UKC

As per the thread title, really.

Our existing camera went for an unscheduled swim at Giltar Slabs, so we're after something to replace it with.

The basic requirements are:
* budget £100-£200
* decent optical zoom
* option of full auto / shutter priority / aperture priority / full manual, preferable with reasonably long exposure times to play with
* reasonably durable but not necessarily everything-proof.

We're not too bothered about video, masses of megapixels or bells and whistles like GPS or wi-fi - we'd rather the effort went into a better lens.

Any recommendations?

FWIW, the previous camera was a Panasonic Lumix TZ18, which was about perfectly. Annoyingly, the no-brainer replacement, the TZ35, has capped the maximum exposure time at 4s, which would prevent us from killing time doing silly things with long exposures, while the TZ40 is significantly more expensive for loads of unnecessary extra features.

Thanks!

In reply to Ramblin dave:

At that budget, second hand Canon S90/S95/S100

Loads on Ebay.

In reply to Ramblin dave:

Was the camera insured? If so could you up your budget and get the TZ40 and simply ignore the unwanted whistles bells and frippery?

In reply to Ramblin dave: Might be pushing your budget but I managed to pick up a new (refurb) Panasonic GX1 (Compact System Camera) on ebay for about £280. I can't recommend it enough. Pictures are fantastic, it's incredibly small and packable for something so fully featured but sturdy enough to not have to worry about it too much.

I got the power zoom lens version which was slightly more expensive but I'm sure if you hunt around you could find a good deal on the regular lens kit version, especially if you can wait until after Christmas.

In reply to Ramblin dave:

Blatant sales pitch coming up: How about my Samsung WB690? This is more or less a copy of the Lumix TZ20, which I think the TZ18 was a version of. you'd get it for a lot less than your budget! And it's almost like new.

In reply to Ramblin dave: Does it need to be weatherproof?

In reply to Ramblin dave:
+1 for canon s95/s100 kind of thing.
Wish I still had mine. Manual controls, shoots raw, good optics.

In reply to Toerag:

Not particularly - the Lumix wasn't and we didn't have any problems with that.

Will look into the S95 type things.

Thanks, all!