Beginner Camera.

[DreadAlert]

o_o No, I'm not wasting any time and I'm asking serious questions.
I just kinda thought you were getting at the fact that the canon and olympus were rated higher than the TZ6. And along with what postcardcv said about the quality in the previous TZ being bad, I thought I'd count that out.

Sorry if it came across like that.

[postcardcv]

I would say that you should never rule a camera out based on one persons opinion, especially not mine. Given that you want something small the new Fuji f70 that you mentioned does look nice. I tried it in a shop last week and was very impressed with the overall feel and speed of it, though I've not actually shot with it so can't really comment. It has Fuji's EXR sensor which is apparently very good, but the best bet is to try before you buy (if possible).

[DreadAlert]

Well, i've looked at the one up on that too, with less zoom. It's got great ratings everywhere I look, and some of the photos taken look great.
The F200EXR.

[gordon g]

The best thing is to actually handle all the cameras available which fit whatever is your most important spec - it sounds like this is probably price in your case. Pick whichever feels best in your hand. You can debate the pros and cons on paper ad nauseum, but however good the spec, if you dont like using it, the camera wont be used.
If this is your first camera, you will at some point probably want something 'better' - but it is hard to know what you will want out of the next camera until you have been taking photos for a while and know what you want to achieve in more detail.

[yelvertoft]

Originally Posted by DreadAlert

and some of the photos taken look great.
The F200EXR.

This is because the photographer is good, it's not a feature of the camera.

I do get the impression you want everyone here to tell you what to buy in order to absolve yourself of any responsibility over the results you obtain.

Follow Gordon's advice given in the post above. Make a decision. Buy a camera. Get out there and practice. Put in the hard work, make the effort, that's what gets great results.

[andy153]

Hi DreadAlert, welcome to WPF - enjoy the forum. Most of todays cameras are capable of taking great pictures, but it is the skill of the photographer, NOT the camera that makes a shot good or great. Go to a dealer, like Jessops, where you can try out and handle the different cameras and choose one within your budget and that you feel comfortable with. Don't be seduced by the number of mega pixels - the more you have only means you can enlarge the result more and anything over 3 or 4 mega pixels will enlarge to 10" x 8" with ease. Also a larger optical zoom is usually better than a digital zoom. You as the photographer will make or break the picture not the camera.

[Alex1994]

You sure you want digital?

Actually for a beginner digital is best because you can take a lot of pictures and learn from your mistakes easily.

I learnt (and am still learning) photography with film cameras, and if you really want to get to the purist nuts and bolts of the art at a very low price you could consider a film (35mm) camera.

Older cameras offer a lot more manual control over the picture, and manual control is what learners need. When you press the shutter on a compact, the fairly complex (but not that hard to master) process of composing the picture takes place fully automated, so you will never really know about this process. When you compose a picture on an SLR, you have to consider shutter speed, aperture, light sensitivity, focus and depth of field very seriously. A digital SLR will offer this control, but the cheapest one is £250 and not that brilliant, not to mention fairly big.

If you like the idea of getting to the heart of photography on a small budget, browse around on eBay for a Minox 35, the camera that taught me photography. This is a very compact camera, the smallest 35mm film camera ever in fact. It is an aperture priority camera, which means that you choose the aperture and it chooses the shutter speed for you. Focus is done by scale i.e. guesswork (sounds hard, but the wide-angle lens means that depth of field is quite large, allowing you a lot of room for error. Besides, guessing a distance is a lot easier than it sounds).

If you want to just snap about, ignore what I said in the last paragraph. *Old-school mode off*

[gazbo40]

nikon p500 is great does brill video to only 85 asda cannock outstanding