UKC

Any opinions welcome, would consider paying a bit more if its really worth it!

Not interested in a slr or bridge, I don't want the bulk,

Thanks

In reply to KASP82:

Pretty happy with my Lumix LX5. Easily under 300.00 these days. I got mine for 330.00 (or something like that) which included a 32GB SD card, 5 year warranty and case. Pretty good I thought!

In reply to mlt:

Definitely pretty slim as well. Smaller and lighter than the Canon G12 by a long ways.

In reply to mlt:

...but not as small and light as the Canon S100

In reply to KASP82:

It's more but the current leader has to be the Sony RX100.

In reply to KASP82: Well under your budget at around 150 ish but still a cracking little camera- canon powershot sx220 hs.

In reply to KASP82:

Fuji Zoom Date f/2.8 aka "Silvi"

In reply to KASP82: I replaced my SLRs with a Nikon bridge camera years ago and have never regretted it. The Coolpix P7100 takes amazing quality pictures that rival DSLR quality. You can go for cheaper or longer zoom etc, but if image quality is your main criteria, the CCD in this camera is roughly 16x larger than most and it shows.

In reply to KASP82:

What results are you hoping to achieve with your compact?

I only ask, as I've had an end of line Nikon costing just under £50 which produced results as good as my first dSLR. I also have a second-hand compact which I bought off this site for £180 and this too produces excellent images.

Yes, you do get what you pay for but may I suggest that you don't need to spend anywhere near £400 on a compact, that is unless you have a specific purpose in mind which only such an expensive product will achieve.

Personally, and from now on, I will only buy second-hand digital cameras both compact or dSLR because the technology is advancing so quickly that people want to upgrade leaving bargains to be had for a fraction of their initial price.

May I suggest that you choose a camera with as few mega-pixels as possible and as best a lens as you can acquire. Too many pixels crammed onto a compact camera sensor makes for poorer images because of extra noise on the images.

In reply to The Lemming:

Unless it is a compact with a big sensor, but I'm sure you meant to say that.

Do you still use that £50 Asda Nikon a lot, for getting great results? Just asking as you said "I've had" rather than "I've got". Did it die? If it's still running perhaps you could tell us what model it is.

There are a lot of crap low-MP second-hand digital cameras out there.
I've got a 4MP Canon G3, a delight to shoot with but the images are worthless even at ASA 50. "As few mega-pixels as possible" is a ludicrous suggestion. I have a Kodak DC-120 which is just short of 1MP (more than 1MP with in-camera interpolation). It's a curiosity (and historically very signficant), but its low MP count does not automatically make it "better". You can still buy 640*480 cameras. Do you honestly think that they are the best compacts available? You have mentioned "as low MP as possible" in so many of these threads, I'm just interested to see how low is too low, that's all.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

You are beginning to p1ss me off.

Go stalk somebody else. You are getting tedious now!

In reply to The Lemming:

I beg your pardon?

I was trying to help the OP by politely suggesting that your advice may be a little inaccurate. How you can infer that that is "stalking" is beyond me (and somewhat insulting to victims of actual stalking, as well as egotistical). Why not just answer the questions posed, in a civil manner, to clarify your position on low-MP count etc. I thought maybe if you put pics from your first dSLR side by side with pics from the £50 camera, it might help to inform the OP.



I hope you liked my advice on your fireworks thread, but if that also counts as "stalking" in the world of The Lemming, then I don't know what to do about that.


"Please use the Report Abuse page to complain about a message"

To the OP - if £400 is your budget then get the best that you can afford.

In reply to KASP82:

I don't know if it is still the case but quite a few staff photographers used to have the Canon G10 or G11 as a small back-up just in case their main bodies went belly-up. Can save images as RAW. I'm a Nikon man when it comes to DSLRs but prefer Canon compacts.

I've the G11 and it's a great camera, not small enough to put in your pocket but the main controls are like an old style camera - big and chunky that you can use with gloves on. I really don't like a lot of compacts, you almost need something like a cotton bud to be able to press many of the buttons on them - try doing that in winter! The G11 also has a traditional flash hot-shoe connector so you can use any proper flash unit with it or even wireless units.

ALC

In reply to The Lemming: I mostly agree with everything you said, Esp the low pixel count. Most mass market cameras are aimed at ignorant users who think more pixels is a better picture, but what you actually get is reduced reciprocity. This is ok for images with even saturation, but often results in underexposure or burn-in. This is mitigated in some high end devices by oversampling, but this creates other problems, especially where there is movement within the frame. I would just add that I would put a 5 Megapixel lower limit on the camera, as this is sufficient to allow the basic image to be printed at A3 without noticeable degradation, or parts of the image to be cut and used in smaller pictures, (lets face it, most people never print anything bigger than 5x7, let alone A4. I would still advise to go with the larger CCD where possible though.

In reply to a lakeland climber: I used to have a G10, can't fault it, great camera. The hotshoe is a big bonus as well.

In reply to Bounce Like a Fish: Sony RX100, well worth the ~ £70 on top of your budget. A few minor flaws here and there but in all of the areas that matter it's a real game changer.

In reply to KASP82:

If you want the 'best' compact camera and can afford £480, the RX100 is the one to go for.

Other options like micro four thirds cameras (Olympus and Panasonic) and Nex are also less bulky than a bridge or dslr but bigger than a compact.

Nex 5n with 18-55 is £340; an Olympus E-PL3 + 14-42 is £280 and a Panasonic GX1 with 14-42 lens is £430.

An extra lens like the Nex 16mm or Panasonic 14mm (fits Panasonic and Olympus micro four thirds cameras) will cost around £120 new (on ebay, split from a kit).