Hi Guys

I'm looking to upgrade my camera this summer and wondered if anyone could recommend me any. I have been told the Nikon D4 is good but its a bit expensive for me.

My budget is around £200. I would like a camera that was good for taking pics at gigs, out riding and good quality scenic pics.

i'm no budding photographer or anything but find my compact digital camera is very hit and miss.

cheers

Do you mean the D40? There is no D4 and if there was it would be a purely high end / professional tool and cost about 10 times as much as your budget.

If you are talking about the D40 then you can get them for about 200£ and they are decent starting DSLRs.

If you rather get a compact check the Canon IXUS series at or below 200£ there are some decent cameras. Personally I'd suggest you stretch to 300£ and get the Panasonic LX3. Brilliant for gigs because of very bright lens (which will help capture fast moving objects ie bikers and what not as well) and built in image stabilisation and excellent for landscapes because of wide angled lens. Got one and it is the best compact I have had.

hi

yeah I did mean the D40. thanks for the recommendation.

I think the LX3 is great but not so "all round"

Maybe a Fuji 200exr (mainly as as its the cheapest camera that will let you maintain some detail in clods…)

for more ideas

http://www.dcresource.com/buyersguide/

or a small canon….

A very good friend of mine's brother is a professional photographer, specialising in studio stuff for high street retailers, and his out-and-about camera of choice is the Lumix LX3, because it has a great lens, but more important, it has manual control, very rare in compact cameras. Avoid DSLR's and 'bridge' cameras for gigs, security guys will think you're a pro photog and tell you to stop shooting, whereas a compact doesn't attract attention, and a nice bright lens allows shooting without flash. There are a few venues around that allow DSLR's, but they're the smaller ones. Larger venues get rather touchy, it's happened to me on a number of occasions. I use a Lumix TZ3 mostly, but some venues in Bristol let me use my Nikon D60, like the Thekla. Go for the LX3.

Ive got the Nikon D40, and a great camera,now thinking of updating to the Nikon d300, or the Sony/minolta model.

The d40 is s o easy to use and light weight as well.

See the nikon thread