Compact camera for mother...

[the_lone_wolf]

Hi all, first foray into P&V but I have a light interest in photography, more pastime than hobby

Buying myself a new camera tomorrow, but my mum wants to upgrade her ancient compact around the same time

I have a Fuji F31fd that's frankly superb, very quick and takes nice shots for what it is

I'm stepping up to a DSLR but would like to keep the Fuji as a small one to carry around, I'm looking for the equivalent model in today's lineup of small cameras

First thought turned to the successors F50 and F60, but all reports are that Fuji have kind of lost the plot and joined the megapixel arms race and the cameras have suffered as a consequence, so what's about that'll make a good camera for family trips away, meals out, a good general cam for catching life's moments. I've had a look around but finding a camera review source I trust is tricky as dpreview don't seem to review compacts anymore (did they ever?)

Budget is up to ~£150 and it'd be good if we can drop into the local jessops/other and have a play before buying

Cheers in advance

[Simpo Two]

the_lone_wolf said:

I've had a look around but finding a camera review source I trust is tricky as dpreview don't seem to review compacts anymore (did they ever?)

They certainly do - have a look at www.dpreview.com/reviews for some group tests

the_lone_wolf said:

Budget is up to ~£150 and it'd be good if we can drop into the local jessops/other and have a play before buying

Comet is a good place to get your paws on lots of models (but don't expect any advice apart from the shelf sticker)

I can't help specifically with make/model - I agree that the compact market has been wrecked by the megapixel race. I chose a Leica C-Lux 2 over the newer C-Lux 3 because it had 7Mp instead of 10Mp... which reminds me, Panasonic always seem to be well regarded.

Edited by Simpo Two on Sunday 6th December 11:07

[the_lone_wolf]

Simpo Two said:

the_lone_wolf said:

I've had a look around but finding a camera review source I trust is tricky as dpreview don't seem to review compacts anymore (did they ever?)

They certainly do

Well I'll be, I was looking at individual models to see if they had the "In Depth Review" link - must have managed to select only models they hadn't reviewed

Will have a read...

[beano500]

Simpo Two said:

...Panasonic always seem to be well regarded.

Several friends, relatives and acquaintances (as well as others on here) have found they can get good results easily with Panasonic. If I were looking today for the sort of use you're considering I too would look at the Pans first.

[BigAlinEmbra]

I got my Mum one of the Sony W-series a couple of years back for xmas. The function wheel puts up a wee description on the screen telling you what the setting does which my mum likes and avoids having to RTFM.

Worth a look as it's more user friendly than my Ixus (which takes great pix but isn't as "simple").

[the_lone_wolf]

BigAlinEmbra said:

I got my Mum one of the Sony W-series a couple of years back for xmas. The function wheel puts up a wee description on the screen telling you what the setting does which my mum likes and avoids having to RTFM.

Worth a look as it's more user friendly than my Ixus (which takes great pix but isn't as "simple").

Cheers for that, never been a fan of Sony products (from my experience) or their memory sticks, but will have a look at the W series

[Piglet]

I've got a new Nikon Coolpixs 2200 which I'm happy with. Hubby is a Nikon DSLR user and is really impressed with the quality of the coolpixs output.

I'd go for the 2200 model (I think that's right?) rather than the 2300 - the new one has a touch screen and felt a bit cheap and nasty

[Simpo Two]

BigAlinEmbra said:

The function wheel puts up a wee description on the screen telling you what the setting does which my mum likes and avoids having to RTFM.

Now that's a good wheeze to catch out the manual-dodgers: press '?' and it puts up a PDF of the 300-page manual

[valve bounce66]

http://www.reevoo.com/p/samsung-es-55#/offers

got one of these as a pocket camera,very happy with it,saves lugging the SLR around.