We have a baby on the way soon, so will have something worth taking photos of, and it might be a sensible time to get a new camera. I am not a photography enthusiast, so any advice on a sensible price-point and camera type/brand would be gratefully recieved.

It will be our only camera so I suppose I am looking for:

-Decent picture quality (obviously)
-Capable of acceptable quality shots of both portrait and landscape
-Some kind of memory storage of user specified settings woudl be nice, as opposed to being fored to use the camera defaults
-‘Good enough’ that if I start to take more of an interest in photography the camera will still have plenty to offer

I realise this is a broad question so any advice however small is welcome.

Thanks all!

Most are good. I like the Nikon ones. Although I also like the Oly tough ones, you could take it biking then too without fear of being trashed.

Tough to advise because I don’t know what your expectations of quality v budget are, but the Canon Ixus HS range seem to be well liked.

Approx £150ish with Canon Cashback a couple of weeks ago.

Canon IXUS 220 HS was one I recommended a friend the other day.

I’ve had a selection of Canon Ixus (Ixi??) over the years that have been great, recently got a little Panasonic that is also.
Don’t know about it’s use for ‘proper’ photography to be honest I just point ‘n’ click – I got so much better pictures without trying out of a ‘not an slr but nice big lens’ Panasonic that I haven’t tried fiddling with it. But the compact is far more often actually in my pocket when I want to take a picture.

If you want to take photos of the baby indoors without a flash then…

I’d look at something like an Olympus Pen (e-p1, e-p2, e-pl1 or e-pl2). The Panasonic GF1/GF2 are the same kind of thing. As are the Sony Nex3 and Nex5.

There are some bargains to be had in that range.

Canon Ixus or Panasonic Lumix are good, need to know a rough budget though really.

Small compact goes into a nappy bag though and can be always on hand whenever something cute happens…

Well, budget is a bit chicken and egg. I want something worth keeping, but I suppose my initial guess was around £200. Does that sound reasonable, or unrealistic?

It’s a good sum of money. Gets you a top end small comapct I would say.

Good to know. Do compacts these days let you make your own pre-sets or are you generally limited to the manufacturers settings? I think i’ll fix a budget then do some online review searching etc. and look at the suggestions above.

Thanks all.

Some are limited, some have a degree of flexibility, some kind of let you do things but give them user friendly names (ie sport mode instead of shutter priority). Not sure if any let you save your own pre-sets though.

Best bet is go into a shop, talk to someone and try them. No point in getting the best IQ if it doesn’t fit your fat fingers or whatever.

I don’t think you need to worry about your own presets – as molgrips says, there are presets for a wide variety of shooting scenarios (sports, night, fireworks, night portrait, etc, etc) but also the auto modes are getting very clever.

You’ll need to make a decision on which compromises to make:
Image Quality, Zoom Range, Movie Mode, Compactness.
I think these are the main ones to think about.

Movie mode is great for kids, and HD will be handy since SD movies will look dreadful in 20 years time when you’re nostalgically going through them 🙂

Btw one of the reasons I liked the Nikon when I looked briefly was that you click a button and all the preset mode icons come up on the screen – very easy to access. And the easier it is to select the right mode the more likely you are to bother, and hence the more likely to get the right pic.

Having said that, Mrs Grips never selects preset modes. The Sony has an intelligent setting where if it’s not sure what’s best it takes two shots with different modes just in case. Often if you are in low light it’s one with flash and one without – nice touch.

Well, budget is a bit chicken and egg. I want something worth keeping, but I suppose my initial guess was around £200. Does that sound reasonable, or unrealistic?

You will be able to get something pretty good for £200. For a wee bit more you could get the Canon S90 (just replaced by the S95 which is a bit more expensive), which is a great little camera, and has full manual controls to let you get away from the auto modes.

Hmm. I have been googling…

Anyone used CHDK? It’s unofficial software for Canon cameras that you put on your memory card, which gives you more manual control.

EDIT: Looks a bit heavy going.

I’ve not used it, it’s meant to be very good for some things but it’s quite geeky. There is some debate over whether it will void your warranty too.

Ok,more googling, I’m quite tempted by one of these, although it’s at the upper limit of my price range. Wide(ish) angle, 14xZoom, HD video and full(?) manual controls:

http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Product_Finder/Cameras/Digital_Camera/PowerShot/PowerShot_SX220_HS/index.aspx

Or alternatively one of these:

http://www.fujifilm.com/products/digital_cameras/f/finepix_f300exr/

A bit cheaper and again with full manual controls.

I’ve got an IXUS 40 that must be six years old now, and I *heart* it dearly and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them. For me though, size was a primary factor.

For the OP, I’m not sure that the IXUS is the best purchase. The PowerShot looks a better buy.

Anyone used CHDK?

Funnily enough, I discovered this at the weekend and had a play with it. It’s interesting.

The crux of it is, it’s non-destructive. It applies the patch every time you switch it on, either manually or via a kind of auto-boot from the memory card. This is a double edged sword; it adds a couple of seconds to the camera’s start-up time, but removing the application is trivial (just delete it from the SD).

It’s pretty powerful stuff though. RAW mode from an IXUS, anyone? Or how about Connect 4 on the LCD…

i got a sony hx5v just after christmas and have been suitably impressed with it. nice & simple to use but excellent results. some manual control for when you want to get a bit more creative. HD video is quality. decent zoom and the steady shot is superb. a few nice features such as the panoramic sweep which i’ve found myself using quite a bit when on top of mountains, and GPS which tells you where you took the shot (gimmicky but quite good!). it’s a miles more convenient size than the canon 400d it replaced & thus getting used loads more. sub £200 now.

i compared this, the Lumix TZ10 and Canon S90/95. Canon was out straight away on price, and the cheaper of the two (S90) does not have HD movies. TZ10 is also very good and have done a direct comparison with a mate and i would probably say that as a point and shoot the TZ10 image was better (sony over-exposed), but with a bit of fiddling with exposure settings i attained an equal quality image. TZ10 allows more control over the aperture but battery life isn’t supposed to be great. HX5V has a brilliant burst mode for getting that perfect shot when filming fast moving biker mates etc. in the end i just preferred the camera and menu layouts of the HX5V over the TZ10 but was a close call.

reckon these are what you should be looking at!

hope that was of some use.

Thanks guys very useful.

I read a lot of reviews on http://www.cameras.co.uk and the Sony HX5 got a lot of praise. I am still drawn to the Canon SX210 however, since it was described as being having more manual controls than most other compacts, but various reviews suggest the picture quality isn’t perfect. The SX220 is apparently better, so looks like a more sensible choice.

I am quite close to pulling the trigger on this one, but slightly nervous as it will be something of a leap of faith… I think I can get one for £225.

Canon G Series is about as good as they get. I swapped our EOS for a G9 & its excellent.

but slightly nervous as it will be something of a leap of faith

None of them are bad cameras. It’s like worrying about which family hatchback to buy – they are all good!

I think the best camera setup for baby snaps is a DSLR + fast lens. That way you can avoid using a flash.

You should be able to pick up a 2nd hand DSLR and a 50mm f1.8 lens for cheap enough. Use the kit lens for everthing else.
It will definitely take a bit more effort than a regular p&s but its worth it in the end.

It will definitely take a bit more effort than a regular p&s but its worth it in the end

For you maybe. Perhaps not for everyone.

Are you going to look at pics of your kids as babies in 20 years time and think ‘hmm, lack of detail in that image, background needs blurring out..’? Really? Cos you need to get a grip if you are 🙂

Cos you need to get a grip if you are

But you can only fit those to SLRs…

(IGMC)

None of them are bad cameras. It’s like worrying about which family hatchback to buy – they are all good!

yep true! reckon i would have been happy with either one from my list, the technology in these new compacts is amazing.

Are you going to look at pics of your kids as babies in 20 years time and think ‘hmm, lack of detail in that image, background needs blurring out..’? Really? Cos you need to get a grip if you are

Well the original poster was asking about a camera for baby snaps and we’ve found it very frustrating trying to use a regular p&s. You either don’t use a flash and get lots of blurry+grainy photos. Or else use the flash and end up with flattened, ugly photos of Damien.

Its just far easier to get decent photos with a DSLR+fast lens in this scenario.

Haven’t looked but I’m guessing you can pick up an older model DSLR (e.g. canon 350d) and 50mm 1.8 lens for under £200.

Also worth a look are the previously mentioned Olympus Pen / Panasonic GF / Sony Nex3

Its just far easier to get decent photos with a DSLR+fast lens in this scenario.

Or a decent bridge or even semi decent compact.

Or a decent bridge or even semi decent compact.

Reveal to us so this miracle compact camera that has handling as fast as DSLR and takes decent photos indoors without a flash.

May aswell just suggest a phone camera and be done with it 🙄

Argh I knew this would happen, my brain is in a stew and I’m ‘upwardly revising’ my budget. I should really do some work. I think the cameras I am looking at fall into three categories:

1. I have had a look at some of the micro systems, but even if you can find one cheap (e.g. Olympus E-PL1 for £280) you seem to need an adaptor before you can fit an f1.8 lens, and this makes the whole system quite expensive (unless I have misunderstood something). I do like the idea of getting a ‘proper’ camera, but think that at this stage it might be a bit OTT given that I haven’t even proven myself as an enthusiastic photographer yet.

2. As a half-way house I have been investigating some of the compacts with slightly larger sensor sizes (1/1.16 rather than 1/2.3 for most compacts), with maximum apertures of f1.8/f2 and manual controls. These include:

-Samsung EX1
-Canon S95
-Panasonix LX5
-Olympus XZ1

Compared to more ‘conventional’ compacts they have less zoom and lower res video but should take better photos and in lower light too(?). Only problem is, they are all £300ish, apart from the Samsung which sacrifices HD video (primarily).

3. Finally, my original choice, a high-end compact probably either a Canon SX220 or Panasonic TZ10. Manual controls, HD video, powerful zoom for ~£200ish. Probably the sensible choice.

Does £300 seem way OTT for a compact? I am after a ‘keeper’…

Hmmmm the Olympus XZ1 looks interesting.

As I keep saying on here, compacts do not handle as fast.

However some have low light abilities approaching that of a DSLR I would guess.

I’ll take some pics on Mrs Grips super small non-manual compact tonight and see if I can get something good 🙂

I have had a look at some of the micro systems, but even if you can find one cheap (e.g. Olympus E-PL1 for £280) you seem to need an adaptor before you can fit an f1.8 lens

You can get f2.8, which is reasonably quick. f1.8 is not some gold standard must have. If I had a Pen I’d get the pancake immediately because the resulting package is so awesomely small.

£300 not OTT if it’s what you want. Find the right tool then decide if you want to spend the money on the right tool.

1. I have had a look at some of the micro systems, but even if you can find one cheap (e.g. Olympus E-PL1 for £280) you seem to need an adaptor before you can fit an f1.8 lens, and this makes the whole system quite expensive (unless I have misunderstood something). I do like the idea of getting a ‘proper’ camera, but think that at this stage it might be a bit OTT given that I haven’t even proven myself as an enthusiastic photographer yet

To give you an idea of how little light you need these are from a e-p2 (same camera in a different body more or less) using a 17mm f2.8:

Fire light:

Inside a pub (taken at f3.5):

I’d have thought the second one is more representative of the light you’ll have for baby shots.

FTR I really want a Pen camera 🙂

Ooh.

That E-PL1 for £280 is starting to look attractive. It comes as standard with a 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 lens (should be OK as a starting point?) and is at least £20 cheaper than any of the more expensive compacts I listed.

I probably wouldn’t get the pancake straight away though, I’d save that financial hit for another day…

Ooh.

That E-PL1 for £280 is starting to look attractive. It comes as standard with a 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 lens (should be OK as a starting point?) and is at least £20 cheaper than any of the more expensive compacts I listed.

I probably wouldn’t get the pancake straight away though, I’d save that financial hit for another day…

EPL1 is a great little camera. The kit lens will be fine for now if you want to start getting into using other lenses, you can buy good old manual focus/aperture lenses for dirt cheap (like a Canon FD 50mm 1.8 for maybe £20), and get an adapter. You have to focus and set aperture but if you use it in aperture priority mode the camera will meter and work out a shutter speed for you. Using old lenses is a great way to learn about photography in a really ‘hands-on’ way imo.

And if you’re going to shell out on the pancake get the Panasonic 20mm 1.7 instead – an awesome lens.

14-42 is good I think. Is there not a newer and older version of that same lens though?

I’d definitely get the Pen.

That E-PL1 for £280 is starting to look attractive. It comes as standard with a 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 lens (should be OK as a starting point?) and is at least £20 cheaper than any of the more expensive compacts I listed

Yes, the 14-42 is fine. It will cope with a ‘normal’ indoor shot just fine (like that pub shot I posted). It won’t cope with fire light etc.

You can pick up the 17mm pancake for £130-ish (used) on ebay when you need it or as grum suggested a cheap manual focus lens is surprisingly easy to use for stuff that’s not running around and would be a good experiment to see if you really need to buy the 17.

I’ve just bought a 35mm f1.8 fujinon CCTV lens from hong-kong (ebay). £17 new! Another £10 for an adapter. It would be great for baby photos as not only does it need very little light you can really throw the background out of focus. A couple of my test shots:

Wow, I read the E-PL1 review and now I really want one 🙂 Truly utterly bonkers VFM!