help with buying a compact

whitewash

whitewash

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i confess i know nothing about compacts!

however my gran has sent me off to buy her a digital compact camera for use on her holidays

here is a list of what features we think would be useful

-small, ability to fit into her handbag and forget about, as with her current camera a canon ixus APS camera
-possibility to connect directly to a printer as she doesnt have a computer (however she can use this one to store images on), she will more than likely either connect directly to a printer or take the card to a machine to print the pics in a shop.
-optical zoom
-must be from one of the major players in camera manufacturer, im not a snob (actually yes i am) but id far rather get her a camera with a reasonable lens thats more likely to last longer. e.g canon (my prefered), nikon, fuji, oly
-megapixels are not an issue here, anything over3 will surfice, shes not likely to print bigger than 7*5"

basically i have a little over £100 to spend on it.

i quite like the canon ixus i as it looks good and is reasonably small, but as i said,. i know nothing! and it is pushing the budget a little!


hope you can help
 
canon powershot A530 ?


ive found that for £199 complete with a selphy diesub 6x4 printer which would be very useful


any good?

i think jessops do a similar offer for £170 only with the A520 instead
 
No2 son bought an Ixus and we compared the results side by side with Jan's Panasonic FX9. As a result, he took it back and swapped it for a DX9. The Canon really doesn't match the Panasonic resolution at all. If you look at the test shots on Digital Camera Review, you can actually see the difference.
 
just noticed thats its of no use to me as it doesnt have a viewfinder, i have to find a camera that in auto mode will be almost identical to use as an APS camera, as such it needs to have an eyelevel viewfinder rather than using the LCDscreen to focus
 
whitewash said:
just noticed thats its of no use to me as it doesnt have a viewfinder, i have to find a camera that in auto mode will be almost identical to use as an APS camera, as such it needs to have an eyelevel viewfinder rather than using the LCDscreen to focus
Click to expand...

Fair comment - that is a drawback, but a lot of ultra-compacts are ditching the viewfinder now.
 
i know, it drives me mad it really does


there is nothing more painful to the eye than the new arms outstretched camera pose..... it makes me get the rage!
 
We were disappointed with the Ixus. It's a lovely little camera, but the resolution is disappointing. Have a look at some of these test shots - portaits particularly, and note the poor resolution. It might not be so noticeable at smaller sizes, but as I said, the Panasonic blew it away in comparison.

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2005_reviews/sd30_samples.html
 
whitewash said:
i know, it drives me mad it really does


there is nothing more painful to the eye than the new arms outstretched camera pose..... it makes me get the rage!
Click to expand...

Even worse when it's a ****ing phone! :hand:
 
but as the pani is useless its a bit like comparing a z3 to a 3 series, it might handle better and go quicker, but its utterly useless if you need 4 usable seats!


ill probably just get the ixus, the quality wont be noticable to those using it
 
CT said:
Even worse when it's a ****ing phone! :hand:
Click to expand...

i know its bad, but i have this overwhelming urge to grab the phone from there hands and stand on it, just well, just because!


anyone read AP this week? someones made a small cradle to mount a camera phone ontop of a tripod, saying that sometimes he doesnt want to take his DSLR with him..... surely if you've gone to the effort of taking a tripod with you, you may as well take the bag its no doubt attached to as well! kinda shot yourself in the foot with that!
 
What's wrong with using compacts and camera phones?

At the end of the day it's the person taking the shot that makes the photo. I know lcd viewfinders are kinda sucky but if thats what joe public wants, it's what they get and use to get some very good shots!

What really annoys me is Dslrs with 95% viewfinder coverage? WTF? how am i supposed to compose an image properly when I can't see what's at the edge of the frame!
 
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