Which of these compacts?

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Michelle
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Hi all, just a bit of advice needed.

I'm looking for a new compact as I've had my current one for 9 years now (and it's not even what you'd call compact!)

I was recently bought a Cybershot w530, but I'm not really happy with it - the screen quality seems very poor from what I would have expected, so it's gone back.

I want it to be compact enough to fit into a small handbag and take everywhere with me, and to take a mixture of snapshots (from flowers out walking, to holidays, arty shots and nights out in clubs!) I like black cameras, but colour isn't that important, silver is good too. I want to be able to point and shoot without messing too much, but if you can get a bit more manual then that's good too. Ideally I just want it to be the best spec I can get for my budget, as I expect to still have it in 9 years time!

Budget is up to £200, but if I really couldn't get one to suit I'd go to £300.

The ones that have been mentioned have been:

Panasonic TZ8
Lumix fs30
Canon ixus 220 (or other ixus range)
Panasonic lx5
Canon s95 (bit out of budget!)

I've only seen the Ixus in person so I don't know about size comparisons on these. And I'm biased towards Canons, but that's only because I have a 450d and love it.

Can anyone recommend one of the above or another that would suit?

Thanks :)
 
I have read reviews on the tz8 and that the tz7 is better. not sure how it works as its newer and worse but I read it in a review!
 
I have the Ixus 220 hs and its great, very small, good pics, good in low light, 24-120mm instant macro (no need to select it, it just does it) and some interesting digital effects. But the most important thing is ..... They do a black one! Mine is black :)
 
The S95 is an awesome camera.

The panasonic TZ series also get good reviews.

Work recently bought an IXUS that was about £200, I can't remember the model number, but it was a touch screen one and I found the user interface to be awful, very slow and cumbersome.
 
One very happy S95 user here :)
Great as my 'go anywhere' discrete option - easy o use and full conrol where you need it. Also it does very good HD video as an aside, thoroughly recommended :)
 
Thanks for the advice all :)

I think realistically the s95 is a bit out of my budget, so I think I'm down to the TZ 7 or 8 or one of the Canon Ixus range.

I'm going to try have a look at them in Jessops, as the TZ looks like it might be quite big? And I'm a bit worried about the Ixus slow screen comment.

Hopefully I can make a decision this week, I'm excited about getting it now! :)
 
Have a play with it in the shop and see how you get on. I'm used to iPhone touch screen, so have high expectations. To be honest I think touch screen on a camera is a bit of a gimmick.
 
I've just had a quick look at the Powershot sx220, and it seemed pretty impressive actually - it's tempting! The only issue is the size, it's a little bigger than I'd hoped - but I guess you can't get all that functionality in a smaller camera.

Anyone know how it compares size wise to the TZ8 or similar? They didn't have any Panasonics in to compare against.
 
i picked one up and quite liked it.

ok it's not the thinnest, but felt easier in the hand compared to the xz-1.
also the 14x optical zoom is ace

just need to test the fps and how it compares to my old sony tx5 at 10fps which was awesome
 
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