Choosing A Digital Camera

[zipadeedodah]

I currently have a 4mp Kodak camera - it's ok, but I've had it for ages and it's abit big. I'm looking to spend up to about �150 on a new one. The makes I have been looking at are Kodak, Canon, Sony, Samsung and Nikon. Ideally I would like a minimum of around 7-8 megapixels, with decent optical zoom. I'm having problems being able to compare any - they seem to be scattered on different websites, and all of them have positive and negative reviews.

Does anyone either know of a good website to be able to compare cameras well? Or maybe could recommend a particular brand? Or even a particular camera?

Thanks...

[snapdarlich]

Best digital camera site on the net. Only let down is it's US based so prices are in Dollars, but other than that all models are available in the UK. Excellent and extensive reviews plus sample pictures and videos from all cameras tested.

[snapdarlich]

oops....the link would be handy, eh?

http://www.steves-digicams.com/

lmfao

[zipadeedodah]

Thanks very much - both sites look very useful! Will have a a browse.

Does anyone know whether it's worth going for higher megapixels, or greater optical zoom? Does it get to a point with cameras for general use that more and more pixels doesn't actually make all that much difference? The higher megapixel ones I can find seem to only have about 3x optical zoom (in my price range), yet you can find 6-7 megapixels with greater zoom?

[Doc Spock]

Bought one of these 2 years ago, absolutely brilliant.

http://www.photographyblog.com/index.php/weblo g/comments/fujifilm_finepix_e550_review/

[Doc Spock]

The fuji finepix E550 does absolutely everything. Goes up to 12 million pixells.

It comes with only a 16 bit xd card so you will have to get 256 or more.

Amazon is the best place.

Great camera both optical and digital zoom. You will not be disappointed.

[solera]

Have a look at the Pentax optio M 20, 7.2 mega pixel got a lot going for it and it takes AA batteries and SD cards.

[fbg40]

Hi "Zippy"
I know you said �150, but if you can stretch a bit more, a Panasonic DMC TZ3 is wonderful. It has a 10x OPTICAL zoom, 6m pixels, and has the equivalent to a 28mm to 280mm zoom (on a 35mm camera). I have had mine for 6 months, the best digi camera i have had. Also, there are some brilliant offers on this at the moment, as little as �175 if you shop around. You would not be disappointed. Good luck
FBG40

[zipadeedodah]

Thanks for everyone's answers!

fbg40 - funnily enough I was having a look at the DMC-TZ3's on the internet yesterday. The only thing that made me dubious about it was the size.....I know for such high optical zoom it's very compact, but does it seem big and bulky? Is having all that extra optical zoom good?

[fbg40]

Hi again Zippy,
Just seen this camera for �165 - egears.co.uk - might be worth a look. In answer to your question about the zoom - it's all down to personal taste. Just imagine seeing something in the distance "That would make a lovely pic" you think ! With the 10x zoom you can pull it right in without any loss of image. With something like 3x or 4x zoom, you would have to manipulate it with an editing program or use the digital zoom in the camera, possibly with inferior results.
FBG40

[jno]

unless you want to do poster-size prints you probably won't actually need anything bigger than 6 megapixels or so, but manufacturers are so busy cramming more in that they'll be hard to find soon. A rule of thumb is to get a camera from a traditional camera company rather than a traditional electronics maker - which would rule out Samsung. It would rule out Panasonic too except they've got a deal with Leica to make the lenses and the results are pretty good. The one fbg40 mentions is very good indeed - larger than the usual credit-card size compacts, but probably no larger than the one you have now and with an awful lot more zoom and pixels. In fact Panasonic do bigger ones with an 18x zoom if you want to get really close to the action.

To compare prices go somwhere like http://www.kelkoo.co.uk

[zipadeedodah]

Thanks again guys.

Have ordered the Lumix TZ3, so looking forward to that one arriving! Optical zoom much more of a selling point for me - I won't be needing to blow pictures up to anything bigger than an A4 sort of size anyway. I have been used to 4x optical zoom, so going back down to 3x like on many high megapixels cameras would have been abit pointless. Looking forward to getting to play with it now!

[fbg40]

Zippy
Glad you've ordered the TZ3 - I'm sure you won't be disappointed. Good shooting !
FBG40