Equipment Opinions / Advice - Decent Point'n'Shoot

Guys,

I'm planning on buying my mum a digital camera for her birthday (it's not until December, but I thought I'd start some research now).

She's never had a digital camera, and all the cameras she has had have been pretty basic point and shoot affairs.

What I'm after is a decent digital compact for her. Something that she can use day to day - it doesn't need to be completely laden with features, as she'll more than likely not use them.

I'm thinking something from about 5 Megapixels up, with a decent optical zoom, and if possible, some form of image stabilizer to help with handheld shooting at zoom (she's not likely to be trucking a tripod around with her...)

So there you go - I thought I'd come to the "font of all knowledge" and see what you chaps suggest. I'm thinking of upto £150 as a budget. If it can dock with a photo printer or can pictbridge to one, all the better, as she'll be more likely to print them out if she doesn't have to muck about in a photo editor on her PC.

Ta,

GOO

 

I don't know if it's good for interfacing with a printer, but the Fuji F31fd is pretty damn good for a sub-£150 cam - it's the big brother of the F30, which is supposed to be great afaik.

 

Something in the Canon Powershot 'A' range perhaps.

 

I have the F30 and i have hands of butter and even i can sort out some great shots. The 3200ISO is brilliant. The only difference between the F30 and F31 is the facial recog technology, but i think the F30 looks better.

So another vote for the Fuji's!

 

I was looking at the Samsung NV10 the TR review seems quite favourable, it looks like it can be had for not a lot of money its got a nice simple interface but most of it is point and shoot.

 

A housemate of mine had the F30, and it was really excellent, until I dropped it into a pint of beer!

 

NOES!
Tis awesome camera, the only reason i bought it was because it is the closest thing to a SLR without the size and Price.

 

As a testament to the electronics it still worked, there was evaporated beer on the inside of the lense though...

It was a bloody good camera though, a lot better than most P+S cam's that I've used before.

 

Canon Ixus 70- amazingly sturdy and simple.

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As above the ixus I still have a Ixus 400 its about 4 years old and still takes great pics, metal body has a video camera function with built in speaker for playback

 

My family have had a couple of the Canon Ixus range, and I reallly liked them.

 

Few Ixus in my family, Pa and sis currently have the Ixus 60, and they love them. I had an old Ixus 430 which was excellent (if not a little bulky by today's standards) until it died taking a final sign-out video on table-mountain.

I have read a lot of excellent things about the Fujis and will be buying myself an F31fd when I have the cash. However, as atanum141 pointed out, they are probably the closest thing to an SLR in a compact feature and quality wise. If this camera was for you I'd say go for it, but as this is for your mother, I'm hesitant to recommend it. I've had a chance to have a quick play with the Fuji and I wasn't impressed with the menus.

To cover a couple of other options, I've had experience with Olympus compacts and they are horrible. Whilst I doubt she'll be that worried about quality, the pictures from them are so smudgy it's painful.

I've had some experience with a fixed-lens Samsung compact and it's not the nicest compact I've used, I'll be honest. Ergonomics not the best and with flash indoors has the tendency to give everyone sever jaundice.

My old man's 61 and he loves his Ixus 60 to bits, and he was always the same as you said of your old dear; experience with p+s 35mm compacts but nothing technical. He finds it super easy to use and on the last few holidays has come back with some lovely looking shots. Sturdy things as well. My 430 got dropped several times in its four years of service and whilst it did eventually go, it took some beating and rode it. Quality is excellent, as are the ergonomics, and controls and menus easy to use.

One thing I will say about Ixus though (don't know if fixed in very latest models) is that they don't have accurate battery monitoring. You're taking shots and then a little red battery pops up on the screen. Ok I'm running low. Unfortunately that means you've got about five photos then it's dead. Terrible, in this day and age.

 

Ixus range gets my vote!