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Sagar

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Hello all, I understand you may have been asked this a million times before, in which case it would be great if someone could give me a link to the thread but....

I'm looking to buy a compact digital camera, price range of £150-£220, this christmas.

I won't be using it in any kind of professional sense but I'm hoping it'll be a proper hobby and would like to get optimum picture quality and performance for my money.

Could you wonderful people possibly help me out?

The LUMIX series, IXUS series and Sony T200 have impressed me most so far but I've not spoken to any independent users.
 
Trouble with compacts is they seem to have a shelf life of just a few months so it's near impossible to keep up. However The Panasonic and Canon ranges are both excellent and you won't go far wrong with either. One word of advice though, don't buy sight unseen, get down to your local shop and try the models you are interested in in your hands, some can look big in photos but are really tiny.
 
For a few quid more (£250 ish) you'll get a decent second hand Canon 350D. Worth a pop?
 
Cheers, will have a look at the 350D, but might be a little out of my price range
 
Sagar said:
Cheers, will have a look at the 350D, but might be a little out of my price range
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If you are seriously going to get into photography it may be worth waiting til you can afford a DSLR, rather than spend £200 just now and then deciding a couple of months down the line you want to upgrade from a compact to DSLR. With a compact you don't have the problem (if it is indeed a problem) of wanting/needing more lenses.

Be warned this game is bloody addictive and can be expensive but if I spend £100's on a lens and get that one shot I'm happy with, then to me it's money well spent. Job done.

Take time and consider what you want to do. Read lots of reviews on cameras you fancy, ask questions on here and I think everybody on the Forum will agree, buy the best you can afford, whether it be a camera, lenses or accessories.

Most of all get out there experiment, learn and ENJOY.:)

Hope this is of help(y)
 
That's very helpful cheers. I have to be honest in that I don't think I'll be 100% serious about photography, hence the value I'm putting on it being compact.

Are there any review websites you'd recommend?
 
Just Google the camera model you fancy and 'Reviews'. You should find hundreds of unbiased comments from all levels of photographers.
 
Just Google the camera you fancy and 'reviews'. You'll find hundres of unbiased comments and crits from all levels of photographers. You can also read reviews in magazines such as What Digital Camera and Digital Camera Buyer etc.

Bugger just posted twice. That's the other thing about photography it addles your brain. Now where's my straight jacket, I need to go and walk the pineapple.
 
Sagar said:
That's very helpful cheers. I have to be honest in that I don't think I'll be 100% serious about photography, hence the value I'm putting on it being compact.

Are there any review websites you'd recommend?
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From what you've just said I think a good compact camera is the right way to go for you, after all a camera that you use is better than a camera you don't and a DSLR is a bit big to carry all the time and I think that will prevent you from using it. Look for a compact with with a decent level of control (apterture priority / shutter priority / manual) as that will mean you get the chance to learn about photography if you want.

2 compacts I'd consider looking at are the Nikon Coolpix P5100 (£234 from Amazon) which is a powerful pocket sized compact and the Canon G9 (£250ish) whichis a bit bigger but does have RAW capabilities.

As for review websites I find dpreview a good start, but they don't have reviews of everything. As BRASH said google is you friend.
 
Sagar said:
I'm looking to buy a compact digital camera, price range of £150-£220, this christmas.

I won't be using it in any kind of professional sense but I'm hoping it'll be a proper hobby and would like to get optimum picture quality and performance for my money.
Click to expand...

Highly recommended in my for sale advert: click

I'm sure others will verify this is a great camera. Plenty of superb reviews around.
 
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