Compact Digitals?

[Becky]

Hi there, I'm looking for some advice on what to buy if I was looking at compact digital cameras. I have my Canon 350D dSLR which obviously isn't practical for taking everywhere (unfortunately)....

I won't be able to buy just yet, as I need to flog a couple of things on ebay before I can afford to.. the ones that have attracted me so far are the Fuji F10 and the Panasonic Lumix something or other, its one of the smaller in the lumix range and is 5mp with a 12x optical?

Any opinions or other recommendations?

Thanks

 

[Smith2688]

I'm not sure how much of a downgrade in size a Lumix would be.

If I were you and I owned a DSLR and wanted another camera, I'd go for a small, compact one, like a Canon S70 or the like so that I'd have a camera that I could take everywhere and take casual snapshots. IMO anywho.

I can say that the Lumix's are good cameras, though.

 

[Aoide]

I second what Smith says. The Lumix isn't going to be that much smaller. I started out with a Canon S45 before going to the 350D and it is the perfect companion. That was a couple of years ago so it looks like the S70 is the latest incarnation.

 

[etaf]

i carry a pro1 around with me in a small bag.
I have been looking at the ixus range 700 or 750
also I looked at the A520 because it has a 4x optical zoom - but noticed the a620 has a 4x

 

[Xmetal]

Have a sticky beak at the Fuji Finepix S5500.

 

[Jakpro]

Lumix FX7 is a lot smaller!

check out DCRP review photo:

 

[Smith2688]

Or there's the new Fx9. There's a review over at dpreview.com I haven't had a chance to read it yet, though.

 

[hobbes28]

we picked up the Canon powershot A75 for the same reason. It's a 3.2Mpix but does a fine job.

 

[damian5000]

Someone mentioned the Canon a520 already... I just purchased the a510 and it's a great little camera. It's only 3.2 MP (520 is 4), but is supposed to have <i>slightly</i> better picture quality than the 520 (based on dcresource and zdnet reviews). The A610 (4x, 5mp) is JUST coming out and is only slightly longer size wise than the 510 and 520. The A610 and A620 (7mp) are the replacements for the A95. For megazoom...the Olympus 765 is supposed to be very good and is the smallest of big zoom cameras...though no image stablization and doesn't use AA's... Sorry for the lengthy reply...I just spent a ton of time researching this...and chose the a510 for price, size, and the fact it took AA's...Good luck

- Damian

 

[Becky]

I'll look into those model thanks guys.

Does anyone know much about the Fuji F10, I keep seeing it on the back of photography magazines and am wondering if its all hype? I've been playing with it in work quite a lot and like the feel and the menu layout, its 6.3mega pixels, 3 optical and ISO from 80 to 1400 (i think, or 1600), which is unusual for a compact digicam. The only quirk I have is that theres no viewfinder.

Any thoughts or opinions on this cam?

I will be buying the cam with Dixons vouchers so I'm limited by what the store can actually stock. Like someone mentioned the Canon Ixus 700 seems to be a fantastic camera and I can get it with a proper case and a 512 SD card for £314 which seems good to me. Whereas the F10 is considerably cheaper at £195 with no card or case... dont know what to do???

 

[etaf]

F10 review with sample images
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2005_reviews/fuji_f10.html

you may want to look at the new cameras from Canon http://www.dpforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2373 - they have released details on 9 Digital camera due to be released from now to october.
the A620 looks great with 4x zoom and 7mB no idea how much that will be in UK


dixons has quite a range in there bigger stores and online

 

[Meysha]

My sister has a Casio Exilim S100 which is tiny tiny tiny and it takes great shots. The colours are pretty full on (like most of the compacts I find) to please the plebs. The flash on this little thing is utterly amazing though! It's so powerful and the camera white balances it perfectly all the time.

It is only 3.2MP but I find it does the job. But sometimes it's frustrating when that snapshot just turns out perfect and you which you had that 8MP and sharpness of the 350D behind it. Ah well, that's what we sacrifice for portability.

The Exilim also has some groovy though rather useless features - like a manual focus. Never used it coz the screen isn't good enough to use it to focus. The screen on this thing is huuuuge too!

Oh and if I can make one suggestion, if you're tossing up between a camera that takes AAs and a camera that takes a Li-ion battery, choose the one that takes AAs. They're so much easier to recharge and you can have a spare pair with you and you don't have to connect the camera to some stupid stand to charge it.
My little digi took AAs and it was great and a necessity when travelling with uncertain power sources.

 

[Becky]

I've had a look at the pictures of the Canon A620 and its similar to the others in the powershot range size wise, which is really too big for what I'm looking for. I think the Canon Ixus 700 is as big as I'd want to go... does anyone have a personal review of this? I've read numerous online reviews but its always nice to hear it straight from someone!

Battery wise, from my experience I wouldn't be tempted by a AA camera at all, but thats just me, everyone has there own preferences. LCD screens are just too harsh on battery life for my liking and even if I go for rechargeable AAs I still have to lug around the plug charger thing.. so on that end of things I'd certainly prefer an Info Lithium battery.

Has anyone got any others in mind around the same size as the Ixus? I been playing with that and the F10 again in work today and although the F10 has much more ISO flexibility I think I definately prefer the Ixus at the end of the day.

I'd be buying in Dixons Tax Free which is where I work so that I can save 15% and maybe get some staff discount thrown in... if I buy online or in a store I dont make that same saving unfortunately, so it all depends on what stock I can get my mits on!

Thanks for the suggestions so far!