Last time I asked for advice here, I ended up with a Canon Powershot A480 for £100. That was for work and I've been very impressed with it. Although I haven't used it all that much.

Now I'm back and this time it's for me. If all else fails, I will simply buy another one of those. But I wanted to know at how much additional money does it get "better"? I've decided to go to Barcelona next month, so priorities are:
1)Price
2)Quality
3)Size (small please)

I think that's it. But I want flexibility and something that I can grow into. i.e. easy to point and shoot to start, but offers more options as I get to know it better. I don't have a number in mind, but I have very low funds and I just wanna if say spending £150 over £100 makes a big difference, or do you have to go to £200 etc.

Thanks guys.

With compact cameras what you get when spending more money is usually extra features, better build quality and a "better" lens ( larger aperture/more zoom/wider angle/sharper/less distortion).

Which features matter to you is down to personal choice though for a travel camera a longer zoom is useful, as is the ability to turn off the flash in places like museums.

I'd suggest the following cameras as a starting point in the £150-200 range:

For around £150 you can get a Canon SX120 which has a 10X zoom lens, various auto and scene modes but also full PASM modes to grow into.
On the down side it has a (good quality) plastic body and isn't the smallest camera out there though it is still (jacket) pocket sized.

For around £175 you have a bit more choice, the Panasonic TZ6, Fuji F70EXR or Fuji F200EXR all have good reviews and offer various benefits over a £100 compact.

One important thing to realise is that with a few exceptions the pictures produced by a £200 compact will not be substantially better than those from a good £100 compact.

My advice dont get the Fuji F200EXr its a waste of space and money. I ended up having to get one for work and its a POS imho

Have you looked through the old thread to see if there's any suggestions in it that are still current?

Mark

I have and no there aren't. I've also had a bit of a search around and it seems you guys are all very SLR based. I can't find much advice on compacts.

Andy, thanks for that. The quality point is interesting and I'll take a look at that Canon. If the quality of the photos isn't gonna be much better, it makes spending more than £100 even harder to justify. But there are other things that could sway me and zoom is one of them.

Bobbdobbs, my current camera is a Fuji S5000 and although the features and zoom are good, the jpeg noise is ridiculous and it's not the best quality, so I may well not get another Fuji.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the Nikon p5100 is a whole lot of camera for the price.
At the very top end of your budget there's the Nikon CoolPix L110.

Mark

http://www.dpreview.com

Check out the various reviews, where you will probably find sample images as well.

The Fuji S5000 is pretty much a compact stuffed into a slr format. Would you not be better with a second hand dslr or are you looking to retain the compact type??? Also, how come you've got high noise? Are you using the camera in auto all the time? Post a pic with some exif info and we might be able to help.

The S5000 is a cracking camera. It takes time and much expirimenting to know its limitations (auto is a limitation IMHO )

Al

It's old hat now in terms of resolution and the build quality isn't as good as the Canon I bought for work. DSLR would be lovely, but it's too much to carry around and the cost is ridiculous. I'd end up wanting to buy lenses etc. and I just don't have the money or inclination. Haven't used it for over a year as my phone offers as good point n shoot abilities these days.

Thanks Heather, having a look now. And Mark, I'll take a look at those thanks. Could you tell me why you suggested them?

I have a S5000 and it was an excellent camera in it's time but as you say outdated now.
If you use the S5000 in it's 6MP mode then the JPEGs can be noisy due to the sensor being effectively 3MP which was then interpolated to get a 6MP image.

If you want Cheap + Zoom then the Fuji S1500 is worth a look.
A review and it's available for £115 from Amazon.

Sorry man, I only just saw this question.
I just posted some reasons in another thread why I think the CoolPix is a good buy but for completion's sake I'll put 'em here too … 28-420mm lens. Image Stabilisation. ISO 80 - 6400. f/3.5-5.4 which is not bad in a £200 package.
The other one I recommend I've actually used as well as bought for a present.

Mark

Having done a fair bit of reading now, I'm a little confused. Given my admittedly limited knowledge of the tech and art of photography, I'm starting to wonder if the whole internet is designed to make everyone wanna buy a DSLR on the basis that compacts are just a poor imitation.

The review of the 5100 on dpreview has me concerned about a few things. Notably, jpeg compression, low light performance and lens range. That said, it seems to have been replaced. The L110 seems better specced for what I want, shoots RAW if I want (which I might do), but it's bigger and appears to have a much smaller sensor. Are all sensors tiny in compacts? Am I fussing over nothing? The Powershot A480 produces decent images, but I guess I'm never gonna get the same quality I see in other peoples photography from a compact?

Is 3.6x zoom the best I can expect from a compact without sacrificing quality and size? Should I just give up on getting something really good and spend £100 again, given that SLR is way out of budget and impractical for me? Does nobody make a "proper" compact, i.e. actually pocket sized, with good quality and zoom, or is everything bridge/prosumer??

It depends a good deal on your budget.

For example, at around £260 you can get the Panasonic Lumix TZ7. I know someone who has one of these, and the images is produces are amazing. The optics are from Leica, and with a 12x optical zoom and stabilisation, it's great bang for buck. Then again, it can be hard to pull the manual features from the menu system, and it doesn't support RAW formats.

From Canon in the £350 area, you get the PowerShot S90, which does have RAW but a limited optical zoom. Again, I know someone who bought one.

If you want serious pro-level controls on a compact, the Canon PowerShot G11 or the Leica D-LUX 4 are where you want to go, but with prices to match.

Maybe you need to have a good think about what you want the camera for, and go to a local camera shop (not Jessops, ideally) and play with them. Any branch of Camera World or Jacobs has knowledgeable staff on hand who will answer your questions and offer advice.

Don't think that because it's a compact, it's not 'good enough'.
I can think of at least one pro who's going to shoot on a Canon G10 this year for a job (and not for Canon's promo material ).
Most compacts do have small sensors, but think about what you're likely to do with your images.
Are you thinking along the lines of big A1/A0 prints? Is it mainly web based? If you're not going to big sizes, I'd argue that you don't need a huge number of megapixels and file sizes. Most of the stuff our press officer produces for the local paper and other publicity has been done on an 6MP IXUS that slips in his pocket.

You know what sort of stuff you want to be shooting, and personally speaking, my best work isn't done at some huge long zoom, it's normally within the wider end of the lens. A moderate zoom might be useful in a party to get the framing spot on when you don't want your drunk Aunt Sally asleep in the chair to feature, but don't be put off just because it doesn't have a 10x zoom.

Don't fear the jpg. Yes, RAW is nice to have and it opens up a lot of options, but for years I was happily shooting JPG on a 3MP camera, and I'll stand by the results I got with it. A lot of the time now I'll go with the camera produced jpg rather than faff about with RAW files.

If I were looking at a compact, I'd be looking for something that's got a fast lens on it, a reasonable pixel count and good ISO range. I'd imagine most of them shoot RAW now anyway. I can't make a recommendation, because I'm not in touch with what's been going on at this part of the market, but I hope I've helped in some way.

I agree with everything Alex says.

Just out of interest, one of my Flickr contacts uses a Canon G10.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/father05/4348385355/

Not bad for a compact.