Hi folks

am looking to replace my aging Fuji Finepic M603... was wondering what anyone would recommend?

Main priorities would be good quality pics (of course!) good zoom and also something that's capable of taking pics of moving vehicles including F1... cos my Fuji is too slow and I always miss 'em lol.... Oh - and I need it to fit in my pocket

I'd have up to about

I've just bought an Olympus Stylus 810. £240 although it's on sale at Curry's for £200 which is why i've just bought mine. Fit's in my pocket, 8.0 megapixel and some nice little functions.

It might not be what you wanted, but just a thought!

Fuji Finepix s5600

You can get one for about

I have taken pictures of F1 cars for a few years now, mainly from the bottom of Hanger Straight as that

Something travelling at up to 200mph is always going to be difficult to photograph. I've found with motorsport there are two techniques that work - look for somewhere where the cars are travelling almost straight towards you, and at a slow point on the circuit, focus on the point where you want the car, hold the focus, and wait for it to come into shot. That doesn't work for side on shots though. What I do there is focus on the point where I'm going to fire the shutter, then holding the focus, pan away to a point further back, then as the car arrives, pan with the car, firing the shutter where you previously focused, and KEEP PANNING after the shot to help with the shutter lag. The viewfinder works much better for this second technique than the LCD. Obviously the better the camera and the faster the CCD, the better your results will be and the more frames you will get, but I've found these basic techniques help with even my cheap cameras (Finepix A303 and Konica Minolta Z5). With the side-on shots, be prepared to still discard 50% of them though.

That doesn't work for side on shots though. What I do there is focus on the point where I'm going to fire the shutter, then holding the focus, pan away to a point further back, then as the car arrives, pan with the car, firing the shutter where you previously focused, and KEEP PANNING after the shot to help with the shutter lag. . With the side-on shots, be prepared to still discard 50% of them though.

This is what I did this year at Silverstone, the only problem was I used too high a shutter speed and even though I was panning (hoping to blur the background but not the subject) ended up making the shot look too static (fixable to an extent in Photoshop, but I would have preferred to have got it right at the time) The picture below is a good example of my c*ck up. The second shot was the first time I had used a polarising filter and was amazed at the punch it gave the sky as the Red Arrows flew past (also at Silverstone)

Sadly because I was working I didn

I was in a similar situation recently (albeit with trying to capture those magic baby moments!) where shutter delay was a real issue. After trying out some compact cameras without much success, I ended up upping my budget and going for a Nikon D50 D-SLR. The results, imho, are a world apart from the compact cameras and the ability of the camera to take a pic instantaneously is priceless

Only real trouble with D-SLR is it can be a slippery slope, especially once you've bought a few lenses and filters....

My usual recommendation is to pop into your local Jessops (find a member of staff who looks like they know what they're doing!) and audition some of the cameras and ask lots of questions.

Chris

A compact just isn't going to cut the mustard I don't think. I have a Canon IXUS 700, and whilst its a joy to use, its heavily flawed, for what was a very expensive camera. I think I paid £300 about a year ago. A D-SLR is definitely the way forward, although pocket size it probably wont be!

Panasonic DMC-FZ7

It'll cost you about £250 and is a 7mp camera with 12x optical zoom - the best you'll get without spending a fortune on lenses for an SLR.

The image stabilisation means you can get some very nice sharp pictures even zoomed right in and it's not too bulky.

I found it to be far superior to the Fujis I've had in the past

ta for the tips folks

tbh I don't want to stay with Fuji, cos both ones I've had have had a long delay between pressing button and taking picture - plus the zoom hasn't been that great...

Will have a look at the others you've all recommended - might finish up having to go the D-SLR route and maybe keeping the M603 for 'every day use' !

Hi,

Rumours abound of a new Nikon D40 dSLR. It will not have the features of the D70s, D80 etc. but the shutter lag problem should not be too bad.

Nikon D40

I have a D2h and D70s, both excellent. However, the D2h is the machine for sport as the response time is instant, shutter lag does not exist, and it is built like a brick. They are becoming available on eBay as the D2x has become the machine of choice. If you decide on a second hand D2h, ensure that it is a later model or that the shutter and focus problem has been cured. Nikon will fix it for free if the model is purchased in UK/Ireland anyway.

I have a Casio EX-P600 Pro model that I keep in the car and it takes excellent photos. Bought it on eBay in mint condition for

It

I'd also recommend the Panny DMC-FZ7 in your price range - nearly bought its older brother the FZ6 when I was camera shopping last summer. But I gave in, upped the budget and got the Canon 350D.

The FZ7 is a cracking camera and priced well at around 230 online. It would be the best option if you want all the functionality but don't need/want lens changeability that comes with an SLR. Good range of reviews at Steve's Digicams - Main Menu (not my site! )

Of course, you could look at 2nd hand equipment as well, as suggested. Go and have a play in Jessops

Steve

Well, good news is my budget has gone up a little lol - Duncan's gonna give me some money towards it for Chrimbo

Now looking at more like £300.... does that change anyone's recommendations?

I'll PROBABLY, having looked at a couple of cameras over the last week or so, be going to go the D-SLR route..... I fancy the challenge of learning to use a camera properly :lol:

Well, good news is my budget has gone up a little lol - Duncan's gonna give me some money towards it for Chrimbo

Now looking at more like

Just have a think about what you want it for Caz, and potential future use (if that's possible!)

A D-SLR isn't going to suit anyone and you may not use, or feel you need to use, all the features. That's why a 'roadtest' in a camera shop is so important.

Don't forget to factor in memory cards (I'd always have a backup to hand) plus carrying options etc.

Steve

If I can get to the December Turnpike mini-meet (Christmas meet?) I

If I can get to the December Turnpike mini-meet (Christmas meet?) I

Current digi cam uses XD memory card so that would suggest Fuji or Olympus... but I'm not fussed cos I'm going to be keeping my M603 so I can still use the cards in that! On the other hand, I have a DV camera (MV-750i) and that's a Canon... been pretty pleased with that so far

Ah forgot about that one. Most DSLRs use CF/CFII cards, but some use SD as well (I think) but CFs are cheap. You

My advice if you opt for the Nikon is to get the 18-70mm kit lens with it and not the 18-55mm. The 18-70mm is much more versatile and is standard kit on the more expensive cameras in the Nikon range and it's the one I use for most of my pics I also have a 70-300mm Sigma lens for any telephoto/macro work but it's not used as frequently as the Nikon

Chris

My advice if you opt for the Nikon is to get the 18-70mm kit lens with it and not the 18-55mm. The 18-70mm is much more versatile

Not just more versatile buit considerbly better quality, too! Not really a "kit-lens" at all, in fact! Mine spends a lot of time on my D200. When my Sigma 70-200 f2.8 APO EX isn't there, of course!

Caz, I can get you a Sony alpha D-SLR new for about £300 if that's of interest...

Caz, I can get you a Sony alpha D-SLR new for about

It's the new 10MP one with IS built in that takes Konika / Minolta lenses

edit: Link

Wow:eek: that