Good Digital Cameras?
 

I am looking for the best £100 to £200 digital camera.

The most important thing is image quality and battery life. I am not to bothered about the mega-pixels as long as its about 5mp? I have had a previous 5mb HP camera and the quality of the pictures were poor (bad colour, grainy etc).

I was looking at this one..

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-IXUS-70-Digital-Camera/dp...id=1188510462&sr=8-1


Any advice? :)

Re: Good Digital Cameras?
 

The canon ixus series are a very good compact camera, i've got the 900ti version and it rivals many very expensive slr's the only thing it doesnt do is raw picture format.

That one (like mine) comes with a li-ion battery pack, mine has a rather good battery life :) yes it was all in one go and bright daylight (so no flash used) but i managed to fill a 4GB SD card with pics and take a fair few on a second card (around 700 pictures and 15mins of movies) and then transfer the pics to my computer and the battery didnt even read as low.

The only complaint i have is the battery monitor only warns you that its low literally when its about to die. So i'd advise getting a second battery so that you allways have a one full battery

It's just outside your price range on amazon, however if you shop around you might get it for less,
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-Digita...8555067&sr=1-1
i got mine through digital-rev last christmas and got the camera + spare bat + pouch & wrist straps for around £230 delivered (from HK)

Not sure what the postage is but its http://www.digitalrev.com/en/product...&category_id=6
£168.99+vat, thats for a uk model, but i got the ixy1000 which is the hk model which is abit cheaper and the only difference aside from the name is that it only supports two language, english and japanese. It came with an english manual tho http://www.digitalrev.com/en/product...&category_id=6

Re: Good Digital Cameras?
 

Mmm, That looks good. I have seen a ixis 75 which is about £40 more but same MP. Whats the difference...

Re: Good Digital Cameras?
 

Top of your budget admittedly but what about the Panasonic TZ3?

http://www.photoxels.com/panasonic-tz3.html
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonictz3/

Fantastic Leica lens!! 28mm - 280mm equivalent plus 10x optical zoom!! Yummy

Re: Good Digital Cameras?
 

I own a Fuji S5000 old but a very nice camera I also own a Kodak Z740

This is the Updated Fuji http://www.jessops.com/Store/s50105/...tId=236&comp=y

This is the updated Kodak http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQueri...q-locale=en_GB

Re: Good Digital Cameras?
 

Are you after compact or chunky?
I have a Canon Powershot S3 IS which is superb - not as big as an SLR, but not compact either - it has a 12xoptical zoom (~30 - 400mm) and Image Stabilisation. About £150 now.
Steve's Digicams site is good for reviews.

Re: Good Digital Cameras?
 

Compact is ideal really...

Re: Good Digital Cameras?
 

I'd go for a Fuji camera myself, as they have good build quality, the pictures are crisp, the colours are great and they are very easy to use. I cannot say about other makes as i've never used them.

Re: Good Digital Cameras?
 

I've got the Fuji S5700 that Zingle mentions, have a look at my flickr page for images taken with it. I'd also make a case for a Ricoh compact like this one http://tinyurl.com/yrmewe. I have the earlier RR30 model which was great for a 3.1 megapixel.

Re: Good Digital Cameras?
 

I've got the Casio Exilim EX-Z1050

10.1 Mega pixel lovely camera, it also takes video, it has 38 "Best Shot" modes in which you select the conditions you are filming and all you need to do is press the button.

£150

Re: Good Digital Cameras?
 

That's where the TZ3 scores - it packs some great features into a smallish body.

A bit like my wife really ;)

---------- Post added at 19:03 ---------- Previous post was at 19:01 ----------

Agree about Fuji - very good value. I've had an S5500 for some years and it takes some lovely pictures.

Re: Good Digital Cameras?
 

I think you've sold me on the Fuji! The problem I was worried about is image quality being ignored in favour of a lot of megapixels but that one seems good. Is there a newer model out or anything? :)

---------- Post added at 10:12 ---------- Previous post was at 10:11 ----------

oh and battery life?

Re: Good Digital Cameras?
 

Or the Fuji S6500, the 5700 and the 5800 look nice and from what i've seen they take great pictures, but the 6500's got manual zoom which I absolutely love.

For examples, go to my flickr gallery at http://www.flickr.com/m1cbh/

Re: Good Digital Cameras?
 

I recently purchased a Samsung NV3 and am more than happy with the quality of images. I think retail is about £170. I googles currys discount codes and bought it online from them for under £130.

-7.2 Megapixels
-3x Optical Zoom
-17.5 mm slim design
-Portable Multimedia Player (PMP) features & Digimax Converter
-Stereo Speakers
-Advanced Shake Reduction (ASR)
-Large 2.5" TFT LCD
-ISO 1000

http://www.samsungcamera.co.uk/produ...675&cat_uid=75

Re: Good Digital Cameras?
 

Aragorn, I like the look of this camera for the massive zoom capacity. Is the stabalising system as good as the review says. Do you get good close ups when you zoom into objects in the distance?

Re: Good Digital Cameras?
 

The S5700 is the current model, it's about three months old. Battery life is of course dependent on the amount of zoom, flash and LCD screen usage. I use 4xAA NiMh rechargeable batteries and have been getting over 200 images per set.

Re: Good Digital Cameras?
 

Yes being able to use goold old NimH AA's is a real bonus and they do seem to last ages in my Fuji S5500. Of course sadly these are not cameras which can be kept in a pocket unlike the Panasonic TZ3 or even the Nikon S10 (which is now available for about £150) and both of which have 10x optical zoom.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/spec...ikon_cps10.asp

Re: Good Digital Cameras?
 

The S5700 is always with me in my backpack, but if I'm going out 'dressed up' I'll take the old Ricoh RR30 instead as it's small enough to fit in my pocket.

Re: Good Digital Cameras?
 

Just bought my TZ3 at Costco for £210 inc VAT - looks and feels a very nice piece of kit. They're selling Fuji S5700 for around £120 IIRC.

Re: Good Digital Cameras?
 

First ask yourself what sort of camera you want: compact, bridge, SLR or any shade in between. Then think about other considerations like: does it need to be weatherproof; will you be spending a long time (days) away from the mains; do you have any existing flash cards that you want to use; do you want full manual control; might you want to use an external flash; might you want to use a cable release? If you think you're going to want to take any photos indoors then have a good read of this article:
http://www.dpreview.com/articles/compactcamerahighiso/
You'll see that Fuji makes some excellent sensors. But beware, not all of their cameras use their own sensors!

You can get a Fuji S6500fd (known as S6000fd in USA) from around £150. This has the same sensor as the F31fd mentioned in the article but with a manual zoon lens on the front. Why on earth the manufacturers thought we needed motorised zooms I shall never understand! I'd avoid the S5700 as this has a poor, non-Fuji, sensor.

But beware! Fuji is very likely to release the successor to the S6500fd in the next couple of weeks. If you're thinking of heading this direction then I'd hang on for a wee while.

Also check out:
http://www.dpreview.com/
http://www.steves-digicams.com/
http://www.dcresource.com/
http://www.imaging-resource.com/
and, in particular:
http://www.steves-digicams.com/best_cameras.html

And don't forget to factor in the cost of spare batteries, flash cards and, if appropriate, skylight filter and tripod.

IMHO, it's a good idea to get a camera that uses standard AA cells rather than some proprietary (expensive) battery. If you choose a camera with AAs then definately get some Sanyo Eneloop cells and a NiMh charger. These are the Mutts Nuts.

Note that I've have a Fuji S9500 so I'm biased :)

Re: Good Digital Cameras?
 

Dohhhhh.... wrong!

It was £163 + VAT = £191 which is even better than I thought !!! :D