Good Compact Digital Camera

[Balders]

Hi,

Can anyone recommend a good compact digital camera?

I've been looking at the Cannon Ixus 95 that is currently on Amazon for £175 but wondered if anyone had any other ideas of a good camera for around that money.

I'm going to be using it mainly for everyday stuff so nothing fancy so as long its got a fast shutter speed I'm not worried about all the other features as much.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated guys!

Thanks :thumbsup:

Mike

[showtime]

have a good read of the reviews on DPReview -

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/Q408slimgroup/

not just this grouptest but other reviews too ;)

if you're looking at spending £175 i'd stick an extra tenner into one of these -
http://www.camerabox.co.uk/product1.asp?ProductName=Panasonic-Lumix-DMC-TZ5-Black-&ProductID=4463

[ramdrive]

Have a look at the Fuji range, great low light performance.

My wife has the F30, great camera, not sure it is available anymore.



Hi,

Can anyone recommend a good compact digital camera?

I've been looking at the Cannon Ixus 95 that is currently on Amazon for £175 but wondered if anyone had any other ideas of a good camera for around that money.

I'm going to be using it mainly for everyday stuff so nothing fancy so as long its got a fast shutter speed I'm not worried about all the other features as much.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated guys!

Thanks :thumbsup:

Mike

[showtime]

this one comes in bang on budget (clearance price :thumbsup:)

http://www.camerabox.co.uk/product1.asp?ProductName=Panasonic-Lumix-DMC-FX500-Black-(Clearance-!!)&ProductID=4726

retail of these was £329 not that long ago!
Jessops still want £258 for them as of 5 seconds ago :o

[Spoolio]

Not sure how obsolete it is but I carry a Sony DSC-W90 round as a backup shooter and it's ace. When I bought it, the main criteria was to get minimal shutter "lag" ie, time between pressing the shutter and the image being captured as this is one of the main areas where compacts are pretty crap (compared to an SLR). Is this what you mean by "fast shutter speed"? Outside in good light I can just get a half decent shot of an RC car at speed on the compact but only if I pan with the optical viewfinder as framing it with the screen is no good because the image disappears once you press the shutter so you have no idea if the subject is still in frame or not for the .2 second or so it takes to capture the image. Optical viewfinders are worth their weight in gold for this but they are now a rarity on compacts. The Lumix range are excellent cameras but I don't think any of them have optical viewfinders.

What about a bottom end SLR like a Nikon D40?

[ramdrive]

The camera is fine if you do not want to go over ISO 400, Pany's are notorious for heavy noise at higher ISO's

Maybe of interest:-

http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Panasonic_Lumix_DMC_FX500_FX520/noise.shtml

this one comes in bang on budget (clearance price :thumbsup:)

http://www.camerabox.co.uk/product1.asp?ProductName=Panasonic-Lumix-DMC-FX500-Black-(Clearance-!!)&ProductID=4726

retail of these was £329 not that long ago!
Jessops still want £258 for them as of 5 seconds ago :o

[showtime]

yeah i knew about the noise from the in camera processing but its not a problem for most people, bearing in mind the original posters must have feature was a "fast shutter speed" i doubt he's a pixel peeper!

nice link, i'll have a good nose round there cheers :)

i recommended the panny TZ5 for the decent optics & the versatility of a fairly wide lens with 10x zoom & decent video capture all at the price he'd mentioned ;)
plus there should be even more/better deals now the TZ6 & TZ7 are hitting the shelves ;)

the fujis were rcommended to me when i was looking & my mr likes hers i'm just not clued up enough on their range to be able to recommend one over the other

i went for the Panasonic LX3 which has been very good so far :thumbsup:

[Balders]

Thanks for all your suggestions chaps, there is certainly a lot to look at there. I've never used a Panasonic camera before (even though I'm a big Panasonic fan what with TV’s etc) so hadn't really looked at them thinking the wide angle lens was just a gimmick but you all seem to rate them! The TZ5 does look veeeeeery innnnnteresting though.

That Camerabox website looks a good place to pick a deal, has anyone ordered from there before are they UK models or imports? (I know they are all imports essentially but for manufacturer guarantee etc)

I want the camera so I can take some half decent shots of our vintage nights we have at club as my old cannon ixus is almost as old as the cars we race and doesn't do them any justice! I don't want to go down the SLR route as that'd be another hauler bag to carry round with me! :)

Thanks again for all your suggestions, like I said I'll have a read around some the sites that have been mentioned and try and make a decission, not easy i know!

If you have any more helpful suggestions I'll be glad to hear them.

Cheers

Mike

[showtime]

yeah camerabox are in the UK
one of the members on here who works for ADT fitted them a whole new alarm system a few weeks ago
you can even talk to them on msn messenger during working hours if you have any urgent questions :)

i've had stuff from them before & i know a few others who have also they are proper UK stock with the appropriate guarantees etc ;)


but yeah keep reading the various review sites & see what you fancy :thumbsup:

[Balders]

Well...

After a good session of reading round I settled on a TZ6. I liked the 16:9 print ratio option and that it will take HD video (even though not full HD its good enough). Completely blew my budget but I couldn't help it, and I know I said I wasn't interested in gimmicks and it seems I was wrong there too.. :blush:

Who isn't a sucker for the sales pitch on shiny stuff aye!

Just ordered it now from Cambox so it should arrive in the morning, I shall let you know my first impressions!

Thanks again for all your help chaps!

Cheers

Mike

[rob8246]

I was the aforementioned who recently done some work for camera box. They are an excellent company who have the right people in house who really know their stuff.
The TZ6 is a very good choice, you will not be dissapointed. :thumbsup:

[Balders]

They delivered really quickly and were really good on the phone when the bank blocked the transaction etc so thumbs up to camera box there!

As for the camera, I am by no means an expert in photography but I took 2 shots from my kitchen window without changing the settings out the box. One normal and one on full zoom just to see the quality of the optics and how much detail could be gleamed from a 10mp compact digital these days and I have to say I am mightily impressed.

http://www.tracksidespares.co.uk/pic/P1000062_small.jpg

full size image here (http://www.tracksidespares.co.uk/pic/P1000062.JPG)


http://www.tracksidespares.co.uk/pic/P1000061_small.jpg

full size image here (http://www.tracksidespares.co.uk/pic/P1000061.JPG)

Its from Cardiff Bay looking towards Cardiff town centre.

Top stuff!

Mike