£200 budget - camera for S.Africa trip..

[kennysarmy]

a friend of mine is after recommendations for a camera to take on holiday to S.Africa in February...

I was thinking some sort of bridge camera with a decent zoom so he can get some wildlife shots - budget does nt seem to be able to stretch to any sort of dSLR (even second hand)

so does anyone have any good suggestions in this price bracket?

thanks.

 

[George7]

DEFINITELY a bridge camera for this purpose! Fuji seem to make good bridges but I recently tried out a Casio one and that was quite nice too. Panasonic are also rather nice. Most bridges are under 200 anyway so you shouldn't have too much of a problem.

 

[taz]

How about an Olympus DSLR? They seem to be reasonably cheap and a 40-150 zoom is equivalent to 80-300. I would have thought the quality of even that would outstrip a bridge camera.

 

[Ambermile]

300D+lens kit s/h in that range I would have thought? However to be fair, not sure about a zoom as well, the stock lenses are all under 100mm or so it seems.

Arthur

 

[lawrie29]

I have the S9600, twisty zoom for battery life, takes AA's, stick a UV on the front fo dust protection and away.

only s/hand though.

 

[kennysarmy]

some food for thought....

will look at the current fuji offerings I think and hit some review sites.

 

[DizMatt]

fuji...I used to hate, S5000 etc, but the latest ones and the S7000 from years ago, still rather good
Lumix...brilliant and older bridge cameras from sony and canon worth looking at.
10X equiv zoom etc.
however, batteries, as mentioned some take AA's
I prefer lithiums but either way make sure you have ample power. maybe lots of rechargable AA's would be best
also long zoom, look for something with IS if poss

 

[buckas]

canon powershot s3/s4 kinda range are great

 

[bobiscuit]

Sorry if this is against the rules

I've got both a Sony Alpha A100 and a Minolta AF 100-300mm lens in the For Sale section that together would come to around £200.

The camera is fully functional except for the image stabiliser which doesn't work. Would still be better than P&S/bridge

 

[pete.rush]

a friend of mine is after recommendations for a camera to take on holiday to S.Africa in February...

I was thinking some sort of bridge camera with a decent zoom so he can get some wildlife shots - budget does nt seem to be able to stretch to any sort of dSLR (even second hand)

so does anyone have any good suggestions in this price bracket?

thanks.

It depends if you want some manual control or full auto, but personally I would look at either the (I know I've been looking for a while for a pocket camera);

http://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/index.html

Canon SX200 IS (£199 in jessops + £40 cashback offer) Manual capability
http://www.warehouseexpress.com/category/basecategory.aspx?cat03=3064&Brand=37&Range=1347#first

Pansonic TZ6 or 7 (Fully auto), probably slight edge on image quality, HD video with TZ7, but night mode (cityscapes limited) does give the best results and this camera would have benefited from some manual capability to really set it above the rest.
http://www.warehouseexpress.com/category/basecategory.aspx?cat03=3064&Brand=182&Range=1563#first

or the Fuji FinePix F70EXR £175 (Fully auto, very limited manual capability)
http://www.warehouseexpress.com/category/basecategory.aspx?cat03=3064&Brand=84&Range=1759#first

Peter

 

[kennysarmy]

It depends if you want some manual control or full auto, but personally I would look at either the (I know I've been looking for a while for a pocket camera);

http://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/index.html

Canon SX200 IS (£199 in jessops + £40 cashback offer) Manual capability
http://www.warehouseexpress.com/category/basecategory.aspx?cat03=3064&Brand=37&Range=1347#first

Pansonic TZ6 or 7 (Fully auto), probably slight edge on image quality, HD video with TZ7, but night mode (cityscapes limited)
http://www.warehouseexpress.com/category/basecategory.aspx?cat03=3064&Brand=182&Range=1563#first

or the Fuji FinePix F70EXR £175 (Fully auto, very limited manual capability)
http://www.warehouseexpress.com/category/basecategory.aspx?cat03=3064&Brand=84&Range=1759#first

Peter

Thanks - just what I was after....

Many thanks - will advise my friend to read reviews on these 3 then make his choice.