Compact Digital advice please

[Ed FM]

Morning,

I am after some advice on a reasonably priced compact camera. Last year my wife killed a sony one we had, and last week she dropped and damaged the lens on our Panasonic DMC-TZ6. With a £100 excess on our house insurance it doesn't seem worth claiming for it. Just wondered if anyone thinks there is any particular camera I should be looking at? TBH we have never been that pleased with the Panasonic photos. It seems good in good light and out doors but with the flash the photos don't seem great, this could be because we are bad at taking photos though!

Cheers,

Ed.

[andy-xr]

Try a Holga - they're plastic and may bounce, will be cheaper than the compacts you keep rebuying as well

There's a tiny Canon compact out for around £70 that looked reasonable as a snapper. You may run into the same problems again with flash and compacts though

[Murph7355]

I've always been a Canon fan, and the Ixus line is still pretty good. But recently mates with Panasonics have consistently taken better photos IMO. If I were buying again, I'd very likely go that way.

[jimmy156]

Panasonic compact camera's are up there with the best, the TZ range in particular are very well thought of and consitantly do well in reviews.

The critism you have that its struggles in low light and when using the flash is one of the main downfalls of a compact camera. Some will do it better then others, but they will all struggle to some degree!

The current panasonic equivelent to your camera would be the TZ10, 18 or 20. The TZ10 has won a few awards and the 18 and 20 are its predecessors. However they probably wont be much, if any, better indoors or in low light. If you want to get a camera that will deal with these situations better, a lot manufacturers now make a high-end compact with a slightly larger sensor, smaller resolution (10mp seems the norm) and technology like backlit sensors that help it to deal with low light. they often come with relativley fast lenses too, f1.8 or f2.0, which will also help. The panasonic version is the LX-5 but also considor the Canon G12, Nikon P7000 etc.

The next step would be either a compact system camera, or an SLR but these stop being "compact" and start costing a lot more money!

[S13_Alan]

I've just bought a Canon S95 for when I can't use, or don't want to take my 550D anywhere. It's really rather impressive, and excellent in low light. Worth a look if you are willing to spend that much imo.

[ideo]

S13_Alan said:

I've just bought a Canon S95 for when I can't use, or don't want to take my 550D anywhere. It's really rather impressive, and excellent in low light. Worth a look if you are willing to spend that much imo.

^This. I've got an S90 which I have on me at all times and love it. Auto is good but with lots of manual stuff when I want it including ability to shoot in RAW file format.

[Ed FM]

Not sure if i'm having a change of heart. I have borrowed a friends old Nikon D100 slr to play with and have quite liked using it. I am thinking maybe a compact isn't for me. I do a lot of kitesurfing and would like a camera that would be good for photographing this, a decent zoom would be handy. Also quite wide shots would be nice. He said I should consider the Nikon coolpix 500, these also seem reasonably priced. I basically need advice as i'm pretty clueless at the moment.

Thanks,

Ed.

[Simpo Two]

I think you need to decide if you want cheap, simple, convenient and limited results (compact)

or

not cheap, more complicated, learning curve and results only limted by you (DSLR).

Up to you!

[Ed FM]

Simpo Two said:

I think you need to decide if you want cheap, simple, convenient and limited results (compact)

or

not cheap, more complicated, learning curve and results only limted by you (DSLR).

Up to you!

I take it a camera like the Coolpix P500 is a still just a compact? What would be the cheapest DSLR setup you could start off with, could buying second hand be an option?

Ed

[Simpo Two]

Ed FM said:

I take it a camera like the Coolpix P500 is a still just a compact?

Marketing departments are making the distinctions blurry these days, but in my book a compact is small with fixed lens and LCD monitor on the back. A DSLR is big, has interchangeable lenses and a proper (optical) viewfinder.

Both have pros and cons depending what you want to do.

A P500 looks like a pretend DSLR aka a 'bridge camera'. IMHO (and I can feel the flames) these offer the worst of both worlds and are for people who want the 'big camera' look but are frightened by DSLRs. Others will disagree but that's too bad!

Ed FM said:

What would be the cheapest DSLR setup you could start off with, could buying second hand be an option?

Second hand is a very sound option. I can only talk about Nikon but I'd say a D80 would give you plenty to get yout teeth into, and eBay is full of s/h lenses, both Nikon and others. But there will be a lot to learn so if you just want quick results and something that fits in a pocket it's not the right route.

[Ed FM]

Simpo Two said:

Second hand is a very sound option. I can only talk about Nikon but I'd say a D80 would give you plenty to get yout teeth into, and eBay is full of s/h lenses, both Nikon and others. But there will be a lot to learn so if you just want quick results and something that fits in a pocket it's not the right route.

Thanks for your advice. It looks as though you can pick up the camera body for around £200 and perhaps the same again for a lense. Both myself and the wife are keen to learn and would like to take good photos. Is it something you can learn as you go along, or would we be totally clueless without some kind of help/lessons?

[Elderly]

Ed FM said:

I do a lot of kitesurfing and would like a camera that would be good for photographing this,
Ed.

I doubt that a compact would be your best option. 99.99% of all compacts use contrast detect autofocus and that system is not renowned for being good with fast moving subjects.


Also it sounds as if you need will need to protect your camera from getting wet.

[Simpo Two]

Ed FM said:

Thanks for your advice. It looks as though you can pick up the camera body for around £200 and perhaps the same again for a lense. Both myself and the wife are keen to learn and would like to take good photos. Is it something you can learn as you go along, or would we be totally clueless without some kind of help/lessons?

If you promise to spell lens properly then PM me your e-mail address and you can have a copy of 'Bloke’s Idiot’s Guide to Cameras’

[Ed FM]

Simpo Two said:

If you promise to spell lens properly then PM me your e-mail address and you can have a copy of 'Bloke’s Idiot’s Guide to Cameras’

I promise to spell lens properly. Pm'd