I'm going on holidays shortly and need to buy a camera. My plan was to buy one duty free in sydney on the way out of the country, is this a good idea as i want to be able to use it striaght away and i'm not sure if newer camera's need to be set up in anyway?

What i'm after is something good size wise (max 110x600x350) but nothing that is to small and fidley to use. Anything over 5mp is a bit of a waste? it needs to be quick no waiting for flash to charge after i've pressed the button. Able to take good action pic's is great as i do'nt have the steadiest hands and almost all my pics come out blurred

price around $300 is good anything more exp must really be justifiable.

If it makes any difference i have a psp which I am taking with me, so if i get a sony camera will i just be able to swap the memory stick between them. Its a 2gb stick with a ~1.2 iso on it so how many photos @5mp would ~600mb give me?

Thanks

Lindsay

(ps did search but the latest thread was by stooge007 in jun 07 so pretty sure things would have changed by now)

I've got a Sony DSC W35 (I think is the model number) which is 7.2mp. The reason I got it was the same reason you're looking at it, I have a 4 gig memory stick from my psp, so figured i'd put it to good use. On the 4 gig stick, I can hold something like 1200 photos at max quality, I find the pics to be about 4 megs each, and when you zoom in on the computer, the picture isn't pixellated but pretty much clear at full zoom. I am pretty sure you can just swap the memory cards between them sure, I did that and didn't have a problem with it.

Though my camera takes a little while to start up, whilst it accesses the memory card, 10 seconds roughly, not much but irritating if you want to fire up and shoot away. Taking photos is pretty quick, push the trigger and the photo is taken pretty much instantly. It has a fair bit of settings to stuff around with, which took me a while to get the best picture quality out of it, though the automatic settings on it are pretty decent as well. Flash doesn't need to charge between shots (at least not long, I've taken pics one after the other with the flash with no waiting apart from me focussing on the shot). I think the only downside is it doesn't have great anti-movement on it, but that could be due to the shutter speed I'm using or something else.

Otherwise, SD cards are insanely cheap as well, 1-2 gigs can be had for $20-50 depending on brand and where you look, so you can look outside the Sony range, and have a lot more memory to hold photos if you plan on taking a lot. Samsung from what I have seen are pretty solid with good features. Other then that I haven't really looked into it much recently.

I've got a Nikon D70s Digital SLR but its a little inconvenient to take everywhere and the fun buster wanted a digital she could keep in her hand bag so I bought her a Nikon L14.
Not sure if it fits your dimensions - but its fairly small. you can pick them up for about $160 and IMO its a bloody great point and shoot camera.

I went the nikon because other members in my family had had Fuji, Kodak and Canon P&S digitals and had had different issues with them over the years - With my Nikon I'd never had an issue (mind you dad has never had an issue with his Canon D-SLR either but the canon menu leaves a lot to be desired)

I dont like Sony cameras I used to use one for work when doing site visits and it was a POS. Much like most sony comsumer grade items. It was slow and memory sticks are worth more than gold it would seem compared to other digital storage mediums such as SD and CF.

The Nikon uses SD PLUS it has internal memory. It doesnt have a great deal of features - but Ive got a d-SLR for that type of work. Plus even when I had my konica-minolta semi"pro" D2 the features it had werent that great and none of the compact point and shoots come close to its capabilities so I think you'll be paying for features you either wont use or wont be able to get to work properly.

Make sure what ever you get can be mointed on a tripod as you may want this - particularly if you are going by yourself or with your partner and also make sure it has a timer option. Both these features will allow you to get in the photo when you other wise wouldnt.

as for the not having the steadiest of hands I can tell you that the L14 takes a brilliant photo even with shakey hands and trust me I've got shakey hands up there with the shakiest of them. Ask any of the Vic guys I shake like a crack baby thanks to a hereditary neurological condition - plus I have to be careful as parkisons disease runs in my family also...

Fact of the matter is you should be fine with ANY of the good brands point and shoot options provided they are well built and dont feel like they are going to break any moving parts (you'd be supprised how many moving parts there are in point and shoots!) or the screen (my brother has broken the screen on his canon point and shoot 3 times!)

Most of the point and shoots dont have a view finder and rely on the LCD screen to display what your about to take a photo of, so a good sunlight readable and scratch resistant screen (or at least cover) is a definate MUST have. and remember if this LCD gets damaged not only will you not be able to review your photos - you may not be able to see what your taking a photo of!

awesome info, well nikon sound pretty good, as i said i don't need all the bells and whistles just want some good photos.

I'm thinking the following look good, any opinions

http://www.nikon.com.au/productitem.php?pid=1204-acc37c14e4
http://www.nikon.com.au/productitem.php?pid=989-5b7aff6e5a

the first has Optical lens shift Vibration reduction and the second has electronic vibration reduction

http://www.canon.com.au/products/cameras/d...80is_specs.aspx

looks quite good from the specs, just worried about ease of use as highlighted by komodo.

nothing else has really caught my eye so far except for this

http://panasonic.com.au/products/specifica...m?objectID=3775 ($450 duty free) but not sure if its justifiable paying that much?

I think I'd go the S200 if its in the price range. Nikons VR system is pretty good

sorry should have put in prices for everything.

CANON IXUS 80IS is 339
COOLPIX S510 is 269
COOLPIX S200 is 229
Lumix DMC-TZ3 is 449

I find this site handy:
http://www.stevesdigicams.com/

I'll second that.

It's the first place I go if I need any camera info .... superbly detailed reviews.

thanks for the help everybody and especially komodo

my holiday was unbelivalbe and thanks to you guys i can share parts of it

Me and Di, her sisters and her brother inlaw
Click to view attachment

Me and Di in Vegas
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Main tourist part of Tijuana
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Submariane we went on in Hawaii
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Picture of the stip from the top of the stratosphere
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Alcatraz from the ferry on the way over to it. Its a pitty it didn't go around the other way, if it did i could have gotten a shot of alcatraz with the golden gate bridge in the background.
Click to view attachment

thanks again!

sorry, i'm resizing them now.

edit: all done, i've got 1446 all up still sorting through them, if people want i throw a few more up.

Great pictures

What camera did you finally settle on?

The night time picture of the strip is absolutely stunning .... what settings did you use for that one?

Damn, that's a big camera

Does anyone know of sites like Steve's and DP Review but for video cameras?

haha sure is on the largish side, my mistake, lucky i ended up with something about a tenth of the size haha.

thanks Sierra, i was going to get the S200 but they where sold out so i got the S510, for the shot of the strip I think i just used the night landscape setting. It is a great little camera the only problems i've had with it so far is that macro mode doesn't really work at all and no matter what setting i use it seems to have a lot of trouble when say your in a bright to dimishly lit room and taking a photo out into the night, photos are often blurry and always grainy. Still for the the price it is an excellent camera and very easy to use