recommend a camera for my daughter please

roddydogs

Why pay £140 for a 75 ixus? bid about £70 on Canon Shop on E-Bay-refurbished and still 1 year Gtee,
If you insist on new £114 from Amazon, free postage.
you will need a 2gb Sd card, but their only about £6 now.

buglawton

There's another thread going at the moment where a new £125 Panasonic model is being recommended, it is 8MP and has that stabilization. Wow is it competitive out there!

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=9314849#post9314849

ollyk

buglawton wrote: »

Something like the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX33 is very small and slim and has image stabilization, we use ours to take low light and even night shots without flash. The stabilizer helps make many such shots come out sharp, not possible on our previous camera.due to hand shake
http://www.ephotozine.com/article/Panasonic-DMC-FX33
Get her the pink one she is highly unlikely to complain! Under £150 at many places.

That camera has quite a slow lens tho. In fact, a similar camera with a faster lens would produce similar images without the stabilization! If you could get a faster lens (f2.8 at wide) with image stabilization then you would really be doing well.

I would like to see some full size images if you have any..

BTW I use to be able to take great night shots with my fuji 2800 2mp dinosaur although admittedly not hand held...


@OP if you can get a more capable 5/6 mp camera (8mp really not that much difference) then you will probably be laughing and will not notice the difference although I am not sure what is available these days...

I think there should be a sticky with some basic buying advice and links somewhere round here because this camera business comes up for too frequently!!!

buglawton

When you want a slim very compact camera, the chance of having a 'faster' ie large diameter lens is vanishingly small. Hence we were pleased with the practical results of the evening and indoor/no-flash shots - there might be 'noise' but most (but by no means all) of the attempts came out basically sharp.

These
http://adobe.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=14ijt3dj.a0tlxbxj&Uy=-ud9gzp&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0
were taken with the FX-33 no low light shots to show unfortunately, maybe I can find an example somewhere...

edit: found a handheld evening example we took:

coolagarry

I think this Samsung is an amazing price for a good point and shoot camera. £40
http://www.misco.co.uk/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?Sku=143253&sourceid=6408

buglawton

Wow are they getting cheap nowadays! The Samsung even has a 28mm wide angle lens + 3x zoom and is not much fatter than the Panny. Just no image stabilization.

No wonder no-one want to pay even £25 for my old 4MP Casio.

buglawton

A recent review of the DMC-FX33 appeared on the 14th:
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/03/14/review_panasonic_lumix_dmc_fx33

[Deleted User]

ollyk wrote: »

That camera has quite a slow lens tho. In fact, a similar camera with a faster lens would produce similar images without the stabilization! If you could get a faster lens (f2.8 at wide) with image stabilization then you would really be doing well

From the FX33's specs:
Aperture - Wide: F2.8 / F8.0 (2 steps) Tele: F5.6 / F16 (2 steps)

There you go - f2.8 with optical stabalisation and a wide angled lens... mine's waiting to be opened downstairs. 130 quid well spent

I'll post some photos tomorrow night after a trip to Chessington world of adventure

buglawton

One thing I should say abt the FX-33: Sunny day shots are great just as they are. On overcast days or when the air quality is a bit poor (ie in China) so landscapes look slightly misty, some after-processing (in a photo program like Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop, or free Photoalbum from Adobe) - auto contrast enhancement and maybe a sharpen once - is a good idea. You can possibly adjust the camera to do this all the time but I prefer to capture a subtle image minus any heavy processing then decide what to do afterwards.

[Deleted User]

ok, i've spent a day with the FX33-

Very simple to use
Great video
Nice quality photos
Battery runs down quickly if you don't use the auto power options

Here's a nice pic from the day out:



I like it.. i do miss having a view finder and a BIG zoom (from my Panny FZ5), but it's compact and very quick to pick up and use