In short I need a camera.

I've needed one for some time - and with Australia looming on the horizon, I think now's as good a time as any for me to start looking.

Now I don't need anything too swish as I have no plans to resume a passion for photography I'd long lost with the demise of my F50 - simply put I need a respectable compact.

My principle concerns/requirements are that I don't want something too bulky - but I do need it to be quite rugged, (ie. no pop-up flashes, or slide-over shutter fascias etc) - and would like it to have a fairly decent optical zoom range; perhaps even a wide angle since I do do a lot of interior architecture shots. Card wise I'm easy if it comes a dock - but then I'd rather not have a dock (more hassles) so maybe something worldly generic (ie. SD) would be best?

Budget? Hmmm I dunno just yet, certainly no more than £200, in fact, ideally it'd be a lot lower than that.

I would look myself but I've long stopped looking at cameras, so I'm not really up to speed on where/what/who I should be starting with. Any suggestions any one?

Panasonic TZ5 (or TZ4 if you can find one) has a good wide angle and longish zoom and falls within your budget (the TZ6/7 are newer but outside your budget).
The TZ series were designed as travel cameras and are what I'd choose as a holiday camera unless you want manual control of shutter/aperture.

If you can find one at a similar price to the Panasonic then Canon's SX110 got good reviews and has full manual control options, but lacks the wide angle of the Panasonic.

For queries like this I'll always recommend the Nikon CoolPix P5100.
It seems to meet all the requirements you're looking for apart from price.
Whilst still being within your budget it is at the upper end of it.

Mark

Samsung WB500. Shop around and you should get it for about £187(see update below, its cheaper!). Its got a [LIFTED] load of zoom and starts at 24mm wide. Also does 720p video and does not have a pop up flash or sliding shutter. Its not quite as good as the similar specced Panny TZ7 but its cheaper. A Lexar 60x SDHC card seems to keep up with the write speeds alright too 8GB for £16.99 delivered.

Price update:

Amazon
WE
Jacobs
Park

Also had a look on Pixmania and they have deals for well under £200 including a memory card and digital photo frame which seems crazyily cheap. Maybe a little fishy?

I'll wave the Canon flag. Albeit outside your budget...

Look for deals on the PowerShot G10. It's just been superseded by the G11, so you may well be able to pick up some bargains under £250. Even better if you can pick up the previous model (G9, surprisingly). I've got one, and it rocks.

The top of the PowerShot range provides total manual control of you want it, as well as all the usual features of a good compact digital camera. I thoroughly recommend it, even though it's quite expensive. But then, if you want something you won't regret buying, and you want it to grow with you as you learn new techniques, I can't recommend it highly enough.

"certainly no more than £200" - The Canon is waaaay over budget

"Now I don't need anything too swish as I have no plans to resume a passion for photography" - G9/10/11 maybe too overspecced for what he wants

Dont mean to rubbish your suggestion but it doesnt seem to match the OP requirements

Oooo replies!

Eggman & HK - thanks for the suggestions - but I fear both are leaning toward the mid-sized body range - they do look quite swish, but I was thinking more along the lines of what Andy & Veato have championed - although I may have to take a trip to Calumet* to have a feel of all these...

Some of you may recall from the other place I queried about a wide angle compact before for work, and ended up getting a Ricoh R5 which we all pretty happy with; I see they're now on the R10 and have just released a CX2 model which looks rather natty - does anyone have any experience with these?


*despite no longer having a friend there.

No, that's fair enough. I admit to having skim-read Snowy's post.

It's just from personal experience, you get what you pay for. I've now made a conscious decision that if I skimp on something like this, I regret it later.

Let us know what you end up with, Snowy!

I looked at the Ricoh range before I bought the Samsung. In fact the reason I'm recommending the Samsung is I had the same purchasing option not that long back and looked at most of the cameras mentioned here; Canon SX100/200IS, TZ5/6, WB500, R8/R10. I would defo go to a shop and have a feel. Not sure if Calumet have the WB500 but Jacobs normally have them in the stores.

Also (without sounding like a fanboy, Im not honest!) the Ricoh 'only' has 7x zoom and 28mm wide although I guess it is £20 or so cheaper than the WB500.

Comparison:
http://www.ephotozine.com/article/Ricoh-R10-10612
http://www.ephotozine.com/article/Samsung-WB500-11800

A slight tangent, but one of my fav blogs just posted this about the G11.

Good site - some lunch time reading there - cheers!

I just noted in the Ricoh review one setback that'll keep me clear of it - no "real" viewfinder. I really am not fond of using screens to pose my shots, I've just never got the hang of it... I know I may have to swallow this bugbear given they've fallen out of fashion these days - but I'd like to keep my options open for a model that has one....

Tbh, I think you'll struggle to find a 'finder on a small point 'n' shoot these days. Contrarily, I've never got on with them unless it's an SLR.

I agree. I find the viewfinder on most compacts a waste of time. The downside to only having the screen to look at I guess is you might run into difficulties on a bright day.

Completely agree with some of this about the G10/G11. It certainly has its fans and would suit a lot of peeps needs better than a full DSLR. Being a consumer though the cost is quite prohibitive considering you could get for the same money (prices at Cameraworld) a Canon 1000D, Canon 18-55mm, Canon 50mm and Sigma 50-200mm. I'm not saying its a 'better' option but on the face of it it certainly looks to the average consumer that you get more for your money.

Compact Camera? Want to go over budget? I’d really recommend the Leica D-Lux 4. It does fully automatic, and it does manual too, using SLR terminology. If you can stretch to one, then I’d encourage you to get one.