Help me find a new compact camera

[Steve]

Hi guys.

I currently have a Canon PowerShot A520. So, given that, I want something that is:

• Thinner
• Better zoom
• Quick
• Good macro

Motivations for those are that the A520 doesn't fit in my pocket very well. Sometimes I find the 4x zoom isn't enough. I spend ages waiting for the flash to charge up and miss what I wanted to shoot. And sometimes I need to take pictures of circuit boards and what's printed on chip packages.

Oh, and it needs to be cheap! And I should probably mention I like the look of the dmc-tz5, but am not sure.

What do the wise folk of .lifestyle reckon?

Cheers,

[muddyfox470]

I'm in a similar boat, I've got an Olympus C-760 and has been abused but is still working well, though I think I need something that has more the 3MP.

I think what you should look at are the panasonic lumix (Leica Lenses) they tend to cost over £160 but are fairly compact for the features they pack. They have a lot of manual settings and the 10x Optical Zoom (one thing I don't think I could live without - especially for at the beach - jk )

I'll get some model numbers up in a sec, but I'd be willing to hear other peoples suggestions as well, as I'm looking to upgrade mine for < &#163;200

Steve what is your definition of "Cheap" ?

Oh forgot to mention some of the samsung cameras a pretty good, the NV8, 10, 12 etc the whole range tends to be pretty good, though the zoom is limited, they are very small, nice GUI and if you are lucky the NV8 is &#163;50 at PCWorld (end of line) - they had one at my local but decided against it in the end [because I like my zoom]

Seems like we agree the Panasonic is a very nice camera (even in the flesh) fairly portable and a nice grip for the larger handed people. [note links aren't necessarily the best prices]

Panny Lumix DMC-TZ5
Olympus Mju 1010 with 7x Optical - price seems to fluctuate quite a bit on this one - was down to &#163;130 levels recently
Samsung NV100HD - They seem to have advanced their range quite quickly
Pentax W60 (waterproof)
Ricoh R8 I've been quite tempted by this - especially considering price, but some reviews I've read are mixed ~ &#163;130

Reviews and Prices of a couple of the latest ones : http://www.whatdigitalcamera.com/equ...ctcameras.html

Edit also another thing you want to look at (depending on your preferences) is whether the camera uses AA or proprietary batteries - battery life with any camera can be a fairly big issue as I'm sure you know

[joshwa]

To be honest you're going to find slow flash recharge times with all AA powered cameras - such as the Canon A2000 is or SX110 IS - both potentially ideal replacements. If you can live with it you could go for the A2000 which is surprisingly slim for a 6x optical zoom Canon, or if you want manual controls and more zoom then the SX110 IS is very good (I use it as my current camera, and kept the SX100 for something like 10 months, until the SX110 came out).

If you want better flash times, then the TZ5 should be a very good choice as it uses a Lithium Ion battery. From the others suggested, I wouldn't really recommend the Olympus, or Samsung as the Canon and Panasonic have better image quality. (I can't comment on the Pentax as I haven't personally tried any of their stuff recently). Ricoh image quality is a personal preferences kind of thing - it's quite film like.

[muddyfox470]

I'll thank you as well as you're helping me out a lot as well, thanks for your insight and advice. I find the Canon A2000 (and some of the similar ones in their range a bit fugly and cheap looking )

But yeah I like the panasonic as well Didn't realise you had your own website

[Steve]

All paths lead to HEXUS. Didn't realise you were involved in digicamreview, Josh. I was reading a couple of reviews on it only yesterday

I think a camera with its own battery pack is the better option, as you say, for better flash performance.

[Steve]

Must say I like the look of the FX150 too. It's very slim, and the optical zoom ain't so great but at 14MPx digital zoom compensates for that to the extent I think I need.

[joshwa]

All paths lead to HEXUS. Didn't realise you were involved in digicamreview, Josh. I was reading a couple of reviews on it only yesterday

I think a camera with its own battery pack is the better option, as you say, for better flash performance.

Cool glad to hear it.

Panasonic and Canon generally always make excellent cameras - Panasonic have the edge in features at the moment (most offer wide angle, HD video etc), while Canon still in my opinion have the edge in image quality. The rest make good cameras but image quality can vary from one model or camera to another, and seem to sell well on price (Kodak), or features (such as the Pentax and Olympus waterproof cameras).

[joshwa]

I'll thank you as well as you're helping me out a lot as well, thanks for your insight and advice. I find the Canon A2000 (and some of the similar ones in their range a bit fugly and cheap looking )

But yeah I like the panasonic as well Didn't realise you had your own website

I think Canon have made the A1000, and A2000 their budget cameras - as the A2000 had a noticably lower quality screen than the SX110 which was excellent in comparison with very good viewing angles etc.

[0tt0]

http://www.digitalcamerareview.com/d...sp?newsID=3726

Canon SX110