UKC

I'm looking to buy a digital camera and am leaning towards a compact rather than an SLR because I think the bulk will put me off taking it to the places I'd get the best use out of it. So what would the wise folks recommend that I get as a "compromise" digi for taking out into the hills. If it cost around £200 that would be great, ta.

In reply to John Wood:
TN just bought a Panasonic TZ1 - fairly compact, 10x zoom 5mp etc. picture quality is fairly good think it was £215 on the interweb (cameras2u?)

In reply to John Wood:

That "do try one out first" advice that usually gets trotted out is dead right.

I had a play with a couple of cameras over the weekend, a digital SLR and a compact. It was a higher-end compact, aimed at the crowd who'd find an SLR too big.

The SLR was lovely. The compact, in comparison, was almost unusable. The picture in the viewfinder was very, very dim, and it felt like it was displaying at about 4 frames a second. If someone moved you couldn't keep up with them - they just went out of view! It was terrible. Who cares about megapixels and lenses when you can't use the bloody thing because the viewfinder's rubbish?

(As an aside we've got a canon ixus. A bit old now but has been very reliable and really tough - no sticky out bits to get busted).

In reply to John Wood: If you want to photograph landscapes it may be worth getting a compact with a wide angle lens, such as the Canon Powershot S80. I use one and have been very happy with the results.

Jon

In reply to John Wood:

Canon's seem to be the way forward then, Look foward to playing with toys at the weekend...

In reply to John Wood:

I've had a Nikon coolpics for about 5 years and it has served me faithfully over the years. At the time the Nikon 850 cost me £550 but today on ebay a brand new one boxed up is going for 99p + postage. I could cry. Eventhough my model is obsolete the more current modles of coolpics are just as good and can be operated with one hand if need be.

Even though I have a compact I recently decided to buy a digitl SLR and the images I have taken over the last month have blown the image quality of my compact out of the water. I know that waight and size of a camera is important when out and about on the hill or crags but I have come to the conclusion that I don't always get to breath-taking places every day and if I can help it I want to take the best picture that I can with the best camera I can afford.

In reply to John Wood:

Olympus SP500UZ is a good camera. No problems with it at all. 10X optical zoom and 6mp. Reasonably light and small too. Also within your price range

Cheers

In reply to John Wood:

Look at the Canon A700. £220(?) Jessops.

In reply to John Wood: Fuji's F11 has a good rep, and is WAY cheap in Jessops at the mo', it's been replaced by the F30 you see...

I know 2 folk who have one, and love it.

VERY small, fag packet job.

TTG

In reply to Tim, the Grey:

BTW, the photos on your Catamangler site are of The File at Higgar, not The Rasp.

In reply to Muz:

As an update, I've now had time to play with the TZ1 and it's really pretty good. Feels nice and solid but still fairly compact and the colours and sharpness are great. VERY pleased with it.

In reply to John Wood:

www.imaging-resource.com has a lot of reviews. Think about what you want, then compare. I didn't want high res, but did want very quick responses (often crap on compacts) and good video. I bought a very cheap end of line Sony S80 a couple of months ago, and it's superb for both. Good battery life too, an issue in the hills!

In reply to ChrisJD: Sutty mentioned this a while back, I have it on the list of Things to Do once the house move is done and dusted...
Assuming the tree next door hasn't lunched the foundations on the new house!

Ta,

TTG

In reply to ChrisJD: Now done, took time out from a busy day at work...

8^)