Compact Digital for the girlfriend

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Hi all.
I'm after some advice on getting my girlfriend a compact digital camera. She's not a photographer, or even an enthusiast, she likes to point and click. I would like there to be potential for her to get a little more out of it, but not worried about full manual controls or anything.
She's going travelling to South America when she finishes her degree (this summer), so i'd like something suitable for that too.
I have been reading reviews of the Olympus 'Tough' that's being advertised on TV at the moment, and am not that impressed with it's photo taking abilities, though it is 'ard as nails.
I've been looking at Casio's Exilim range, which seem to have good reviews - for example the EX-S880. This it the kind of price bracket i'm looking at too (~£100 - 150).
So, does anyone have experience of a good compact digital for these purposes? Please let me know,
Thanks
 
i was looking at casio for the mother who points and shoots
but someone told me not to bother with casio

*oh by the way, i was looking at the sony cyber-shot w55
 
Could try rocoh caplio. I got an r5 a few months ago for £125. It has 7 megapixels but also a wide angle 7.1xoptical zoom which makes it quite usable. Does lots of other things too which your girlfriend could learn in due course. The newest model is more than 8 megapixels but I think the camera is essentially the same. Remember the price of your memory card on top of your camera.
 
Does the GF like to make good pictures? Get a cam with a real viewfinder. If she's not really into making pictures, she wouldn't need a viewfinder and could 'compose' by looking at the LCD with outstretched arms (and look very amateurish!). Her photos will reflect that.
 
could 'compose' by looking at the LCD with outstretched arms (and look very amateurish!). Her photos will reflect that.
Click to expand...
I have to say I completely disagree with that. I shoot with all sorts of formats of cameras and I just love to compose on a big 5x4 inch slab of ground glass but my favourite camera to use at the mo is my little P&S Panasonic with no viewfinder.

The most important thing about any camera is the creative vision of the person wielding it and I don't see using an LCD screen as any worse than a viewfinder or ground glass, just different.
 
dazzajl said:
I have to say I completely disagree with that. I shoot with all sorts of formats of cameras and I just love to compose on a big 5x4 inch slab of ground glass but my favourite camera to use at the mo is my little P&S Panasonic with no viewfinder.

The most important thing about any camera is the creative vision of the person wielding it and I don't see using an LCD screen as any worse than a viewfinder or ground glass, just different.
Click to expand...

Absolutely agree ! Have a look at the new Fuji F50 I think it is.
 
Another shout for the Fuji's..
I dunno about compacts, mebbe its because I'm "into" photography, I cant create the will to buy a camera purely on size.
I mean, what other reason can there be to pay as much for a compact as a bridge camera, which will have superior everything.
Fuji 6500 comes in under budget, but it won't fit down your pants....well, it wont fit down mine anyway..:D
 
dazzajl said:
[...]my favourite camera to use at the mo is my little P&S Panasonic with no viewfinder.[...]
Click to expand...

Seen many people with reading glasses do that? Naaah, too cumbersome. So they try to get by without using their glasses, but their arms are too short and they can't see any detail at all at that distance. Result: camera movement, closed eyes, etc. etc.
So they stop taking pictures altogether. It's simply too much of a hassle, given the ****ty results.

You probably haven't got reading glasses, have you, dazzaj?
Yet. LOL!
 
You probably haven't got reading glasses, have you, dazzaj?
Yet. LOL!
Click to expand...

Nope, not yet.

I have long arms though. :)
 
So, with your advice (thanks all) I've done some research. Here's a breakdown of what I found:

Casio Exilim EX-S880 - £139.99. 8.1MP effective. 3x optical zoom. Effective dynamic range expander, which suppresses over and under exposure in high contrast situations. No image stabilisation. Fast. Slim. Corner distortion. Low light focusing is extremely quick and accurate.
Ricoh Capilo R5 - £139.99, 7.1x wide-angle zoom lens, 1,600 ISO sensitivity and moving sensor image stabilisation. no options for manual exposure control, no contrast or saturation adjustment, and has only eight scene modes. AF low light performance is dismal. 7.24MP effective.
Fuji Finepix F50 FD - £145, 3x zoom, image stabilisation, shutter priority mode and aperture priority mode. 12MP. Good in low light
Sony DSC W55 - £105. Viewfinder. Noisy above ISO400. 7MP.

I've also looked at the comparable Nikon, Samsung and Canon offerings, but found nothing to recommend them highly.

So, the finepix looks really good, but 12MP is a bit unnecessary. The Casio is still top of my list...
 
"Compact Digital for the girlfriend" - shouldn't this be in the sales and swaps section of the forum?

If she is a looker I might even be prepared to go as far as a low end SLR :D

Sorry, eventually you lot might get used to my sense of humour :D
 
How about this good screen and viewfinder here good review here
 
Canon PowerShot A570 IS - added to the list thanks to Tel48. And desantnik, I love her very much, she is stunning, but that doesn't change the size of her handbag!
 
I've still got my Fuji f610, no longer available, but if the F50 is half as good as that then I'd go for the Fuji.

PS My F610 also has a view finder
 
Buy her a pink one, she'll love you forever ;)
 
Get her a Kodak. The image quality is superb no matter what model.
C series cheap and cheerful but delivers the goods OK. Ideal for new users.
V series are good lookers and you pay for that.
Z series have the long zooms so ideal for travel.

The best thing is with Kodak cameras is that all the controls and functions are logical and follow the same pattern so you can easily swap between models and not need an instruction manual.

The EasyShare software is very good too.
 
I can vouch for the Canon ixus range, I have one myself. It is pocket sized & easy to use with great results. If you wish to do so, you can search my posts on here to see some some of my pics.

I found this review site Here useful when I chose my camera.
 
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