I’m starting to get a little annoyed with my 5MP Camera Phone (Sony C902 Cybershot). The quality is pretty poor, and it doesn’t always take a good picture.. (Its the camera not the user honest!)

Looking to spend between £150 – £200

I’m leaning towards the Panasonic Lumix TZ5

I’ll mainly be using it to take pictures while on bike rides, so it needs to be compact, and preferably with a decent zoom..

Canon Ixus are great for a very small compact imo – quick to power up and shoot and nice quality pics. Very little manual control though if that’s what your into.

Nikon P5100

A mate had one of those Lumixes when we were skiing, I was very impressed with it.

canon ixus 80IS £125 8mp

examples with that cam
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rocketdog/3234186165/in/set-72157613054053111/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rocketdog/3204490364/in/set-72157612690882073/

oops looks like the price has gone up
http://www.bestcameras.co.uk/shop/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Canon_Digital_IXUS_80is_452.html

Just to show you how bad the camera is…

Taken on Monday with the C902

Taken today

Couple of examples with my canon ixus

Milkie…..it looks like your white balance isn’t set to Auto…it’s possibly on ‘flash’ or ‘fluorescent’?

If it is on auto, the nsow has confused it, so setting it manually to daylight/cloudy would give you better results.
Also, select the Beach/Snow option as well – it will help make the snow look white and not grey.

But, an Ixus or Lumix will take much better pics, as Grumms belters will testify. Grumm….where were they taken?

Its definately on Auto, I went through all the setting once I got to work, which is when I found the beach/snow setting too.

I have found that my old phone(K850i I think) took a better picture than the C902.
I’ll check out the Ixus, Nikon and Lumix at the “Focus On Imaging” show on the 22nd of Feb in Bristol.

I think the Lumix is in the lead at the moment, but I’ve yet to read the detailed reviews on those. You guys have some damn good photo’s there! I am becoming jealous!

Pick up a cheap Nikon D40, Small for an SLR and was a huge leap over the Finepix 9500 I had before.

Conks

Stumpy01 – top one is on Skye, second one from the top of Blencathra a couple of weeks ago.

i’m looking at the lumix tz5 too – great little camera. I have an ixus 55 at the mo, and the wide angle and long zoom lens is a great attraction with the panosonic. it’s pretty quick in use as well apparently, especially once pre-focused.

Oh yeah, one thing about my ixus, the zoom isn’t amazing. I thought maybe that was just a feature of all compacts though.

I’ve got a Lumix FX33 – can’t believe how good it is for the money.

Now after looking more in to photography and camera’s…

I really want a Canon EOS 450d, more likely to get the 1000d (found for £350, although I dont really want to spend that much)

Is this OK as a starter camera? Will it survive in my camelbak?

I really want a Canon EOS 450d, more likely to get the 1000d (found for £350, although I dont really want to spend that much)
Is this OK as a starter camera? Will it survive in my camelbak?

I’ve had a 350D for a few years (had a 300D before that) and that’s been fine in my CamelBak. I’ll always take a plastic bag to put it in if it rains but so far, so good, I’ve never fallen off on it or anything!
A lot of people will slag off the kit lens and, while it does have it’s limitations, it’s perfectly adequate for anything up to intermediate level.

Grumm, that Skiddaw shot is FANTASTIC!
Didn’t need telling where it was, that’s instantly recognisable. A fine effort. 🙂

Just bought a compact myself and I narrowed it down to a TZ5 at first too, 10x lens, hd vid, great reviews. But then I started looking at some HDR shots on the net. That got me interested in an cheap SLR but thy are just too bulky to put in your pocket.

Finally decided a Canon G9. Slightly larger than the TZ but still a compact and with full manual (and auto) controls including auto bracketing for HDR. The G10 has just come out but the G9 uses the same sensor and is actually lighter and has more features (time laps vid). Although the G9 is 35mm not 28mm. But unlike the the TZ all the usual SLR lenses and filters, polarisers etc fit right on (with adapter). Metal construction and good reviews.

The G10 is £370, I got a G9 for £225 from Amazon a few weeks ago but prices seem to be increasing? Have to add that night shots are a little noisy but that could be me, and it is still a (good) compact not SLR sensor.

Just to let you guys know….

I bought the Canon Powershot G10 at the Focus On Imaging show. Haven’t taken many pictures, but I have put two on Flickr here and here.

I’m pretty happy with it.. Now I’ve just got to figure out how to use it. 😉