Which compact digital camera?

Looking for a good compact digital camera to take on biking / boarding adventures. Main criteria it needs to meet:

– Good at taking 'action' photos with minimum shutter lag (so i don't keep taking pictures of back wheels…)
– Good video
– Small enough to fit in a pocket
– Around £200

Suggestions so far: Panasonic Lumix TZ6 or TZ7, Canon IXUS 100IS or PowerShot 200IS – anyone have experience of these?

Really appreciate some advice / recommendations from anyone who has knowledge of such things – thanks!

I have the older TZ5 and its brilliant, but not really a pocketable camera, I have just bought a Panasonic Lumix FS15 as a xmas pressie for someone and that I a impressed with the size of, it is small enough and has a 5x zoom with a 29mm wide angle lens, so is a brilliant little camera, they do the next step up which is the FS25 too.

I bought mine from Camerabox, its a bit marmite but I've bought 9 cameras from them now and they've been really good.

It is a bit outside your budget – by a bit I mean a good 100£ at least – but try and get an LX3. It is smaller than the TZs, has nearly no shutter lag and has a very bright lens allowing you to take clear pictures of faster moving objects or with less light.

Biggest drawback/advantage depending on your point of view is its wide angle lens. Very good for landscapes and slightly more artistic photography less good for close ups and taking pictures from far away as it has very limited zoom.

Thanks – will look into them both

ixus 120 IS is £199 at jessops atm

Ricoh R10

ixus 970is

Fuji finepix F70EXR or F200EXR from here for £150 using the discount code from here?

Just bought the Mrs Ixus 200 IS for Xmas, not used it in anger but a quick test to see if it was working and as usual with Canon it's a cracking little compact. Video records in 720p and seemed on but that was on the LCD.

I picked it up from Argos for £239.

The TZ7 is very good, but not that small, not really an ideal bike camera. But the long lens and image stabilisation are very good, and the video quality is phenomenal (plus, unlike many compacts it can zoom while videoing). It's a fantastic camera, but I have to say the size is a slight issue, and it doesn't feel tough, not like my old Ixus which was immune to all harm.

The new Ixuses are brilliant if you want a real compact, the range and video isn't as good but they're tiny, and some of them are built to take a beating.

I got a canon G9 new off ebay for £200. Bit big, but very good:)

Thanks again – liking the look of the Panasonic ZX1 – anyone used one?

Just bought my girlfriend a Panasonic TS1 as it's waterproof/shockproof/dustproof so we can use it when kayaking & mtb'ing. DPReview rated them highly so that's good enough for me…

I got a TZ7 a couple of months ago after looking at similar threads on here. Very impressed so far, the image stabilisation in particular is excellent. Seems to track and keep focus on moving subjects very well too.

See here for a recent set:

Yeah, I do love my TZ, it's incredible for a compact really. Just aware that it's not ideal in some ways for cycle use. I miss my titanium Ixus 🙁 But other than being small and indestructible, it was straight beat by the TZ7.

Olympus SW camera. Shock and waterproof. Perfect for riding, boarding, basically any outdoorsy stuff. Small enought to fit into a small case and clip the case onto a Camelbak harness.

Current version is the mju Tough 800 or 1030, mines an older SW790 version.

Highly recommend a either a canon G9 or G10

Just got a ZX1; arrived from Amazon today – so not much use yet, just a quick play. I was going for a TZ7 but fancied something smaller but still with a zoom. Switch on time is very impressive, stabilasation works well and 8x zoom very suffucient for my use. Haven't printed anything from it but to my unskilled eye images look great. It will be wrapped now until Christmas!