As title says, im look at buying my mum a superzoom cam for her Birthday, I’m looking at price between 250-400 quid. Usual Canon, Nikon or what about the Panasonic Lumix, then there’s Sony too! I like the idea of full manual control, but to be honest she’s 70 and prehaps that would be down her list. What have people useed/got. Advice appreciated cheers.

The problem with superzooms in this price range is the quality of the resulting photos is usually similar to a crop from a regular zoom with a better sensor.
I’d personally go for a 1st. gen (or newer, if it fits the budget) Sony RX100 or a Panasonic DMC-LX100 (slightly outside the price range, but better/larger sensor).

Interesting. We popped onto John Lewis to have a play and get hands on with Camera’s last weekend. On our shortlist we had the following:

– Canon PowerShot SX60 HS
– Panasonic Lumix FZ80 / FZ82
– Nikon Coolpix B700
– Sony Cyber-shot HX400V

We couldn’t take any shots with the canon as it’s battery was dead. In the end we went for the Nikon as it felt the most comfortable for both of us to use. The Panasonic was also nice and the zoom ring on the Sony lens was also good.

Overall I think you’ll be happy with any of the above.

Edit: Some have a hot shoe others don’t, if that bothers you.

I think the above cameras are too big for what my mum wants, shes after something that would slip into her bag easily, I know its a trade off but I do know the compact sizing was a must.

I have a Panasonic Lumix TZ60. I enjoy taking photos but I’m very much an a novice. I find it great for walks, rides and holidays.

I took this using a tripod in the back garden, little noisy but I’m more than happy with a compact they can achieve that.

I like the idea of full manual control,

And your mum?

Does she display pics, go out to take ‘good’ pictures or just snaps of family, friends and life?

If she’s anything like my mid 70’s dad she will want one big button, and a camera that works quickly, no bells and whistles, and while a poor IQ will frustrate, he has no intention of doing anything manual other than switching flash on….

Panasonic TZ90?

Yep Panny TZ series sounds about right for what you want. They seem to bring out a new model every year so there’s bargains to be had if you don’t mind a slightly older model.

I do like the look of the lumix cameras. My mums pretty good with manual controls having had slr’s most of her life. She doesn’t want the fuss of the bridge/dslr size. Im now looking at the tz90, whats the equivilant in canon/nikon??

TZ always seems to get consistently good reviews – and they tend to have USB charging as well which I find super useful in this type of camera (in any camera actually!).

They’re OK, but I think a lot of people buy superzooms expecting a lot more than they are really capable of – at the long end of zoom in particular you need really good daylight and even then the ISO value will be highish which given the small sensor size there’s a lot of amplification resulting in lots of noise so images aren’t the best.

Day-to-day images from something like a Sony RX100 would be far superior.

If you go panasonic, they have an ebay outlet store – essentially brand new returns, so cheaper than off the high street.

Sony have an outlet but not on ebay – google sony outlet.

I got one of these last year

https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/cyber-shot-compact-cameras/dsc-hx90

the zoom is incredible (although you really need to rest it on something at the max).

this from their page:

Been really pleased with it.

Shop around for good prices.

Most of my photos are with a TZ. I have a few printed at near poster size and the quality is ace.

Mrs Engineer has a TZ something with a huge zoom and most importantly, a viewfinder! £250 or thereabouts. Pretty good photos.