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[Golfbuddy]

I'm thinking about getting a new digital camera after getting totally fed up with waiting for Golfbuddy Jnr's camera to take 20 secs to write to the memory card and the lack of optical zoom and the poor resolution. What did I expect for £30 off Ebay.  

I have a Canon EOS 35mm outfit with several lenses, both fixed length and zoom, but probably won't go down the SLR route this time as I really want something point and shoot but with a bit of creative possibility. I can always do quite a bit in Photoshop as well.

I was looking at this one from Panasonic as it appears to have a decent lens (Leica) with a good optical zoom range. 6MP should be fine enough resolution but I don't have any experience of this or higher resolution.

Any tips to stop me making an expensive mistake would be greatly appreciated. Don't want to spend more than £200 on a point and shoot camera.

[Baron Von Spongebob]

I don"t see anything wrong with that Golfbuddy

I have 3 digital cameras 2 Fuji and 1 Nikon..

What i have i prefer the Fuji"s but i would like to have a digital slr but more than what you want to pay as you know..As long as it has optical zoom it should be fine but stay away from a camera with only digital zoom..

I would budget for a spare battery though  

[Ken T]

I don't know if a second hand camera is out, but you could get a Minolta Dimage 7i for prob under £100. They were quite expensive when they first came out, but are now available for very reasonable money. They are capable of capable of some very good pics, http://www.steves-digicams.com/2002_reviews/dimage7i.html , and having a 49mm thread on the front, you can add a telephoto or fisheye lens. I have several minoltas, 7, 7i, 7hi, A1, A2, G400, G530, F200, but my fav is the A2. It still costs a lot 2nd hand, but is very clever.  

[razzo]

Got to agree with Spongebob on this, digital zoom is awful quality & optical zoom is the best way to go. Some things to look out for on a digi camera is lens quality & shutter lag. Leica lens is fab quality & has wicked resolving powers you will not be disappointed with image reproduction. As you have an SLR & want a point & shoot jobbie its a nice camera & will deliver. Tips to look for on a digi camera is lens quality eg. a 5 meg camera with a f2.8 lens is better than a 8 meg camera with a f4 lens & shutter lag is the time between pressing the button & the camera capturing the image, the shorter the better HTH  

[Nickbat]

I have a Pansonic Lumix and this is what it did for me!  







Get one!!!

[Golfbuddy]

Thanks for the answers. Ken, second hand not out of the question but want something pocket size with this type of camera and will stick with Canon for 'proper' photography so that I can use my existing lenses.

As for the Panasonic, max aperture at full zoom is F4.9 and F3.3 wide angle, which doesn't seem too bad considering that's equivalent to 280mm to 28mm in 35mm. Sadly, looking at this camera again, it doesn't appear that there is any manual control so aperture could be anything between F3.3 and F11 depending on what it decided it wants to do.  

Think I need to look at something else. Any suggestions?

Edit: Started typing before Nickbat's post. Nice pics And good quality.

Perhaps what I want doesn't exist. i.e. Compact, good lens, wide aperture, wide optical zoom range, high resolution, full manual and auto control, under £200.

[Nickbat]

...and these have been reduced in resolution from the original 3100 x 2300 pixels to 800 x 600 for posting purposes.

A super point-and-squirt camera IMHO.

Nick

[razzo]

Thanks for the answers. Ken, second hand not out of the question but want something pocket size with this type of camera and will stick with Canon for 'proper' photography so that I can use my existing lenses.

As for the Panasonic, max aperture at full zoom is F4.9 and F3.3 wide angle, which doesn't seem too bad considering that's equivalent to 280mm to 28mm in 35mm. Sadly, looking at this camera again, it doesn't appear that there is any manual control so aperture could be anything between F3.3 and F11 depending on what it decided it wants to do.  

Think I need to look at something else. Any suggestions?

Crossed wires here i think, what i meant was max aperture is indicated on front of lens in writing eg 1:2.8 & so on. A 3.3 max aperture is still very good quality & its a leica so you can't go wrong  

[Admin]

Have to say it's a subject I know little about, but for a good point and click, the Ixus range from Canon are fantastic.

Oh, and very impressive pics Nick!  

[Snapper]

I think there is only so far you can go with a compact camera ..... the smaller they make the chip the more noise and crud you get with every image. Each time you buy technology it is worth half what you paid seconds after the spend. If you buy something that only allows small option for creative control you will want to exceed this soon and then have to spend again. I get this feeling that you might just not want an SLR .... right up to the point that you get something else and find it wont do all the things you wished.


Pop over to this site and see what Canon do with their extra bits

http://search.stores.ebay.co.uk/Canon-Outlet_Canon_W0QQftsZ2QQsaselZ114950978QQsatitleZCanonQQsofpZ0

I know that it might cost you a tad more than your £200 but then you could have bought a Nissan Micra instead of your Omega  

[TheBoy]

Have to say it's a subject I know little about, but for a good point and click, the Ixus range from Canon are fantastic.

Oh, and very impressive pics Nick!  

I have an Ixus 700, good point and shoot snapper, and robust too (mine is dented badly).

I've heard the newer ones aren't so good though.

However, if you want control, a small compact is always going to be compromised...

[ians]

the thing that annoies me most with mine (otherwise solid Canon Powershot) is what razzo calls shutter lag.  I'd never heard of this before buying the camera,  but as a test I took a picture of the kitchen clock which has a second hand.  Pressed the button exactly on the minute - the picture itself was captured 2 seconds or so later (I forget exactly but its massive if your subject is moving).   So worth testing in the shop.

[Taxi_Driver]

Last year i bought a kodak Z740

For a point and click its pretty good.

My decision was based on I wanted a good photo printer.....so I went looking at kodak printers....on the fact they've been developing photos for donkeys years.....so should be be able to produce a decent printer.
After I found one I decided to buy the a camera to go with it.....and bought as a bundle a kodak printer that the z740 sits on top off......so no need for a pc.....tho i have mine connect to my desktop for downloading images and checking pic before printing....as print medium isnt cheap....but it prints borderless photos and just like the ones you get developed  

Camera has optical zoom and digital......on its downside it doesnt have any stability control.....on max  zoom can be a bit tricky to get sharp images.

All the pics you may have seen posted by me on here was with that camera.

I can post a few of my holiday shots taken last week if want to see the quality.

Heres a link to the bundle i bought

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kodak-Z740-Digital-Printer-Bundle/dp/B0007X50DC/ref=sr_1_10/202-0911852-0768652?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1189447517&sr=8-10

[Nickbat]

I've been thinking a bit more about this. For me, the Lumix does everything I want. It has all the different modes, from simple portrait through to sports. Also, it has various controls to change the exposure and so on. But then, I expect most compact cameras in a similar price range do the same. My advice is to go for the best deal on a well-known brand, but do not go below 6 megapixels.

Years ago, I got heavily into photography with a Pentax ME Super, hundreds of lenses form 17mm to 500mm mirror, plus all the darkroom stuff and studio lights, etc. Well, I've got to be honest and say the results I get today are miles better than back then. The only thing I don't have are the various filters I used, but then Photoshop can reproduce many of those effects anyway.

One thing that hasn't changed is brand loyalty. Curiously, this is very pervasive throughout the electronics sector. Mention PCs, Hi-Fi, mobile phones and cameras, and people will always fiercely defend their brand, rubbishing the competition at every opportunity. It's really rather strange. Mind you, I suppose it also applies to cars. Omegas are best, all the others are inferior!  

As far as photography is concerned, I find that people spend far more time choosing a camera with all the bells lights and whistles and hardly any time on learning how to take a good picture. Many a tacky portrait of someone smiling as they lean against a tourist attraction has been taken on a camera that cost a fortune and yet a cheap disposable would still capture the same awfulness. IMHO, peple should learn to take portraits of people when they least expect it, thus getting a natural look that captures their true selves. As far as landscapes are concerned, I was always taught to look for the different angle and check all round the field of view for things like a single tree or building which might spoil an otherwise perfect shot.

Think I'll stop now. Hope you see what I'm getting at!  
        

[Golfbuddy]

I've been thinking a bit more about this. For me, the Lumix does everything I want. It has all the different modes, from simple portrait through to sports. Also, it has various controls to change the exposure and so on. But then, I expect most compact cameras in a similar price range do the same. My advice is to go for the best deal on a well-known brand, but do not go below 6 megapixels.

Years ago, I got heavily into photography with a Pentax ME Super, hundreds of lenses form 17mm to 500mm mirror, plus all the darkroom stuff and studio lights, etc. Well, I've got to be honest and say the results I get today are miles better than back then. The only thing I don't have are the various filters I used, but then Photoshop can reproduce many of those effects anyway.

One thing that hasn't changed is brand loyalty. Curiously, this is very pervasive throughout the electronics sector. Mention PCs, Hi-Fi, mobile phones and cameras, and people will always fiercely defend their brand, rubbishing the competition at every opportunity. It's really rather strange. Mind you, I suppose it also applies to cars. Omegas are best, all the others are inferior!  

As far as photography is concerned, I find that people spend far more time choosing a camera with all the bells lights and whistles and hardly any time on learning how to take a good picture. Many a tacky portrait of someone smiling as they lean against a tourist attraction has been taken on a camera that cost a fortune and yet a cheap disposable would still capture the same awfulness. IMHO, peple should learn to take portraits of people when they least expect it, thus getting a natural look that captures their true selves. As far as landscapes are concerned, I was always taught to look for the different angle and check all round the field of view for things like a single tree or building which might spoil an otherwise perfect shot.

Think I'll stop now. Hope you see what I'm getting at!  
        

That's what sort of attracted me to the Panasonic, not the brand but the Leica lens. Now, I'm sure there are Leicas and there are Leicas but would they really put their name to a dog, I wouldn't have thought so. Megapixels are good, I'm sure, but you could have 50 Mp and a crap lens would still be a crap lens.

Not really interested in bells and whistles, I would really like to be able to set film speed, aperture and shutter speed manually and leave all the stability control, artistic modes et al in the box; but it appears that to acheive that I need to go down the SLR route which I will at some stage, as I have a fairly comprehensive Canon EOS 35mm outfit, but not for now as I just want to travel light when it comes to a camera.

Gonna take my time over this one. I'm not desperate but will be going to a wedding in October and it will probably be the last time my mums family will all be together in one place. Her mum is very old and once she is gone I doubt whether there will be another get together like this one so I really want some good pics.

Thanks Nick and to everyone for your help and input, also to Spongebob for details sent.

Will post back when I have made a decision.