I need a new compact

[Shewie]

My Sony has finally given up after nearly ten years of great service, it's taken some cracking piccies over the years and I'll be sad to see it get binned. The autofocus has gone and it's useless in manual mode, the preview mode is a nightmare to get on after it got dropped in the Alps and there's a hand wobble warning on all the time, even in a tripod.

What's a good buy at the moment, I want a Carl Zeiss lens that's as good as the one on my DSC-W17, 16mb would be nice too. My old one was a bit of a brick so I'm not too bothered about it being tiny. Minimum of 5x optical zoom would be good as would a decent sized screen.

A few I've looked at are Panasonic's DMC-FS37EB-K and Sony's W570, any other suggestions?

 

[HillBill]

You won't go wrong with the Panasonic Lumix's Rich. Very good and easy to use cameras.

 

[JonathanD]

I spent ages reading up on the best one to get. I wanted it for wildlife, so a good zoom was a must, as was macro. the very best one I found recommended by wildlife photographers was the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS33. And I can attest that it is an amzing and easy to use camera that is also to be had quite cheap at the mo.

 

[Shewie]

Cheers lads, Amazon sell the FS35 (16mp) for £50 cheaper, is it a bit of a duffer or the bargain of the century?

 

[JonathanD]

I was told that the FS33 had a better lens. Don't know how or why though. Here's what it is capable of on the first outing or so...

I was so far away from this deer, I couldn't even see it was a buck or make it it's spots or eyes. It was a speck on the hill with the naked eye.

 

[HillBill]

I have the dmc tz6 so can't comment on the others. I've had it for around 18 months and its still as good as the day i bought it. Just had a look and it still retails for around £250, I don't think it cost that when i bought it tbh

 

[East Coaster]

I've got a lumix fz38 which has very good optics imho. If I was going to get a compact jobbie then I'd be going for a Lumix TZ8 which is great value for money at the moment.

 

[markphelan]

Another +1 for the Lumix range, but the Canon Ixus' can be quite good too.

 

[ged]

One thing you'll notice as you get older is that you can't switch focus from near to far and back again so quickly. Eventually you won't be able to do it at all without either switching glasses or using bifocals or varifocals. This is a ROYAL PAIN when you're trying to take photos.

So my first {inset currency unit} is that you need a good viewfinder if you plan on getting any older with your camera. I simply cannot effectively use a camera that doesn't have one. The little screens that you see on the back of most cameras nowadays are absolutely useless to me. The people who developed the products did not think about people with aging eyes.

My second {currency unit} is that you need to be able to take manual control at least over focus, aperture, zoom, shutter speed if there is such a thing and maybe 'film speed' or whatever passes for that in a digital camera. The wife has a pretty impressive DSLR which does loads of automatic stuff including all the above, but when I try to use it it insists on knowing what I want better than I do. I find this really infuriating, especially in poor light which seems to be about the only time I want to take any photos. For example it pops up the flash at the least provocation when that's the last thing I want it to do. Also it will switch on the display screen on the back of the camera with even less provocation than it takes to pop up the flash, and late in the dusk that's like getting a poke in the eye with a blunt stick.

Digital rant over.

 

[Gill]

Rich here is a bargain buddy!
http://www.britishblades.com/forums...r-trade-for-US-small-folders.&highlight=lumix