Recommendations of a compact digital camera (£150)

[Workaholic]

Been asked for the last few months to find a digital compact camera for my female cousins birthday present. My aunt has told me that the budget will be approx £150 preferably for both the camera and memory cards.

So far my choices at the start were:

* A few canons and panasonics
* A couple of Casio for the size including the Z75 etc
* Fuji F20
* Fuji F31fd (£130 for camera + £20 for 1gb XD card)
* Ricoh R5 (£140 for camera + £10 for 2gb SD card)
* Fuji Z5 pink colour (£135 for camera + £20 for 2gb xD card)

After reading up on quite a LOT of reviews on google and having a feel in stores such as Jessops, Currys and Comet (I'm sure the sales guy hate me now!) I'm left with the following due to size and specs:

* Fuji F31fd (£130 for camera + £20 for 1gb XD card)
* Ricoh R5 (£140 for camera + £10 for 2gb SD card)

Unless someone has something else to offer!?

P.S. I might be willing to add in £20 ish of my own to make up my present to her!

[Stevo]

Hey I work in Jessops, I would go for the Fuji F31fd, far better performance in low light than the R5. Also the screen quality on the F31fd is far better than the R5.
The Fuji looks better, feels better and is much better made than the R5.
The R5 has a habit of developing lens errors due to them squashing such a large zoom range into such a small camera.

[Workaholic]

What type of lens problem does the R5 have?

[Bobster]

is that a selling technique? the screen quality?

[schmunk]

FWIW, I have an F31fd and am very pleased with it.

[Stevo]

Actually yes, people would rather the image that appears on their screen is a good representation of the final output. Its not on any offical guidelines but then most staff have their "pet" features about cameras they themselves like.

We got a number of the R series Ricoh cameras back in after the lens would just stick out and lens error would come up on screen. Altough I reckon by now Ricoh should have dealt with this problem. The Fuji A series were the same.

[pp05]

I bought a budget Kodak C613 from Curries with 2gb memory card. Total cost £90 = less if you buy online. It's just slightly bigger than Fuji f31fd which I've read good things about..

If you just want some quick snaps it does it well.

[CMC]

Hey I work in Jessops, I would go for the Fuji F31fd

ditto

[StoX]

I'd recommend the Casio EX-S770 - it was released at around £300, but is available for around £135 now so you get A LOT for your money - google it for some reviews, as it's a really good compact camera that I think she'd be impressed with. There are also a few colour options available

[TooNice]

I'll vouch for the F31fd at least for the image quality and battery life. If we are going by specification, I think it is the only one mentioned here with a larger sensor than the typical 1/2.5" in many smaller cameras. It's probably not the smallest of the ones listed here, but it's small enough to fit in the side pocket too. Though the feature is not unique to Fuji camera, I think that the fd function is well worth it, especially if the user is not used focus lock.

[Workaholic]

Slight revival, guys I had decided on getting my cousin the Fuji F31fd, but now she has seen a better (and of course more expensive one!) - Canon 950 IXUS IS (£195 amazon)

Does anyone wanna talk me into buying this one instead....
And what is the max size memory card (no specification documents mention this - not even on Canon's website) and most shops have an add on of 4gb SD HC cards

[StoX]

Did you show her the Casio EX-S770, as it's a proper gals camera

[RavenNight]

The Canon's are superb, honestly the best compacts you'll use, but you pay for that. I've got an Ixus 850IS and have been stunned with how good it is, in a lot of situations I prefer it to my Nikon D50. The image stabilisation is superb for low light and it's miles faster than most compacts, if you can afford it I'd go for it!

As to the max memory, I have no idea, my 2gb gives me 500ish shots, which is more than enough!

[BUFF]

Just been out & about in Glasgow this morning digicam shopping with my niece.
looked at:
Canon Ixus 70/75
Casio EX-S770
Fuji F31
Olympus FE250
Panasonic Lumix FX30
Pentax Optio A30
Ricoh R5/R6
Sony W35/W55/W80

& the winner was... drumroll.... Panasonic Lumix FX30 (you can find it for ~£169 delivered & hopefully J. Lewis will price match - if not it'll be off the internet).

Had to laugh - one of the "salesmen" in 1 of the Jessops branches tried to sell her a camera (can't even remember which 1) on the basis of it being pink but she's clever enough (studying Law) to buy a camera on it's ability rather than colour

[cotswoldcs]

ditto

You also work at Jessops? Sounds like they've struck a deal with Fuji - do you get commission?

[Mithrandir]

For the best in picture quality Canon are #1.