Another digital camera thread...

[Alex]

...We'll get a digital camera forum eventually, if we keep this up...

Anyway, my birthday is coming up in 10 days, and I was looking at a ptoential present. Seeing as my old Fuji 6800 seems to given up the ghost (more on that in a minute) I thought I'd get a new camera. In an ideal world I'd get a dSLR, but these really are way out of my price range, and I'd really rather not go second hand in case things go wrong. With a dSLR really out of the question I was looking at these hybrid SLR-type cameras, and I was looking specifically at the Fuji S5500. Has anyone had any experience with this camera? It looks pretty good from the reviews, and my experience of Fuji has been pretty good with my old camera. I couldn't really find much competition from other competitors in the sub £200 market... any other suggestions for other cameras?

The other thing is my old camera - its quite a strange fault in that it has become very temperamental with reading the SmartMedia cards (I have 3 I've tested spearately) and after a week or so's use it just can't read the card anymore. Is this kind of thing fixable on an older camera? Its a 6MP decent quality camera, so I don't really just want to get rid of it, but will people on eBay pay anything worthwhile for a faulty camera? Any other ideas of what to do with it?

[noah]

camera forum, yes please

was thinking of starting a very similar thread myself. that fuji s5500 is nice looking and has lots of features, but htere are plenty of shops that sell secondhand stuff with a warranty, i saw a coolpix 5400 for £229 with a 12 month warranty yesterday, its got a wider 28mm lens and 5.2mega pix, certainly worth a look.

[nvening]

yer a video/photography one

[MD]

Guys asking for one won't get one, its all about demand.

Please keep this on the topic of new cameras/problem with existing.

Ref your camera question, I have been suitably happy with the one out bought this week, £180 for the Canon Ixus 30 from Jessops and then a £14 SD card from eBuyer means I have a good setup.

The main reason I went for the Canon was the reputation and quality, coupled with the in-built Lithium Ion battery (with charger) means that it was an excellent all round package.

Ill eventually get out and get some pictures to show it off, but I have been coding and writing reviews all weekend, I aint even been out!

m@

[alexander]

http://www.fujifilm.co.uk/technical/refurb/shop.php

[noah]

ooh at that price i'd go for the s7000, 6 mega pix would mean some nice big printing options , and it has a hotshoe too which could be very useful. but im still concerned that they have 35mm as the widest angle, my current setup has a 19-35mm on it and 35 just doenst cut it for me sometimes.

[shiato storm]

it depends what you're after. I got a very handy sony which smacks the fuji my bro has (one model prior to the s7000), the advantage with the fuji's is the larger zoom. I would also take the konica minoltas a look, Z5 i believe is the recent incarnation thats been released. its good because it has internal image stabilization and at the longer focal lengths you get (400mm-ish) its more than handy to have!
another thing the realise with these digitals is the shutter delay you can get. fuji's are quite slow, at least the ones I've tried were but I guess this is a digi-cam trait that - with current technology - will be around for a bit still. its getting better but it has been the culpret to many a missed shot!