact you want? Panasonic GX800 is very small yet it has a large Micro Four Third sensor. Fuji XF10 has fixed lens but APS-C sensor.

PDC

I have the Panasonic DMC-TZ70 and I've found it disappointing. It takes excellent video but the photos are so so and it tends to overexpose by default. The selling point of the model was the Lecia lens and the fact it produces raw files but they are not of the quality and size that you get with a bridge or dslr camera (as to be expected but at the same time there isn't the infomation in the files to make them much use).

I also find some of the controls on it irritating, it has a dial around the lens which is used in addition to the controls on the back to change modes and settings and it is far to easy to move this when holding the camera - and not notice you have done so. Its a nice idea but it should've had a lock on it. Also the manual view finder this can be on or off, when its on and you look through it the main display of the camera will switch to black, the problem is it can also do this when you get something too close to the view finder and if its set to off, and you want to use it, you have to go though all the menus to find it to switch it on.

Prior to this I'd always bought from the Canon Powershot sx range and I will probably go back to that when this camera fails or is replaced.

As said above though, it depends on what you want, camera size and feature wise. Do you just want a small camera that does everything for you or do you want a small camera with manual settings and so on.

BigAl94

I have the TZ60 and whilst its a good camera overall, the battery life is dreadful. You will need spare batteries if using heavily on holiday.

buglawton

If it's a GPS model that may explain it. The whole point for us it it augments the already quite good camera in our iPhones, so maybe 10 zoom shots per day.

fb1969

I've had a Lumix TZ27 for a few years and it has been repaired twice due to minute dust particles getting inside and on to the sensor. First fix was under warranty but the second one I paid for. A quick google search at the time showed it was a fairly common fault with the TZ range - I don't know if that is still the case.

The second time it happened I was about to go on holiday, so I bought a Sony WX350 as a quick replacement and 18 months on I am very happy with it - better than the Lumix in a few ways, though the Lumix is better at panoramic and mono pictures. Since buying it, the Lumix has again got dust inside (so 3 times in about 4-5 years) and it is very much a spare now.