Camera recommendation

[Lynx]

I am interested in buying a digital camera suitable for nature photography and I guess including some form of zoom lens. I know very little about photography beyond pointing and shooting and so something relatively simple to use would be good. Would not want to spend more than say £150 ish.

....recommendations anyone?

 

[gregor-scott]

panasonic lumix tz20 is what I have, I think it's classed as a compact slr, great camera, it can be used as a point and shoot or it has the many settings and functions of a more serious slr camera if needs be like 21x zoom, I started playing about and learning how to use all the functions and it's produced some great piccies. I think we paid £190 so a bit over budget but well worth it IMHO. ps HD video too!

 

[Lynx]

panasonic lumix tz20 is what I have, I think it's classed as a compact slr, great camera, it can be used as a point and shoot or it has the many settings and functions of a more serious slr camera if needs be like 21x zoom, I started playing about and learning how to use all the functions and it's produced some great piccies. I think we paid £190 so a bit over budget but well worth it IMHO. ps HD video too!

Thanks; I will check it out.

 

[brancho]

The Tz20 is god for the money but dont expect to rival Pro Nature photographers with it as the budget is at least a factor of 10 too low

 

[cbr6fs]

Looked into this myself recently and i've ordered a Canon SX40, for me it offered the best features together with quality of pics.

35x zoom, full 1080 video support, CMOS sensor etc etc

Had many brands of compact digital cameras over the years and i always go back to using my Canons as i've not found another brand that offers as good a picture, colour rendition and ease of access to the functions i use on a regular basis.

 

[woof]

I just got the panasonic tz19, as i wanted a camera better than my point & shoot, this realy does tick all the boxes for me, but the 19 is a special only available through pc world. Its basicly a dumbed down version of the 20, & about £50 cheaper.

Rob

 

[Retired Member southey]

I use a Panasonic finepix s8100 fd,

very handy camera with an effective lens stabilisation system, simple to use and to learn the complex functions, and it runs on 4 AA batteries with helps with carrying spares or sourcing more if out for a wander and finding your self short on power, it takes either SD or XD memory cards,

Here on Amazon for £99

 

[PittsE]

hey guys! I am new here
I need a camera with a good zoom
so i can zoom without loss in quality, with my current camera when you zoom it's all blurry
I am thinking cannon or nikon. but i've been disappointed by cannon before so..
what do you say ? if nikon, what model?

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
free printable crossword puzzle maker

 

[blacktimberwolf]

I don't know if it interests you but some cameras have the ability to make decent videos too with sound........

 

[Retired Member southey]

I do with my Panasonic.

 

[Bucephalas]

Head over to DPreview.com. That's the place for advice and reviews etc. Just post the same question there.

All I would add is don't fall into the "megapixel" race, it's nonsense. 6MP is more than enough for a compact and the more pixels they squeeze in the worse the low light capability. Don't use digital zoom on a camera either, you should only be looking at it's optical zoom size.

 

[Lynx]

Wow! Thanks for the feedback guys! Plenty to be looking into here!

 

[Lynx]

I use a Panasonic finepix s8100 fd,

very handy camera with an effective lens stabilisation system, simple to use and to learn the complex functions, and it runs on 4 AA batteries with helps with carrying spares or sourcing more if out for a wander and finding your self short on power, it takes either SD or XD memory cards,

Here on Amazon for £99

Thanks Southey, decided to go for one of these!

 

[Retired Member southey]

Cool beans matey, its a little Cracker .

 

[cbr6fs]

As Bucephalas said, DPreview.com is a great site with good honest reviews.

I would also highly recommend downloading a few images from your short list of cameras to compare.
I have a Lumix TZ3 and the images are terrible, the camera has all the bells and whistles but the colour rendition on skin makes it look like everyone is wearing thick make-up or has a skin disorder.

Whereas our Canon Ixus 980 gives exceptional images with great colour rendition.

If possible try and view the downloaded images on a few monitors as well, as some monitors give better colour rendition than others.

 

[Tony]

it's not SLR class at all but the nikon s9100 is a nice camera, the new model is just out or coming out so you can pick one up for £157 ish from carmarthen cameras. I use a pentax K10 for a lot of stuff but picked up a 9100 a little while ago because i wanted something more compact, it's very impressive for the money.

they sell through Amazon here's a link

 

[Lynx]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the advice. My new camera should be with me on Tuesday!

 

[Soufiane]

hey guys! I am new here
I need a camera with a good zoom
so i can zoom without loss in quality, with my current camera when you zoom it's all blurry
I am thinking cannon or nikon. but i've been disappointed by cannon before so..
what do you say ? if nikon, what model?

I am interested in buying a digital camera suitable for nature photography and I guess including some form of zoom lens. I know very little about photography beyond pointing and shooting and so something relatively simple to use would be good. Would not want to spend more than say £150 ish.

....recommendations anyone?

I'm in the same boat as you. I'm leaving in about two months and most likely I will be going with the Canon XSi and a telephoto lens, or either the 40D with kit lens. It all depends on how much you want to spend. DSLR cameras usually hold their value well, so upgrading later once you learn more tricks shouldn't be too difficult.