picking a new compact digital camera...

[jamena]

I know there's probably a lot of these sorts of threads in here but ...

I currently own a 2+ year old Sony DSC-P8 compact digital camera. It takes pretty decent shots and has even managed to produce a frame-able 15"x10" print from a particularly good shot, and does very vell in the carrying around on holiday front. But although it lets you set some parameters ... it's still largely automatic and falls down a bit on the colour-noise front in poor lighting, plus there is no uncompressed option.

Thought I might think about upgrading. While I would love a DSLR I cannot justify either the price nor the non-pocketability of them. As such I'm after recommendations for another pocketable compact, but one with enough manual settings (e.g. shutter) to leave me in control, even if it means some rubbish shots while I learn RAW/TIFF options would be nice too. 3x optical seems standard so at least that (more zoom is great too though!) Good battery life would be nice, and USB-mini-USB type pc-connectivity or similar is a must - no proprietary connectors, and like my sony it's nice when you don't require any extra software at all on the computer!

Oh, and on the reactivity front - speed between shots (particularly when flash is in use! Mine can take several seconds to recharge these days) is important. An external flash option might be nice, though not a priority! Oh, and if there's an autofocus which does not require me to shine a bright red blinding led at people that'd be good too - can't we use light that's invisible to the human eye for that?

Budget say £200 ish, though I may be willing to put in up to £300 if the features are only available at that price...

[Michael]

Canon Ixus range?

[jamena]

Canon Ixus range?

I was looking at their powershot range...?

[Michael]

I don't really know much about any of them, I use a Canon 350D (Hardly compact), and know that Canon are one of the top Camera companies, so figured their compacts should be good too.

Why not pop into a Jessops store and have a play?

[shiato storm]

unfortunately for the sort of things you're after a dSLR does seem to be the solution, rather than a compact camera...
for example - as suggested - a 350D; pretty compact, can be fully automatic as well as manual, uncompressed as well as compressed and 'reaction time' is pretty much instantaneous rather than the typical delay you get in compact cameras between shutter press and capture.
there is one camera that may suit your needs that I can think of; canon s70. the more recet s80 does not make uncompressed files but the s70 does. ebay for less than £200.
review for s80 here: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canons80/
and the s70 here: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canons70/
i've no idea why canon crippled the newer s80 by taking uncompressed format away, they just did.

[jamena]

s70 and s80 both look pretty interesting ... pros and cons for both.

I noticed the fuji finepix e900 while hunting for similar cameras... £199 new off've amazon, 9mpix, manual settings, quality pics, RAW (to some extent at least), AA battery powered, most of the reviews seem to suggest it's a good camera to sit astride the happy-snap family holiday while allowing you to cross over into manual-fun territory a bit without the bulk of a dSLR. some "chromatic abberations" where you get purple highlighting in high contrast, and only goes up to ISO 800 (other compacts seem to manage 1600 and 3200 now?)

The value of the e900 appeals somewhat, although having seen nikon D50 on offer for a little over £400 with the kit lens does make the decision a little trickier

[GDVS]

although having seen nikon D50 on offer for a little over £400 with the kit lens

It's under £400 at PC World and that's without a special offer.

[Sk!mD4Rk]

It's under £400 at PC World and that's without a special offer.

I just got a D50 for 389:75 then saw it for £342 here http://bnsservices.com/shop/nikon-di...l?currency=GBP

Typical!

[javalord]

I just got a D50 for 389:75 then saw it for £342 here http://bnsservices.com/shop/nikon-di...l?currency=GBP

Typical!

Bloody hell thats an amazing price for this camera!

[Sk!mD4Rk]

Yeah too right, not sure where they ship it from though, could be from the USA?