Recommend me a camera under £130?!

[jason graham]

Hi all,

Not posted here for a while.

Need a new camera - point and shoot type thing for pics of the family only. Will probably only use 10% of any camera's actual abilities so just after some recommendations on what you would get for picture quality, battery life, reliability etc....

What do you suggest and where from?

Cheers
Jason

[photek]

Head for the well known brands; Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Casio, Fujifilm, Olympus etc.

Might be worth going for something which uses the same type of card as your old camera to save buying more; be that SD, xD, CF etc

Then I'd seriosuly suggest just popping out to somewhere like Jessops or Jacobs and actually trying a few models out and seeing what you like/don't like. Once you've narrowed down to a couple of options then I'd head back home and hit the internet and search for good prices. You could try; Amazon.co.uk (http://www.thedvdforums.com/jump2.php?url=http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/redirect-home?tag=thedvdforums-21&site=dvd), Jessops Online (http://www.thedvdforums.com/jump2.php?url=http://clkuk.tradedoubler.com/click?p(17211)a(60823)g(106115)), Empire Direct (http://www.thedvdforums.com/jump2.php?url=http://clkuk.tradedoubler.com/click?p(137)a(60823)g(19373)), Play.com (http://www.thedvdforums.com/jump2.php?url=http://playcom.at/thedvdforums), Pixmania (http://www.thedvdforums.com/jump2.php?url=http://www.awin1.com/awclick.php?mid=782&id=30372), Boots (http://www.thedvdforums.com/jump2.php?url=http://clkuk.tradedoubler.com/click?p(4907)a(60823)g(38424)), Comet (http://www.thedvdforums.com/jump2.php?url=http://www.awin1.com/awclick.php?mid=157&id=30372), Currys (http://www.thedvdforums.com/jump2.php?url=http://www.awin1.com/awclick.php?mid=1599&id=30372), OneStop Digital (http://www.thedvdforums.com/jump2.php?url=http://www.onestop-digital.com/), to name but a few....

Bought my other half one of these (http://www.thedvdforums.com/jump2.php?url=http://clkuk.tradedoubler.com/click?p(17211)a(60823)g(106115)url(http://www.jessops.com/Store/s50464/1-136-236/Home/Cameras--and--Lenses/Digital-Compact-Cameras/Casio/Exilim-EX-Z1050-(Silver)/details.aspx)) Casio Exilim Z1050's and we've been really impressed with the quality of the images.

[rwniel]

How about the universally recommended and endlessly discussed Fuji f31fd? It's currently £117.00 including delivery from Amazon (http://www.thedvdforums.com/jump2.php?url=http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000L9SCIW/thedvdforums-21) - I bought one for my girlfriend and she has no problems operating it. Battery life is pretty good and there's room left in your budget for a decent sized xd memory card (e.g. 1gb - enough to hold ~ 340 photos in highest quality jpg). Here's a comprehensive review (http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/fujifilmf31fd/) and plenty of sample images can be found here (http://www.pbase.com/cameras/fujifilm/finepix_f31_fd).

Robert

[jason graham]

Thanks guys - half the problem is there is just so much choice...

[photek]

Well, the Casio I mentioned is good and I can also recommend the Fuji above as I've bought this as a leaving gift for a retiring colleague who loved it. You also can't go wrong with a Canon or Nikon.

I guess you need to think about what is important for you e.g. Low light performance, physical size, video modes, viewfinder or screen only, amount of optical zoom, how wide/long the lens goes, whether there are aperture or shutter priority modes etc

What options does your camera have that you'd like to carry over to the new one?

[jason graham]

Photek,

The camera will be used almost in its entirety for family pics (I've 3 small children).

If I think about how the current camera has been used then the following have never been used:-

light performance
viewfinder
video
zoom ...used but rarely

I guess size would be quite good....current one is not used as much as could be as its quite bulky (4-5 years old) and I do find it takes ages from pressing the button to it taking the pics which can be quite annoying when you are trying to get that instant moment pic...and you miss it

really just looking for a point and shoot which takes really good quick qaulity pics using the screen.

Our best friend is a professional photographer so our house is rammed full of hundres of fantastic pics and canvases of all sizes and colours...this is just for our idiot family use!