Best compact camera

[Berty]

I have a lumix and its a fine camera but i'm looking for something very compact but with better picture quality than my phone.

Can anyone recommend one in the cheap to mid range pleas........i suppose a remote function is out of the question but a timer is a must for self shots.

 

[Bluenose]

How much is 'cheap to mid' Paul?

 

[Ray Roberts]

Why not get another Lumix of a dfiferent spec, you will be familiar with the way the controls work from the one you have, my wife has a small compact made by them and they are pretty good, you seem to get a lot of bang for the buck with them.

If you are more serious about photography and want more control then the Canon G11/12 are very good and you can pick them up s/hand, but they are quite dear. they give most of the advantages of a DSLR in a more compact form, they also have an articulating lcd and you can pick up a radio controlled shutter release for less than £20 and they also shoot in RAW.

 

[Jeff Woodhouse]

It's something I'm looking at again since no. 1 son said mine was too slow. The one I currently am fancying is an Olympus D760 (£90 from Jessops) - wide angle to 12½ x tele., 16 megapixels, but best of all a METAL casing! Makes it a bit heavier, but it may stand up to the rigours of being chucked in the fishing bag amongst your leads, buzzers and pike traces.

It's worth noting that most of the Fujifilm, Lumix and Olympus are abotu the same now, IMO they come out of the same factory they're so similar.

For delayed and self-timer shots, you can't beat these little devices -

Just over a tenner off ebay and I don't know any major camera company that does them. Some people will warn that they can blow your camera (nice ) but so far it has not done that to mine. You can put in how many shots, how long between each shot and how long the shutter should stay open for. So you can programme it up with a delay to start giving you time to get your fish, pose, and snap, snap, snap... as many times as you like. They probably only work with DSLRs and you have to buy one to match the make.

 

[Berty]

Thanks fella's......Ed, i was thinking about one in the price range of the Olympus Jeff suggests ( it was a lot more £££'s originally and i may go for something like that, it looks damn good at the price.

But i'm toying with the idea of selling my FZ38 and getting a Lumix compact.....maybe the LX5?

Anyone want a damn good FZ38?

 

[Bluenose]

You know what mate, the choice is staggering now in that price range. I have a fuji Finepix F31fd bought in 2007 but even second hand this particular model is (now) quite expensive when you compare it with something which has more features and brand new.

I'd think about what features matter most to you Paul, then get on Digital Photography review site, work it down to a half dozen models and find the best bargain mate!

 

[Berty]

You are right Ed, i have been looking at them.......mind blowing it indeed is, i don't want anything on it i won't use....gps, for instance.

I used to love my old Olympus trip 35mm, it's hard to believe how fast things move in so short a time!!

 

[Bluenose]

If I could have some other features on mine, it would be a fold out screen to compose shots and a wireless remote.

Mine has neither and although I generally get self takes ok the above would make it a tad easier.

All told though the rechargeable battery is excellent as is the flash and with decent editing software you can do 'something' with most pics.

It's nice choosing a new shiny thing isn't it?

 

[Berty]

I had one with the fold out screen, sold it, i'm happy to frame the shot the old way but i agree that a remote is something i miss a lot, has any digi compact got one?

 

[Bluenose]

I reckon so mate.

I think it may have been that DPReview site that has the feature where you tick the features you wanted and it came up with a list of cameras to suit.

 

[Berty]

Cheers Ed, i'll have a look ........when my head can function

 

[Jeff Woodhouse]

Had to go into town the other day and looked in Jessops, asked if the one they had in a box was black and not silver as shown on the box, it was so I bought it.

Belting little camera, bit bigger than my old one and bit heavier because of the metal case, but supremely fast processing pics and even has 3 mutli-shot features on it. They'd brought it down to only £80 now bar the penny, so well pleased.

It means I can leave my old ones in different bags so I don't have to keep remembering them.

When I think - the first digital I bought 10 years back exactly was a Fujifilm A303 and cost about £280 plus another £35 for a 64mbyte chip. It doesn't do half what this new one does (even videos in HD) and the chips, you can get a SDHC card now 8gigabytes for about £7*. Bloomin bargain, I reckon.

* Still pays to keep downloading photos and not relying on the camers to store them. Buy a couple of chips and keep swapping them and format them regularly!

 

[Berty]

I just wish they would build a remote into them......like my old 35mm "trip"

 

[Jeff Woodhouse]

Yes, it would be useful for what we want.