We're looking to treat ourselves to a new digital camera, having only ever owned film cameras. Sadly our Nikon F60 has gone faulty on us after a few years of fantastic service, so we figure a digital is our next step forward. We have a maximum of £250 (at a push!) to spend, and we are particularly interested in these 'bridge' cameras - cameras that aren't SLR, but have a variety of similarities to an SLR.
I have identified a few so far - Sony DSC-H2, Olympus SP500, Fuji Finepix S6500, Canon Powershot S3 IS, Panasonic DMC-FZ7, Kodak Easyshare Z612 and the Konicka Minolta Z6. They all have 6 megapixels or above and a high optical zoom, something that appeals greatly to me. But which does one choose?!
You can see I am somewhat lost, hence my coming here for advice. Any tips are welcome, including any comments, good or bad, on the cameras I have mentioned.
We have a Panasonic FZ7 here in the office and i'd recommend it, good range of options and its very beginner-friendly which will help you move into digital. My only negative comments about it is the iffy autofocus, its a bit slow and inaccurate sometimes (the inaccuracy probably happening because if you hold it with two hands your left finger goes over the AF light).
I can't really comment on the others because I haven't had a hands-on look with them, but we have got reviews of the Kodak Z612 and the Canon S3 on the site, so you can get a better idea of how good they are
I looked at all your choices and went for a fuji S9600 £299. Its a step up from the S6500,which I would say is the best of your hit list. Have you been here www.dcviews.com ? (links to many reviews) If you want to see reviews of S9600 goto S9500 the 9600 is an update with no full reviews yet.
I've recently bought a Sony Cybershot DSC-H5, its a step up from the H2 with 7mp, you can get it for around £250 on 7dayshop. I've been impressed with it and cant really fault it.
Check out the Kodak.It's quite a piece of cam for the money. You will be surprised at the quality and features it offers and with the Shneider lens, the pics are superb...
Check out the consumer reviews at Amazon.com and CNET. It's very highly rated. At Steve's digicam site, which in my opinion is the best review site on the net, it's on the top 10 list along with much higher-priced cameras.
I would not switch mine for any other. 'Nuff said...
Bought the canon S3IS a couple of months ago ,love it . you can use the program mode and let it do all the work or aperture priority, shutter priority,manual,scene modes..in short,it,s a camera you can grow into without getting bored,or just set and forget..The only draw backs so far,are,,iso settings above 200 start to show noise,but unless you go SLR thats the same with most point and shoot cams, and the low light auto focus can falter in some circumstances.Oh,I forgot the movie mode,don,t use it myself,but it is fantastic and if you use this facility,the best reason to buy this cam...Rick
