Looking to buy a camera

[andy2286]

Attention all photography buff's.

 

I'm looking to buy a new point and shoot digital camera and have set aside a budget of around £200-ish. I'm willing to go slightly over if it means getting something a lot better.

 

I would like it to shoot in 1080p footage, have nice crisp day time images and be decent for low light shots.

 

So far I've been looking at the,

Sony cyber shot DSC-HX7, Sony cyber shot DSC-WX350 Panasonic Lumix TZ40

 

Although maybe you can recommend me a better one... I have absolutely no camera knowledge and do not want to go down the DSLR route

 

Previously posted in off topic, But now that I think about it, this is probably a better place.

 

[pinkpanther]

The TZ series generally aren't great in low light (small sensor). I'm quite partial to Nikon, so would take a look at the P330. It has a relatively large sensor (compared to the TZ) and a bright lens (max aperture f1.8). I have a Nikon p310 and find it excellent in low light.

[andy2286]

I've been looking at the Nikon P330 and it look's good, shame about lack of optical zoom... I'm starting to realise that I can't have my cake and eat it, at least not with my budget.

 

So I'm going to have weigh up my options... Do I go with the zoom, or with the night shots.

 

My uncle has a Casio exz300 which he loves and is good at night shots, he admits he's always been partial to Casio's, but it's a shame that they've essentially pulled out of Europe.

[Soot1e]

I can recommend anything made by Canon, still the digital leaders.    Zooms in compact cameras are pretty useless over 3x. Quality takes a big dive on stills and movie mode needs a tripod of the Eiffel tower proportions to get steady movies when in zoom.

[Kenny R]

I can recommend this Sony camera, good in low light and has an amazing zoom......

http://www.johnlewis.com/sony-cyber-shot-dsc-hx50-camera-hd-1080p-20-4mp-30x-optical-zoom-wi-fi-3-lcd-screen-with-8gb-card-black/p489436?kpid=232108444&s_kenid=22627d2d-edb3-b548-ba47-00002ef50722&s_kwcid=128x37626&tmad=c&tmcampid=73

[kilted]

I've been looking at the Nikon P330 and it look's good, shame about lack of optical zoom... I'm starting to realise that I can't have my cake and eat it, at least not with my budget.

 

So I'm going to have weigh up my options... Do I go with the zoom, or with the night shots.

 

My uncle has a Casio exz300 which he loves and is good at night shots, he admits he's always been partial to Casio's, but it's a shame that they've essentially pulled out of Europe.

That is the only type of zoom worth bothering about. Ignore how much digital zoom a camera can give because all it is doing is taking the same image and effectively cropping into it (which you can do with far better results at home on a computer).

[andy2286]

I'm starting to lean toward bridge cameras... this shouldn't be this difficult!

[pinkpanther]

I'm starting to lean toward bridge cameras... this shouldn't be this difficult!

 

I have a Lumix FZ200 - usefully long zoom and f2.8 between 25-600mm.

 

Image quality is OK, excepting the limitations of a relatively small sensor - more here: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonic-lumix-dmc-fz200

[andy2286]

I'm starting to lean toward the sony hx300, it seems to be rated pretty highly rated and comes with a wealth of features and modes, etc. I'm gonna take a look at them in the shop tomorrow, if I like how it feels to hold then the search will be over... if not, then it's back to square one I guess, but I would probably end up going for the sony hx50.

Edited 8 July, 2014 by andy2286

[Brushwarrior1]

i have a Panasonic TZ65, takes great outdoor pics but not so good on indoor photo's.  

Looking to upgrade too as attending more motorsport events.

 

Cheers

Steveo

Edited 19 September, 2014 by Brushwarrior1

[octavia5]

Nikon S9700 - Which best buy for compacts and also topped the latest Computer Shopper camera test.

 

30x zoom good battery life and fits in a medium/large pocket.

 

Love mine and save carrying around a kilo of DSLR and lenses - obviously not DSLR quality but I can live with that most of the time for the convenience.

[Brushwarrior1]

Thanks for that, will look out for the Nikon :-)

[andy2286]

Hi guy's sorry for the very late reply... I've been quite busy recently. (that and I completely forgot the forum even existed, oops)

 

I actually ended up going for a Sony HX400 bridge camera, I'm very happy with the picture quality and have managed to take some magnificent photos with it. It's got a brilliant 50x optical zoom and the processor does a good job of stabilising the image, even when using the 50x zoom, even without a tripod.

 

Decent night quality as well, even when using night scene mode, better if you're willing to faff about with the manual settings.