Compact Digital Cameras – £300ish budget – Recommendations?

I want to buy a compact digital camera and have a budget of approx £300 to play with.

I don't want a DSLR as it would be too bulky to fit in a camelback.

I know less than **** all about cameras so any help would be greatly appreciated

Cheers

Ken

At this price I don't think you will go far wrong with any camera, but I think that with a budget like that you might want to look at something like the Canon G9[/url] or G10[/url]

If you want something smaller take a look at the Olympus µ TOUGH-8000

I've been using a G9 for exactly that for the last year and a bit. Works really well so long as there's sufficient light. With low light the results can be a bit hit and miss, which is why there's not many pictures in the trees in my flickr.

I really like it. Problems I've had are debris on the sensor. Sent my first one back. Second is better but has some dirt on the very side that's visible on some focal lengths, it's easily cropped so I haven't sent it back. Other issues, lens slightly scratched, probably due to me trying to clean it and remove the debris on the sensor! The ISO knob doesn't select 800 anymore too. It's been in a camelback five or six days a week over the last year though so not to shabby.

If you want to see results then there's loads here: my flickr[/url]

When I need to replace my camera I think I'll get another one the same. I can't justify the bulk of a SLR although it'd be nice for some occasions. My G9 is always in my pack so I have it when I fancy a picture. I use it with a JOBY gorillapod thing.

i'm saving up for a panasonic lx3,

the main selling point for me is the wide angle lens, – it's the widest you can get without buying a real camera.

itsa bit smaller than the G9/10.

I've been very impressed with my Panasonic TZ5: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonictz5/

I think it's recently been replaced by a new version, the TZ7, but I'm not sure what the difference are.

I wanted something similar and went for a cannon G9. It was £200 brand new on ebay.

I've been very happy with it. Its not an SLR and it does have some down sides but is small enough to stick in a jacket pocket and light enough to put in my camel back.

It takes great pictures!

Martin

Sigma DP-1 – new on ebay about £250. No zoom. But superb quality images.
Ricoh GX200 is about £300 but I've seen the Ricoh GX100 with viewfinder – new for £220. Not a great deal of difference in spec.
Canon G10 – a little over £300. Raved about a lot.
Panasonic LX3 – about £300
Fuji F200 EXR – great little point and shoot but with the latest EXR sensor. No RAW though. Just under £200
Nikon P6000 – about £270. GPS tagging, well specced but out-done by the Canon G10. Hence, you can find it for this price.
And don't discount the Ricoh GRD series either.

Panasonic TZ7 +1

I sold my SLR cos of this little beauty.

I was looking at a few months ago.

In the end I went for the Nikon P6000 over the Canon G10.

The various downsides that I read about for the Nikon (GPS eats battery life mostly) weren't an issue for me. And the Canon was just that bit too big to be a compact camera.

Nikon (GPS eats battery life mostly)

Read somewhere the GPS could be turned off.

My old Pana TZ3 takes great pics, so the latest TZ7 would be a good choice, or the LX3; in fact there's a bunch of good Pana cameras, choosing one is the difficult part.

The Canon SX1 is quiter a good camera and has a very good zoom.

Thanks for the advice

I got Canon Powershot SX200 IS with an 8GB Card and Canon Printer for £280.

The G11 was too big and way too much money

First pic (need to have a fiddle)

The TZ6 is top of my list at the moment. As far as I can tell, it's a more sensibly priced version of the TZ7 – is a model that runs concurrntly with it, and just lacks the HD movie capture feature and has a slightly smaller screen. Is it a worthwhile consideration?

Not sure if it's any help but you can get the Fuji F70EXR from the Fuji web shop for £150.

This should help.

Panasonic LX3 all the way at that budget. Wide angle lens, bigger ccd than most of the rest of the compacts ie less noisy images at higher sensitivities, brilliant images and a very solidly built camera. I have that and a D40 but I use it more than I use the D40, quality is very similar but practicality not even on the same planet.

I have the TZ5, which has been replaced by the TZ7 and TBH I reckon the I could have bought the TZ4 and got away without the HD movies and the larger screen.

From the majority of the replies on here it looks like Panasonic is hard to beat at the moment.

So if you don't need HD movies save the money and get the TZ6.

But with your budget a TZ7 from camera box comes in well under budget.

http://www.camerabox.co.uk/product1.asp?ProductName=Panasonic-Lumix-DMC-TZ7-Black&ProductID=6046